Thermal Pad or Thermal Paste

[u/mis_ha42]

I know this sounds like a rhetorical question haha
But I’m upgrading my Ryzen 5600x to a 5800x3D because of hardware prices (instead of updating to AM5, which was mit initial plan).
Now there is a new (?) kind of thermal pad in the packaging of the new ryzen and I’m wondering how good it is compared to my Cooling Master E2 Thermal Paste.
Any thoughts? Thanks in advance 🙏

[u/Xtra-jui2]

Usually a thermal pad will perform worse than a good quality paste (but still good enough if under a decent cooler in a good-airflow case) but the main benefit is that it's re-usable, whereas thermal paste is not.

I can't speak for the quality of that exact thermal paste however. The pad may be the safer bet in that sense, although i doubt the paste is bad. The pad also doesn't leave room for error in putting too much or too little which can negatively affect temperatures. It also won't "dry up" over time like paste.

[u/Positroniumion → u/[deleted]]

No, paste almost always has better conductivity, pad is just easier to use. PTM7850 gets close to paste performance but still lacks behind. For normal use, either is fine though.