ICD 7 Results Thread

[dedgar]

My first foray into the IC Diamond 7 Carat TIM started as usual: shutdown and cleanup. I also took advantage of this time to do a little 'dust busting' and install the DDR2 1066 memory I had just received yesterday.

The clean up went well using my usual alcohol and cotton balls to start, alcohol and coffee filter to finish. Viola, I had two very nicely cleaned surfaces to use.

Now to the IC Diamond 7 Carat TIM. Be forewarned, this stuff is thick! Holy underwear Batman this stuff is THICK!!!! Imagine trying to spread well used and aged Playdough on a brand new Teflon cutting board. You're close. I got myself a cup of hot water and let the tube sit it that for a while in the hopes of loosening it up some. (Did I mention that this stuff is THICK?)

I placed a small dab on the heatspreader of my cpu and tried to spread the TIM a little for good coverage. Not so good. Ok, start over. Get the water a little hotter and let the tube sit in it a little longer.
What I finally broke down and did was put the cpu back in the socket clean. I then spread the reheated TIM on the base of the heatsink. (In this case a Zalman 9700 NT.) I also used a hair dryer to add more heat to the TIM and then used a knife blade like a putty knife to spread the TIM across the surface.

I finally got it somewhat spread over the surface of the heatsink enough for me to give it a go for install.

The system is up and running with the following:
Intel E8400 OC'd to 3.96ghz
Corsair DDR2 1066 XMS2 memory (4X1G)
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
EVGA 8800GT
Zalman 9700NT
Vista Home Premium 64bit
Seagate 250GB SATA

I have F@H version 5.91 Beta SMP running as my 'stress test' and am looking at CPUID's Hardware Mointor for temps. This has only been running long enough for me to type this up and post it. I do see a couple degrees C lower temp being reported.

Not a lot for the casual user but could mean a lot to the guys on the bleeding edge of pushing their machine to the max.

Would I recommend this for use? Yes, for those with a lot of patience and a need for those last couple of degrees cooling. For the casual user I would stick with Arctic Silver 5. It is much easier to work with, much easier.
Now I need to figure out what I'm going to do with the rest of this tube I have.
(Come on, really, did I mention that this stuff is THICK?)

[dedgar]

E6600 OC'd to 3.33ghz
Gigabyte GA-P965-DS3
Mushkin DDR2 1066 2X512mb
Zalman 9500
MS XP 32 bit
F@H 5.91 SMP

I installed the IC Diamond & Carat just like they asked us to in the instructions. A pea sized blob in the middle of the cpu.
It has been running now for a little over an hour. The temps are the same as with the previous TIM I had on here.
44C
Verified with two different programs:
Gigabytes own Easy Tune 5
CPUIDs Hardware Monitor
My previous TIM was Zalman Super Thermal Grease ZM-STG1

[Capper]

This is the official results/review thread for the IC Diamond 7 Carat Thermal Compound Giveaway.

Please post your results and preferably some pictures and notes about your experience.

[stinger608]

Originally Posted by Capper

This is the official results/review thread for the IC Diamond 7 Carat Thermal Compound Giveaway.

Please post your results and preferably some pictures and notes about your experience.

Awesome Capper, will get a couple of pics when/if I receive the TIM.

Did Dedgar mention that this was thick

[RangerXLT8]

Originally Posted by stinger608

Awesome Capper, will get a couple of pics when/if I receive the TIM.

Did Dedgar mention that this was thick

Yes pics are a definite..

[theburan]

I'll be sure to take plenty of them when i get this stuff... especially since I plan on putting some on everything, cpu, northbridge, southbridge, gpu.... it'll definatlly keep me busy for a day.

EDIT: So, I put some ic7 on my friends e8400, sitting under a tuniq tower. Just from looking at the bios, it was idling at ~30c, once he get's windows installed I'll get more updatage with idle and load temps and whatnot.

Also, I got the ic7 on my e6300, but I haven't had a chance to turn it on and see how it does.. might not until tomorrow.

[RangerXLT8]

OK my tube arrived. The system tested was a Quad-core Xeon Q3210@3.3GHz on an Asus P5K Premium Black Pearl. CPU cooling is a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme with a 4100RPM Sunon Fan.



Here is the CPU and Ultra 120 Extreme all cleaned up:


CPU with pea sized amount of IC7D:


I socketed the CPU, bolted down the heatsink just enough and twisted the heatsink about 20 degrees back and forth a few times to spread out the IC7D. Then tightened down fully.

The paste is thick, but spread nicely with a few rotations of the heatsink.

Ambient temp was found with my DMM and it was 24C. CPU temps were read with Asus AI Suite.

Xeon Q3210@ 3.3ghz 1.385v bios, 1.360 actual
AS5
Ambient 24c
Idle = 33c
Load = 57c

IC7D
Ambient 24c
Idle = 30c
Load = 49c

This below SS was with ORTHOS small FFT on all 4 cores for 15 minutes using the IC7D. This is 8C cooler then AS5!!!


So at idle there was a 3 degree drop from AS5 and under load, 8C less than AS5!!! IC7D is my new TIM. Installation was really a breeze. Thick or not it spreads with ease.

After class I will add results for my HD2900XT 512mb.

[Quakindude]

Got mine today as well. Will update this space in the next couple of days when I get a chance to throughly test it out. I'll be using my main rig only, the Q6600 water-cooled one. I have good temps running right now with this replacement 780i board.

[Parker]

Got mine in today 2!
I'll give some results once I get my rig up and running... probably in the next week or so.
I'll be testing on a E6600, my NB, SB, and 8800GT, all will be aircooled, then I'll test watercooled.

But heres a pic of the IC7D tube... just to hold you all over.


Put the quarter in there to show the size of the tube.

edit:
Wow, didn't even realize that I put a 1993 quarter in the pic! Thats when I was born... cool.

BTW, very nice results Ranger!
I can't wait to test this stuff on my E6600!!

[Elysium]

Received the paste today.





The thermal spread was pretty good with my old AS5.



Pea sized dollop. Maybe a little excessive?



Temperature results (at 60F/15C ambient):

AS5:

• Idle: 17C
• Load: 30C

IC Diamond 7:

• Idle: 16C
• Load: 28C

A few degrees better than AS5! I think I'll stick with ICD7 from now on, and the fact that it's non-conductive is just icing on the cake.