X-bit Labs tested 16 different thermal compounds, and compared their efficiency on an overclocked Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 (3.0GHz, 1.25V, 2x6MB L2 cache, 4x333MHz FSB, Yorkfield, C0) processor, and a HIS Radeon HD 4870 GDDR5 512MB / 256bit, @830 (300) / 3600MHz graphics card.
Thermal Compounds tested:
- Arctic Silver 5
- Pro-Thermal 81
- IC Diamond 7 Carat
- AiT Cool Silver
- Arctic Alumina
- OCZ Ultra 5+ Silver (OCZU5STP)
- OCZ Freeze Extreme (OCZTFRZTC)
- Zalman ZM-STG1
- ZEROtherm ZT-100
- Noctua NT-H1
- Tuniq TX-2
- Arctic Cooling MX-2
- Coollaboratory Liquid MetalPad
- Coollaboratory Liquid Pro
- Gelid GC1
- SilMORE (usually bundled with some Scythe, Thermaltake, Xigmatek, Ice Hammer, OCZ CPU coolers)
"As for the winners, I can certainly single out liquid metal from Coollaboratory and Coollaboratory Liquid MetalPad with a few remarks regarding its proper use that should be taken into account. The new OCZ Freeze Extreme performed extremely well as a highly efficient, relatively inexpensive and very easy to work with. The good old Arctic Silver 5 still holds on to its leading position successfully, although now it has at least eight worthy competitors to worry about. Overall, it is very pleasing to see that there are more than 2-3 worthy thermal interfaces around. And of course, do not forget that thermal interface is simply a substance to fill into the micro-pores between the cooler base and the processor heat-spreader. You have to make sure that both these surfaces are very even, because no "millimeter" layer of thermal compound usually applied by newbies and several "experienced" testers out there will guarantee efficient cooling and objective cooler comparison." [X-bit Labs | Thermal Interfaces Roundup]
X-bit labs suggests that we stay away from the bundled SilMORE thermal compound, and try to avoid AiT Cool Silver, Pro-Thermal 81, and Zalman ZM-STG1.
0 comments:
Post a Comment