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Any suggestions for a good, controlled test? I have a bunch of Arctic Alumina thermal compound and adhesive, some Arctic Silver compound, small aluminum and copper heatsinks, a thermocouple/digital thermometer, and an IR thermometer.
Dan's Data did some fun tests on this topic with over clocked CPU's some years ago, and his results were rather startling, if not proved some basic physics. Essentially he found good old toothpaste was just as good at conducting heat as expensive silver based thermal pastes and lithium grease. When it comes down to moving heat away from metal surfaces that have gaps moisture trumps all other variables. Having a few percent of silver flake in the compound does nothing in regards to moving heat better. Obviously air is an insulator (given it's dielectric), but when it comes to filling in larger gaps we don't need to get exotic. Not having the gap in the first place is the best option.