heat sink compound confusion?

Radio Shack # 276-1372 Silicone Heat Sink Grease (about $2.50 for a small squeeze tube) is exactly what you need.
 
Any of them should be fine. The exotic sounding stuff is targeted to people that like to mod thier PCs.

If you do go with the exotics, most of them are conductive, so you need to be careful not to get any of the compound on other components and short things out.

I've used a silver based grease when I replaced the convergence chips on my tv. Chips were not too expensive, it was just a job I didn't want to repeat twice.I've used a silver based grease when I replaced the convergence chips on my tv. Chips were not too expensive, it was just a job I didn't want to repeat twice.

Make sure you use a non-conductive thermal grease for applications like TO-3 Deflection transistors on vectors where you don't want them shorting to ground. They should have a mica or plastic insulator in between.

Make sure you thoroughly clean off the heat sink with alcohol. I also like to glaze the heat sink with grease making sure I fill in any of the pores on the heat sink. Air gaps are what you are trying to eliminate with the grease. I also try not to lay it on too thick, as you want to heat the heatsink not the grease. There's plenty of videos and howto's out there on how to apply grease. Not too thick, not too thin, in stripes, in blobs etc.
 
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