I recently upgraded my system, and I received the standard thermal paste that comes with CPUs. I wasn't happy with this regular stuff so I wanted to upgrade. I couldn't find anyone near me that carried Artic Silver so I did some research on what else there was. I found this page that gives a detailed comparison between ten of the top ones and I decided on getting Cooler Master Premium Thermal Compound with Shin Etsu because a shop I go to carries it and the price is worth the trial (IMO). And according to the comparison, Cooler Master was the better of the two.... But honestly I trust the tons of people on here that swear by Artic Silver. I just got the Cooler Master because of accessibility. Even if it isn't the better of the two, it has got to be better than the standard stuff they ship with CPUs.

Anyway.... long story short, I tried it and my temps aren't any different. System at idle with nothing running it hovers around 50 and 51º C. Under a load (SETI@Home running only) my CPU is a stable 57º C. I realize these temps aren't anything to worry about, but I'd really like them to be much lower. As far as case fans go I'm fine there.

So my questions are:
Would I notice a dramatic difference if I got Artic Silver?
Anyone had any experience with the paste I ended up using?


The stuff is thick too. Not the easiest to apply. Like spreading peanut butter on flimsy read and as a result I might have gotten it too thick.

SYSTEM:
CPU: AMD Athlon 2200
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-7VT600-L
Video: ATI Raedon 9000
RAM: 512MB PC2700 Crucial RAM
OS: Windows 98FE
Case Fan: Cooler Master SAF-B82 (rear, exhaust)
CPU Fan: Dr. Thermal, not sure of model #