Arctic (formerly known as Arctic Cooling) has been introducing cooling products for 20 years, but has not released a new thermal compound since late 2010. That is now about to change. The new MX-5 paste is listed on Amazon's UK portal.

Unfortunately, the listing is not detailed and makes no mention of viscosity or thermal properties of the paste. However, it shares some characteristics with its popular predecessor, MX-4, and since it contains no metal and is not conductive, even sloppy application will not short-circuit a PC (see our guide on how to apply thermal pastes).

Also, according to Arctic's description, a single application on the CPU or GPU will last for 8 years before it needs to be cleaned and reapplied; the same goes for Arctic's two previous thermal compounds (MX-4 and MX-2).

It will be interesting to see how MX-5 compares to competing products. These days, Arc'teryx is facing stiff competition from new and old; pastes like Thermal Grizzly's Kryonaut and Innovation Cooling's Diamond 24 are popular options. I myself still get good results from Tuniq's TX-4 compound.

One thing in Arc'teryx's favor is its brand recognition, at least among enthusiasts. The company's MX-4 compound debuted when we were pondering whether to build an AMD Phenom II X4 or an Intel Gulftown system, and despite its age, it remains a popular choice.

You may be wondering if the type of thermal paste used matters, the answer is yes. From cooling characteristics to ease of application, there are differences between grease, liquid silver, and thermal pads. However, they all serve the same purpose: to improve cooling performance.

What you don't see when you look at a CPU's internal heat spreader (IHS) or heatsink is that its surface is not actually perfectly smooth. There are microscopic irregularities and the thermal compound fills them in for better contact.

As for the MX-5, it retails for £13.59 ($18.49 in US currency) on Amazon UK (via @momo_us) and will be available on March 15, 2021.