Some people swear by silver based compounds, and others prefer the generic stuff. Does the fancy goop really work better, and if so, does the performance justify the price? From my experiences, exotic compounds do tend to perform better, but we're not talking about copper heatsink to aluminum heatsink type differences. In fact, the differences are usually negligable. Are these compounds worth the extra cash then? Again, this will depend on a few factors, such as how often you need to replace it.