Applying thermal paste to my Area-51 M5550?

First off, what paste should I use? Arctic silver 5 seems most popular, but I'm also considering Arctic Cooling MX-1 and Coollaboratory Liquid Pro. What do you guys reccommend? Are all of these able to work with the m5550(I heard there were some limitations with the liquid pro).

And second, is there a guide somewhere or can someone tell me step by step how to apply the thermal paste? I'm a complete noob at this part. thanks.

 

I am curious to what other people do as well.

In the past, I've always placed down a very minimal amount, then used something very sharp and fine such as a clean razor to smooth it across the CPU very fine and smooth, about paper thin.

But I've seen people just put a couple drips on the top and just place the heatsink right over the CPU without spreading it. I guess the pressure evens out the paste when you smash over the heatsink.

 

i would try to get IC Diamond 7 Carat Thermal Compound. unlike AS5 which is made with silver the IC Diamond 7 Carat Thermal Compound is made with diamonds. diamonds are a better conductor of heat than silver. I think this thermal paste is suppose to be a bit better than AS5

 

The best method is to use a drop about the size of a grain of rice and then spread it with something very thin, like a clean razor blade. It should be just barely enough to cover everything, a thin layer, not those globs that most manufacturers put on their notebooks. (The reason is that if you put too much, it acts like an insulator, trapping heat instead of transferring it to the heatsink).

 

There's a link in the cooling guide to the directions on how to apply AS5. It is worth applying in my opinion, it took a few degrees off the CPU temp of my laptop.