Thermal compounds round-up : Part Two

Posted by: Wicked Akuba Date: 2009-07-23 17:40:08
Category: Cooling

Despite the short delay, I am presenting you the second part of our TIM roundup. This time the competitors are: the very well known Arctic Silver 5 and Ceramic, Tuniq TX-2 and TX-3, Zerotherm ZT-100, Nexus TMP-1000, Revoltec Thermal Freezer and Thermalright Chill Factor 2 greases.

Contents:

>Competitors:
Arctic Silver 5
Arctic Silver Ceramique
Nexus TMP-1000
Thermalright Chill Factor 2
Tuniq TX-2
Tuniq TX-3
ZeroTherm ZT-100
>Testing methodology
>Results

>Competitors:

Arctic Silver 5

Arctic Silver 5 is probably the best know thermal compound in the world. It came out quite a while ago, and because no other product could beat it, has been the favourite of enthusiasts worldwide. In recent years, however, a great number of TIMs from other manufacturers showed up, trying to take the crown from this product. Arctic Silver 5 uses silver particles to ensure better heat conductivity. The TIM, sold in tubes with 3,5 or 12 grams of the product, is quite thick and looks much like the Antec Formula 5. The price of AS5 is about 3 Euros for the smaller tube and 9 Euros for the 12 g package.

Arctic Silver Ceramique

Ceramique is another famous TIM from Arctic Silver, though, using ceramic particles as its main component. It is one of the few compounds out there, which, according to the manufacturer, needs a burn-in period. The hardening of the grease takes about 100 to 300 hours. Despite this recommended period, the manufacturer states, that it won't have a noticeable difference in performance but should only maintain stability. The Ceramique is selling for about 2,5 Euros for the 2,5 g tube and is quite thin, compared to the AS5.

Nexus TMP-1000

The TMP-1000 TIM from the well known company Nexus is the successor of an older product, which can still be found in our shops. The tube of this compound looks quite big, but there actually is only 1 gram of the TIM inside, which, according to the manufacturer, should be enough for 10 CPUs. Nexus states, that this product contains 30 percent silver, and you really can believe it when looking at it closely. It is very glittering and not very viscous. The Nexus TMP-1000 costs a little less than 3 Euros.

Revoltec Thermal Freeze

Another competitor in today's fight is the Thermal Freeze TIM from the German manufacturer Revoltec. The name of this product is obviously not the most imaginative, but the package certainly is not the usual syringe/tube like container. It actually looks like a small bottle of nail lacquer and the TIM as applied to the CPU the same way as lacquer on nails - with a small brush. The compound itself is not viscous at all and that makes some problems. If you apply too much of it on the CPU, the excess grease might run through the edges and even make it to the CPU socket. The price for a bottle of the Revoltec Thermal Freeze starts from about 4 Euros.

Thermalright Chill Factor 2

BalticHW was one of the first websites given the opportunity to test the new Chill Factor 2 compound, changing its predecessor. I must say, that the packaging leaves a very positive impression. It is stylish, the cap of the tube is very convenient, and the manufacturer even adds a plastic card to spread the compound. According to the Manufacturer, the product consists approximately half of zinc oxide and half of metal particles and one tube carries about 4 grams of the compound. Its consistence is virtually identical to the Scythe Thermal Elixer, but not like the Thermal Elixer, you cannot buy the Chill Factor 2 yet. Thermalright says, that after launch the TIM will cost about 5 US dollars.

Tuniq TX-2

Those of you, who are reading our articles or simply follow the computer hardware industry, know, that Tuniq is a part of Sunbeamtech. One of the products from this company, that we are today looking at, is the TX-2 compound. Despite being in the market for quite long, it is still popular, especially in the US. The Tuniq TX-2 is being sold in common 3,5 g tubes. Like the Cill Factor 2, it is sticky and liquid. Tuniq claims, that it is the best TIM in the market. We will see if that's true shortly. It costs about 5 dollars.

Tuniq TX-3

The second contestant from Tuniq is the TX-3. It is supposed to replace the TX-2 and attract users of its predecessor as well as new potential buyers. It doesn't offer any revolutionary improvements over the TX-2, but it has one advantage over the older model - its consistence makes it easier to apply and clean. This TIM also sells in 3,5 g tubes, that look a bit different and have other caps. Strangely this product costs 10 bucks, which is a lot. So it simply must perform better in order to justify the double price of the TX-2.

In the photo in the right you can see the difference between the TX-2 and the TX-3. The former is on the right and the - on the left.

ZeroTherm ZT-100

The last contender of this competition is the ZeroTherm ZT-100. Our most loyal readers already had a chance to read the review of the FZ-120 CPU cooler, which performed very well. Although you can find this cooler and some other products from this company in Lithuania, the ZT-100 is not available here. This TIM is being sold in a large tube, but the weight of the actual product is 3,5 grams. The consistence is convenient for spreading it on the surface. In Europe it costs a little less than 4 Euros.

>Testing methodology

In today's testing we are using a little different methods than in our previous reviews of cooling products. During the tests the Chieftec Dragon CH-07B-B case was closed and, in order to be more accurate, the ambient temperature was measured after every test. The CPU was cooled by the Xigmatek S1283 CPU cooler with the Crossbow mounting kit and a Noctua NF-P12 fan. We tested each every TIM two times - after 10 minutes CPU load with Prime 95 the temperatures of the CPU were measured with the RealTemp 3.00 software.

Computer configuration:

CPU: Core 2 Duo E6550 1,5 V 3150 MHz (450 MHz x7)
MB: AsRock 4Core1600Twins-P35
VGA: XFX HD4850 XXX 512 MB
RAM: Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4 2 GB
Case: Chieftec CH-07B-B
HDD: Samsung HD403LJ; WD SE16
PSU: Chieftec 350 W
ODD: Samsung DVD±R/RW Writemaster SH-S162A

It's time to bust the myth, which is quite alive. The thermal sensors inside the CPU core are very accurate and do not produce apparent errors in the results. The easiest way to apply the compound on a cooler with HDT technology is by adding two parallel lines of the TIM on to the base. Despite that, we spread the TIM on the whole CPU IHS and only then mounted the heatsink, in order to achieve the best accuracy.

>Results

First run





Second run





Average