best thermal paste for cpu ?

quick question guys. first off i wanna thank all of you guys helping each other out on pc specs, what to buy and what not to buy thats good sh*t. Anyway i was reading up on a few things and i noticed that some people say that the thermal paste that already comes with the processor is cheap and i should just scrap it off and get some Arctic Silver. its like $4 bucks at a local radio shack but is it really that good ?. as a programer im kinda ashamed to admit that my pc building skills is low :x.

also i need some help with ram. i need ddr 3 240 pin pc3 10600 (1333) i think thats right lol. anyway whats the best brand for that. im seeing gskill and corsair. i know i cant mix and match ?. this is my first time solo building i just dont wanna buy anything wrong

I prefer G.skill ram as their support has been great anytime I needed it as well as their RMA service. Depending on your system you will either want a 4GB set or a 6GB set (if you system supports dual or triple channel). Arctic Silver is a very nice brand for thermal paste, I personally use either AS5 or AS MX-2 (MX-2 is the better one, if memory serves correctly - I own both). I'll see if I can find the study for you that shows the differences.

http://skinneelabs.com/thermal-paste-v1-1/2/

There isn't a big difference between the top thermal pastes.

Link.

also i need some help with ram. i need ddr 3 240 pin pc3 10600 (1333) i think thats right lol. anyway whats the best brand for that. im seeing gskill and corsair. i know i cant mix and match ?. this is my first time solo building i just dont wanna buy anything wrong

Junsei

The thermal paste that comes stock is decent. Artic Silver is pretty good.Artic Silver Ceramique is a little better. Some people prefer ARCTIC MX3. At best it'll be a difference of 4 or 5 degrees from standard thermal paste, and a difference of 1 degree from any other premium thermal paste. I wouldn't say premium thermal paste is not worth it, since its generally very cheap, but its not a miracle worker by any means.

The "best" brand for memory doesn't really matter. You'll find winners and duds in every category. There are only 3 or 4 PC memory manufacturers (Samsung, Micron, Hynix, Hyundai, Toshiba, and one or two others). Everyone else just rebrands memory. Theres no problems mixing and matching brands. Its recommended not to because memory will only be as fast as its slowest. Buying identical memory nearly guarantees that you wont have one stick lagging the others.

IC7! Some of the best stuff in the market currently!

And G.Skill, Corsair, Mushkin, and Kingston are usually the ones to look for in terms of RAM.

Im not saying AS5 is the best as its the only one ive used but it is alot better than your standard TIM.

Applying the paste properly in a thin, even layer is going to make more of a difference than the specific paste you use. Unless you're doing some sort of ridiculous overclocking, even the cheapest variety of Arctic Silver is going to be fine.

Good luck,

Boz

hardwaresecrets.com had a recent round-up of thermal compounds and results showed that there are no significant differences between thermal compounds that they featured. and they also debunked the "curing time" myth.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Thermal-Compound-Roundup-March-2011/1207/7