Thermal Compound show-down. And the winner is...

[EastCoasthandle]

Several different brands of Thermal Paste was tested. Here are the results:

Bad Thermal Compound
Tital Nano Blue 59
Panasonic 58.5
KPT-8 (reference) 56.6

Decent Thermal Compound
Data Cooler 57
Titan TTG S-104 , S-103 56.7
Pasta Siliconowa 56.6
Zalman CSL 850 56.5
Noctua 56.5
Stars Silver 56.5
Stars 700/Aero 700 56
GeIL GL-TCP1b 55.6
Thermopox 55.6
(BeO) 55.51
Sil more 55.5
Shin-Etsu(white) 55.5
W.P. 55.5
STARS (white, soft pack) 55.5
AKT-842 55
Fanner 420 55
Koolance 55

Good Thermal Compound
Arctic Alumina 55.5
Arctic Silver-3 54.6
AOS 54.5
DC-340 54.5
Asetek 54.5
Arctic Silver-5 53.5
Arctic Ceramique 53.5

Great Thermal Compound
Apus TMG 301 52.5
Gigabyte 52.5
Titan Nano Grease TTG-G30010 52.5
GFC-M1 D90T8-010 52.5
Shin-Etsu MicroSi G-751 52

Best Thermal Compound
Arctic Cooling MX-1 51.5
Shin-Etsu MicroSi MPU-3.7 50.5
Coollaboratory Liquid Pro 50


Arctic Cooling MX-1 looks interesting to me. It's a shame that AS5 don't cut it any more to be top thermal compound.

[magibeg]

wow Coollaboratory Liquid Pro seems to be extremely good. Looked it up.... apparently it can only be used with copper or silver though because it will damage aluminum. Clearly i should get some of this stuff for my next rig!

[WarEagleAU]

I beg to differ on this, but the liquid stuff is better than AS5

[EastCoasthandle]

Arctic Cooling MX-1 appears to be the best beat IMO

[mullered07]

Originally Posted by magibeg

wow Coollaboratory Liquid Pro seems to be extremely good. Looked it up.... apparently it can only be used with copper or silver though because it will damage aluminum. Clearly i should get some of this stuff for my next rig!

so whats the IHS on most chips made of ? looks like some kind of aliminium/steel?? to me

[anticlutch]

Originally Posted by mullered07

so whats the IHS on most chips made of ? looks like some kind of aliminium/steel?? to me

They're made of zinc-plated copper, aren't they?

edit: Actually I don't know if it's actually zinc, but I know theres real copper underneath the silver part of the IHS

[tigger]

just bought some of this-Coollaboratory Liquid Pro ,i will post in a few days and let you guys know if i get temp drops.i am gonna try ths on my gpu too.


EDIT-
DO NOT get this stuff near aluminium parts-

http://www.frostytech.com/permalink.cfm?NewsID=46586

http://www.nokytech.net/forum/showthread.php?t=72471

[Casheti]

Sweet!!!!!!!!!!! That guy got owned :O :O

[tkpenalty]

The best performing stuff will literally destroy aluminium...

Was it tested instantly? Because AS5 beats MX-1 so badly after the burn-in period.

[Scavar]

I haven't even heard of most of the stuff in Best and Great. I don't know I have always used AS, and unless its like a huge 10degree difference after burn in, then I dunno that I would switch.

[Casheti]

I have MX1 on my Arctic Silencer I think. It was stock.

[tigger]

i got it this morning (the liquid metal stuff),i have just applied it to my gpu/cpu.it is a bit of a pain to apply tho' coz it is liquid.i used a brush.

it seems to have dropped my idle temp from 33-34c to 28-31c.i'll give it a cuppla days and see.i will test my high temps too.

[Steevo]

AS mixed iwth mineral oil has given alot of peeps the best of the best, with no settle in time.


Unfortunately, it runs.

[zekrahminator]

Ha! I knew it was a good idea to buy a tube of MX1! I stick it on everything I feel inclined to put thermal paste on.

[ubiquityman]

Having some firsthand experience with certain "reviews" and even ones that make it into popular "publications", I know that there is a lot of payola happening in the industry. So when I read a review, I'm often skeptical whether the reviewer is getting "paid" for their opinion. (not necessarily this review, but I'm just a skeptic)

I looked the company, Arctic-Cooling, that makes the MX-1 and they are not a chemical company. They sell cases and heat sinks, etc.

I bet it's not trivial, nor cheap to develop TICs (thermal interface compounds). Based on the company's lineup, I would guess that they are either
a) rebranding a TIC from another company
or
b) their TIC that doesn't work as well as reviews may indicate.
or possibly both.

If (a), then I would really like to know who makes the TIC they are selling, because the manufacturer (like Shin-Etsu/MicroSi) should have very detailed performance specifications for their TICs.

Also, another thing that makes me suspicious is the fact that it is advertised to get "better" after a few days, or as time goes on. This makes it more difficult to prove because an honest reviewer or even an end user would then have to wait a few days to test again. (It takes more effort.)

Now, I compare that to a company like Shin Etsu (MicroSi Inc) or Dow Corning. These are companies that have a HUGE R&D budget and incredible resources, expertise and equipment compared to a company like Arctic-Cooling. Plus MicroSi or Corning specialize in such products. So I find it hard to extremely hard to believe, that a small company like Arctic-Cooling could really develop a product that was superior. It's not impossible, but highly unlikely. Artic-Cooling must be rebranding an OEM product, but which product and which OEM? (I don't have an answer to that.)

