"Overall i'm quite surprised by these metal pads. They definitely give you that little extra you might need. The only hurdle to use these pads is the price and the fact that you'll need to thoroughly polish the metal pad off the processor and cooler. In the end, thermal paste is cheaper because your able to use it more than the three times you have with these metal pads. But if your looking for that small decrease in temperature than these are the ones to get instead of the highly popular Arctic Silver 5."