There are some great deals on thermal paste this Prime Day and I always keep a tube in my backpack

You know I actually petitioned to write this piece. I was like “yeah, gimme them thermal paste deals”. I’m a long-time proponent of thermal paste. In fact, I’ve been lobbying governments around the world to provide it with the same protected status that Mozarella di Bufala Campana enjoys.

After all, where would we be without the plucky stuff? Using toothpaste? Jelly? Gods forbid we’d be welding our CPU blocks on.

Ok, ok, yes, I’m being somewhat facetious here. But still, thermal paste is one of those things that until you run out of it, you don’t really think about. It’s a $10, $15, $20 purchase, that can make or break a build.

Now of course most coolers do come with some either pre-attached or included in a tube by default, but, it’s often low quality, or there’s little of it. If you accidentally reposition your CPU block a few times on the initial install, or have to do some troubleshooting, it’ll easily smudge, smear, and leave you with uneven coverage and a toasty chip as a result.

And then of course, at the other end of the spectrum. If your machine is starting to get a little long in the tooth. Over time, cheap thermal paste can dry out and crack, producing even worse results for you. You’ll see it in your performance first, as clock speeds fall, and then, as the temps climb up (a handy quick install of Hardware Monitor or HWInfo64 will flag if there’s a real issue). Worst case scenario? You do nothing and severely damage your CPU, or even more catastrophic than that, which your GPU die because the paste holding that house-brick sized cooler to it has turned into dust.

So then, we all know its Prime Day/Week at this point, what are the best thermal paste dealios out there? These ones that’s what:

The full details

The wild card alternative

*PC Gamer politely reminds you to never eat the thermal paste for goodness’ sake.

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the process of delidding an old Intel chip and applying liquid metal between the die and the IHS — carefully add a drop, then spread it with the included specialised cotton buds, and then clean up the mess.(Image credit: Future / Tom’s Hardware)

I’m going to wade in here with a little extra tip. I’ve spent years benchmarking CPUs and building all manner of weird and wonderful machines. Even dabbled in delidding a slew of Intel chips once upon a time in the hunt for ever better cooling. And let me tell you, after doing all of that, and speaking to numerous competitive overclockers, system builders, and more, in terms of your thermal paste application, as long as it’s a non-conductive paste, be generous with how much you put on your chip. Identify where the die is, where the complexes are (some chips benefit from a long line of paste in the middle, some just a blob), and put a big ol’ slathering of the stuff there instead.

If it goes over the side, honestly, and again as long as it’s not conductive, it’s not the end of the world. You can clean it up if you need to later with some isopropyl alcohol spray (this stuff you get 16 fl oz and its 20% off, nice), and a good microfiber cloth.

The more the better, to be blunt, it won’t dry out as fast, and you can guarantee coverage. Put too little on there, and you can end up with thermal hot-spots on your chip due to poor coverage, and ain’t nobody got time for that.