I was watching a video downloaded off of the AMD site on Thermal Grease Verses Thermal Pads and they said Thermal Pads are recommended because Thermal Grease decipitates over time leaving no substance for heat transfer between the CPU and the heatsink. Can anyone testify to this?

Thanks,
-Dman

Thermal paste is better in every way that I am aware of: better contact, faster heat transfer, etc. All I can say in regard to it dissipating over time is that there is still plenty of original thermal grease on my P1 75MHz . I don't think this is a big issue, but I could be wrong.

It depends. Dansdata actually found a couple that did run. However, decent pastes (Arctic Silver, FI) and generic pastes (Radio "I need some NOW!" Shack) work fine. Pads are harder to clean off, too.

I'm personally fond of Arctic Silver Ceramique. Thick, easy to use, non-conductive, non-capacitive.

Pads are better for OEM installs, because there is only one possible point of failure: the user. If it has tape over it and you leave it, that's the only way you can screw up the installation. Any other explanations are FUD and/or half-truths--kind of like the heatspreader being good for cooling .

Some paste does dry out over time. I have not seen a good article on ones that will not.
I have some 'Thermalloy Inc' that has not dried out after several years.
Thermalcote is the name on the tube.