What is the best thermal paste under 10 dollars

American cheese

Mate, that would fall under thermal "pad" category. OP is looking for input on "paste" :)

Depends on how hot you get it.

The solution already exists


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I've been using Arctic Silver Ceramique 2. May not be the top performer but it works great for anything that the last 1-2C doesn't matter.

Never had a problem with it separating.
It cleans up way easier than stuff like IC Diamond and Arctic Silver 5.
I used Ceramique on a build I did in April 2012. Never taken the air cooler off or changed paste. After cleaning it with canned air idle temps are around 30C and load in the low 50s. Might be a little warmer if it was upstairs, but it's down in the basement now so ambient is in the high 60s F. No OC anymore on this old i7-3820, but back in the day it would run at 4.3 with no voltage increase. 3820s are "semi-unlocked." You can raise the multiplier but not past 4.3GHz. I should try that again sometime. My new 2066 Microcenter clearance special is idling in the 40s and gets up around 70 under load at stock clocks. Apparently trying the pre-applied paste on my 280mm NZXT Kraken AIO wasn't a good idea. Or maybe I messed it up while installing, but unless this AIO just plain sucks I think I need new paste. It works "ok" in that it doesn't overheat at full load, but it's running a lot warmer than my old proc is on air with 8yo paste even at idle. Ok, so I got lazy after spending two days messing with a be quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 r2. Damned case can be configured way too many different ways and after spending all weekend messing with it I just wanted the damned thing to boot up.
 
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