Just fyi, heat is measured in watts not degrees, so 2C doesn’t really say how big the difference is.
2C drop on a 150W CPU is far more significant than 2C on a 50W CPU.
Also a big reason why you pay more for high quality thermal compound is so that it can last many years without drying, because when it dries then the performance drops.
The thermal conductivity of that stuff is absolute crap.
Buying good quality thermal compound like MX-4, NT-H1, IC-D will make a huge difference.
That's true. In this price range the only useable paste is GD900. This stuff is almost as good as AC mx2- mx4.
How do thermal pads rate as a comparison? We use them for led modules/cob with an output up to 4000Lm.
We also use what looks to be a metallic type thermal pad which is extremely delicate and tears easily.
Much worse.
Never use thermal pads if you can avoid it.
direct soldering > liquid metal > thermal paste > thermal epoxy > thermal pads > nothing(air) > insulator
30g GD900 for $3.37 it is definitely a fake 
It is better to take in a blister from GD Official Store
Just to note, these thermal pads are used on lighting for shopping centres and are on constantly. 5 year warranty. Never had one fail yet.
May be worth a test and see how they do in a torch
Arctic silver 5 is 8.9 w/mk, the above is up to 50 w/mk or am I reading that wrong? Option to request a sample on the site. May be worth sending a sample to djozz
Often in manufacturing it is simpler and cheaper to use thermal pads.
They do work, and usually it is fine because the cooling solution is more than what is necessary.
As long as the temps are within the rated operating range there is no reason to spend more money on higher thermal transfer.
In commercial applications you only spend what you need, the rest is profit.
For people who want the best cooling possible for their flashlight, then thermal paste is better
I have this paste from two different seller, one from official gd seller, and the other from this seller. Absolutely the same paste. Same good paste.
I don’t know, but i can imagine they’ll work okay when made of aluminium and / or copper ‘foam’ like structure.
With pressure they will flatten a little or something?
Hmmm….
How can you be sure it’s the same quality?
It’s half the price of the ‘official store’ offer…
holy war about the thermal paste
I almost did not overclock the CPU and I definitely have enough 3 W/M-K
The extra couple of degrees does not bother me 
Ji-hot ! 
The problem with declaring jihot is that it would be fought out by jihotis, which sounds like something from a Playboy magazine…
I have Arctic MX-2 thermal compound, by the way. It seems fine to me, although I don’t push my stuff right to the brink the way some of the other people here do.
Anyone tried this?
Piqued my interest months ago, commented about it on some sort of related thread.
I suspect it may not be that well-known, and its price per gram isn't far from that of certain “not for human consumption” substances… LoL!
Good luck, Lexel. You'll need it. I'd mix finely powdered solder with that special alu paste, it may help a lot. ;-)
Cheers ^:)
US $ 2.23 a piece if you take a lot of 40 from the official store.
Who knows how much discount a reseller might get if he takes thousands of units. The ebay offer could be legit.
Liquid metal is much better than regular thermal pastes.
It is used quite often with extreme cooling PCs because it gives a significant temp improvement.
As long as you don’t use it on aluminum surfaces, Coolaboratory Liquid Ultra is the best you could use.
The only thing better is soldering/welding two pieces of metal together.