I am a PC builder and overclocker. I have used many types of thermal material. This product stands out for three reasons.
Easy of use - It applies very easily, and spreads out well. All it takes is a small glob in the center of a CPU, and the pressure of the heatsink takes care of the rest. Just remember that if the chip you are covering has an exposed die (you can see the actual chip) you need to spread a thin layer as opposed to the glob method.
Performance - It performs as good or better than any pastes I have personally tested. The pastes I have tested are MX-2, Arctic Silver 5, IC7, Kingwin, Zalman, Thermalright, and many others.
Non-Conductivity - This product does not conduct electricity, as opposed to some other pastes. So if you get a little over zealous or sloppy with your application, you don't have to worry about killing your components.
This product is the best I have used in all three of the above categories. Noctua NT-H1 Thermal Compound - Retai
This was tested on a Phenom II X4 965 BE (Rev. C3) and my current temperatures are 32º in idle and 58º under heavy load (100% CPU usage) using the stock cooler. I actually don't have prior temperatures to compare them with (I removed the stock thermal grease before installing the CPU and used this) but from what I've read from others 965 owners those are great temperatures for this processor.
The syringe method of application is a huge plus over using the traditional compounds because of the danger of applying too much paste. Also another great benefit of this paste is the fact it is conducive so you don not need to worry about misapplying the paste and increasing the heat on your CPU. Good deal.
This paste worked out great for my latest build. Turns out I didn't read the product descriptions well enough and ended up buying an extra tube when some comes with the Noctua coolers already. Won't hold that against them though just be aware if you're buying a cooler.
So this is the best compound I've used in a long time. Given you clean the processor and heatsink properly, you should have some awesome results in your temps.
Keep in mind, there are better things than rubbing alcohol to clean your processor and heatsink. Debris and gunk can always affect things and WILL affect them.
But either way, I love the safety it provides by not being conductive, and the very short cure time. After having spent a boatload of money on my i7 system, I really wanted something that would be effective ASAP. Spending the extra $2 on this compound was a pretty easy decision after researching reviews on the net.
It's been less than 2 years, and I got the i7 920 when it first came out... I still have no issues and plan to reseat the heatsink and replace the compound a little bit before that 2-year recommended mark hits. And I've had very stable temperatures altogether!
I used this compound a few months ago on both my i7 processor (with a Noctua cooler) and on my 4870X2 GPU's with a video card cooler - it has been great so far. It applied easily and has kept everything very cool. It seems to be at least as good as the Arctic Silver compound and has the added benefit of being non-conductive, so there's no chance of creating a short if a little of it gets on another component. - Thermal'
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