The HardwareLogic Thermal Compound Round-Up

[screwballl]

Originally Posted by Capper

The OCZ FreeZe, Arctic Cooling MX-2, and Tuniq T-2 were all very easy to work with....the ICD7 was bit tougher only because it was much thicker and a little more abrasive. I also think people will tend to not use enough of the ICD7 because of how we have become used to applying thermal compounds.

As to the article, it was almost 3 weeks of extremely tedious work. Every paste was applied at least 3 times with each cooler, six time total (at a minimum), if there was any discrepancies in the temperatures I saw, the whole test with that particular compound was rerun to ensure consistency in testing.

This is the dedication and quest for truth that we here at HL strive for. Not just toss a few pastes on using the stock heatsink to get a quick story out but long term articles of this type digging deep to find out which item is the best performer.

[Jokerswild]

Welcome to the forum oakdad.

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by Capper

The OCZ FreeZe, Arctic Cooling MX-2, and Tuniq T-2 were all very easy to work with....the ICD7 was bit tougher only because it was much thicker and a little more abrasive. I also think people will tend to not use enough of the ICD7 because of how we have become used to applying thermal compounds, follow the directions closely.

As to the article, it was almost 3 weeks of extremely tedious work. Every paste was applied at least 3 times with each cooler, six time total (at a minimum), if there was any discrepancies in the temperatures I saw, the whole test with that particular compound was rerun to ensure consistency in testing.

I can see that happening too. My friend didn't believe me when I said I put a pea size and it wasn't spilling anywhere. He doesn't quite get the idea that the stuff is thick and that a much more thicker layer compared to other thermal pastes is normal and wished.

[RangerXLT8]

Alright capper, how many paste did you actually taste?

[Capper]

More than a few.....I hate it when you are deep in thought and remove a cap with your teeth........more than once Jaemie was telling me to wipe my lips off.

I added a blurb at the end, got a few of those emails asking the question, so I'll add the blurb here too:

EDIT: A good question arose from this article, asked both by a company who had a product in the round up, and a reader who emailed me....it was something I figured didn't need to be addressed, but I will anyway.

"What about cure time, it seems that thermal compounds that need cure time were punished".

I heard that question in a few different ways....most were about Arctic Silver 5, which is a favorite among enthusiasts. First, let me say that over the more than 3 weeks I worked on this article, every compound spent no less than 5-6 hours on the bench under various states of operation, up to 100% load, which got plenty toasty.....this wasn't an article written in one day, or even over a few days...I try to make it as representative of actual system conditions as possible.

I've had someone tell me that I was unfair to Arctic Silver 5 because it needs 200+ hours to cure......I personally have seen no REAL difference between the first 48 hours and operation beyond that, when applied correctly. While a great performer, which I pointed out more than once, enthusiasts change their system around more often then they shower, replacing motherboards, CPUs, HSF, etc......its what we do. When peeople complain about cure time, it baffles me....Even at its marketed 2-5C drop, Arctic Silver 5 would still be in the neghborhood, but no better than the non-conductive thermal compounds I chose to recommend.

I'll close this up by saying that this was the most mind numbing and tedious testing I've ever done. Over three weeks I changed the HSF out 160+ times, wore the stamp off the top of the processor, and in the end killed the motherboard I test with. After not having seen a comparative around the web for a couple of years, i felt it was time to look at the topic,and actually found there are more than a few good options, but a handful of truly great options.

[Reloadron]

Originally Posted by oakdad

I liked that artical so much I had to join up to these forums.
I wanted to ask if you where to rate how easy the top 5 thermal paste where to apply how would you rate them?

Welcome!

We hope you will visit often and share this site with your friends. You will find no shortage of great hardware & software reviews as well as assorted "how to" guides and just a great stash of factual and informative information. We also offer a fair share of just plain humor!

Ron

[halutzparilla]

welcome oakdad to HL...

i was the same as you looking around until i found this forums more than a site of knowledge and fact but more of a crazy family filled with grand-pops

[Capper]

easy there boy!!!!!!!

[onebxr]

Originally Posted by halutzparilla

welcome oakdad to HL...

i was the same as you looking around until i found this forums more than a site of knowledge and fact but more of a crazy family filled with grand-pops

don't you have an induction ceremony to go to?
-1

[Capper]

Ok, I want to address an issue that has come up.......

Another site posted a very similar roundup a couple days after ours. I say very similar because his results were very close to what we experienced. If nothing else, this should make both review results much more credible in that two different sites achieved basically the same results.

In a community where the same product is reviewed daily on 4-5 websites, two review sites covering the same topic in the same week happens. I bring this up because the other site that posted the Thermal Compound review was accused of plagiarism......and ironically, so was I (even though we posted our article two days earlier).

We post news everyday from other sites, and link others reviews of the same products to present you with a better idea of a products quality, and help make a better buying decision.


On an unrelated note, I've gotten a complaint from Coollaboratory about their LiquidPro results, and I'll be retesting that, as they say their product could not have possibly performed as badly as it did....not that it was bad. I still won't recommend the product, as its a complete pain to work with.