Finally, if you put yourself now in Intel's position, here is a company that will evaluate all these TICs and pick the one that is best for their product. With their R&D budget and thermal expertise, it makes good sense that they would pick the very best TIC for their CPUs. You might argue they don't do that for their heat sinks. ie. Intel doesn't provide the absolute best heatsink money can buy in their retail boxes. Yes, but for heatsinks, I believe there is a cost/benefit tradeoff, and more importantly a packaging trade off. For TIC, the cost is so low that I have a difficult time believing that Intel would choose anything but the best product. Also, for heatsinks, I've realized that one of Intel's important criteria is size. It must be small enough to fit into all cases/chassis. My stock/retail QX6700 cooler does that. If I put any reasonably performing aftermarket heatsink onto my CPU, the motherboard tray will no longer slide out of my Coolermaster 19cm case because of the interference from the heatsink.

So, for me, I will put my money on Intel's pick.

I have the Shin-Etsu/MicroSi MPU 3.7 (which is the stock TIC for their Xeons from 4 years ago. Not sure if it is still current.) It's high enough in the review list that I would choose to use it over a lesser known MX-1.

Also, I recently found on Intel's website that they changed the TIC for their Quad Core processors. It is Intel part number D54816-001. This is Dow Corning's TC-1996 Metal Oxide compound. Package says "Trade Secret Dimethyl, Methyldecyl Silexane". I also acquired this from Intel for my QX6700. To my surprise, this is only $1.10 on the Intel website. They don't give you much at all. Probably just enough for 1 CPU, whereas the MicroSi they used to put in their retail boxes, that was enough for probably 2 or 3 CPUs.
Intel's New TIC For Quad Core and Dual Core CPUs


Here is a picture of the two. I've not opened the TC-1996 package. Just got that today and waiting for my Scythe Ninja heatsink / cooler to arrive.
The Shin-Etsu MicroSi MPU 3.7 is on the bottom.

[trt740]

MX1 is good stuff read the Arctic cooler 64 pro review in this forum it talks about it matching AS5 performance. Also I bought some Arctic Aluminuna is it any good? It seems to take longer to set up than AS5 but when it does is it anywhere near as good?

[Zubasa]

Originally Posted by tigger69

just bought some of this-Coollaboratory Liquid Pro ,i will post in a few days and let you guys know if i get temp drops.i am gonna try ths on my gpu too.


EDIT-
DO NOT get this stuff near aluminium parts-

http://www.frostytech.com/permalink.cfm?NewsID=46586

http://www.nokytech.net/forum/showthread.php?t=72471

LOL
It will be fun to pour this stuff all over a Lian Li Alu case

[SK-1]

I am testing Zalman thermal grease ZM-STG1 -VS- Arctic Silver5 -VS- the AC MX-1 at this very moment.It will take me a while to get the results but I am really keeping my first little review as objective, fair and accurate as possible.The first one I am doing is the Zalman grease,it came stock with my CNPS9700 and was the easiest application of thermal compound I have ever had.Just a little "testers paint" kind of brush.

[Chewy]

I heard good stuff about Zalman ZM-STG1. They sent out different stuff with the 9500, so I just used my as5.

Dow Corning's TC-1996 Metal Oxide compound, should be a good contender for the top spot and easier to use than that liquid stuff.

How long is the set in time for the Zalman thermal grease? you should test the as5 last since it has such a long set in time, than you can tell us how Zalman ZM-STG1 does versus MX-1 sooner.

Edit: I really wonder if the as-5 in the test had its "set in time". I doubt it but i´ll soon know.

[largon]

Originally Posted by anticlutch

They're made of zinc-plated copper, aren't they?

edit: Actually I don't know if it's actually zinc, but I know theres real copper underneath the silver part of the IHS

It's tin plated copper.

[trt740]

Also Arctic Cooler is on of the premier cooling companies in the world. Mx1 is on everything they make for god sake half this forum is using the stuff on Arctic cooler 64 pros. How do you figure they re branded a thermal paste. Whats the benefit of that? Why don't you accused Zalman of the same (which would be pure nonsense). Just like what your saying. Lets face it we all love AS5. Their thermal past is on everything I own, however, that does not mean they cannot be beaten. Also Intel is a great company but they are known for cutting corner just look at their stock heat sinks straight junk. So why do think they always pick the best? because they don't and if there stock heat sinks are crap then what about their thermal paste. Also just because a thermal paste is made for someone doesn't mean It wasn't designed by them and the actual paste made by someone else. That generally how it's done anyway. As to it getting better over time almost every thermal paste made has a setting period including AS5 most are 100-200hrs of use. here is Arctic cooling reason for the time period

Since the MX-1 does not contain any metal particles, there are no problems regarding electrical conductivity and capacitance. In contrast to silver and copper compounds, contact to electrical traces, pins, and leads cannot result in any damage.

Durability

The compound hardens within a period of 200 hours and reaches thereafter its optimum performance. Because of the hardened compound, no evaporation or bleeding is possible. In contrast to metal or silicon pastes, this compound does not show decreasing performance over time, does not need to be reapplied and has a durability of at least 8 years.

[ex_reven]

LOL

Liquide Métal + Alu = Désastre

Dont all good heatsinks make use of aluminium? (or at least a mix of copper heatsink and aluminium vanes)

[tkpenalty]

Originally Posted by ex_reven

LOL



Dont all good heatsinks make use of aluminium? (or at least a mix of copper heatsink and aluminium vanes)

Most. For passive alu > copper.

[DOM]

so which is better from them so I can get some, going to get somethings from newegg

only ones in stock at the moment
Best Thermal Compound
Arctic Cooling MX-1 51.5
Coollaboratory Liquid Pro 50

[tkpenalty]

Originally Posted by DOM_ATI_X800XL_PCI-E

so which is better from them so I can get some, going to get somethings from newegg

only ones in stock at the moment
Best Thermal Compound
Arctic Cooling MX-1 51.5
Coollaboratory Liquid Pro 50

AS5 > MX-1 after burn in.