Thermal Compounds Reviewed - Radio Shack thermal compound shocks all

No_Style · Jul 21, 2003, 04:03 PM

Review of Thermal Compounds

And I thought people said Radio Shack ones suck. Does StarTech = Radio Shack ?

digitalwanderer · Jul 21, 2003, 04:12 PM

I get lightheaded just thinking of the manhours in that review! I was pleased to see how me old tube of Nanotherm BlueII did in the benchies.

The_Neon_Cowboy · Jul 21, 2003, 05:04 PM

what a lie ....that is so wrong........ can we say inaccurate ..saying radioshack cheap paste is 1C better than as3 what bull

let see my cpu tempas went down about 3-5C going from radio shack paste to as2 .. then another 1-2C going to as3 so that makes the test totally inaccurate as the as3 is then 4-7C cooler than radeoshack paste..

the radioshack pastes do suck the contain O% silicone and 0% copper 0%silver

my best guess is aluminum oxide and something wite and gooey

No_Style · Jul 21, 2003, 05:41 PM

Errors could have been made, but those were the findings. It's really difficult to test thermal compounds on a calibre like this.

~~DriveEuro~~ · Jul 21, 2003, 06:36 PM

I can't believe that they did the AMD test on an NF7 series board...... The bios temps are changed in like every other bios... At least 4 different times that I can think of.

Cereal Killer · Jul 21, 2003, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DriveEuro
I can't believe that they did the AMD test on an NF7 series board...... The bios temps are changed in like every other bios... At least 4 different times that I can think of.

As long as they used the same BIOS for all tests, then the temps are evaluated on an equal playing field.

~~DriveEuro~~ · Jul 21, 2003, 06:46 PM

True. True.

Davidgt · Jul 21, 2003, 09:12 PM

who woulda though radshack paste was good, I KNOW last tube I bought of the stuff sucked so bad my temps went up 5c compared to as3

~~DriveEuro~~ · Jul 21, 2003, 09:27 PM

I have a tube of it for backup. I've used it and see no differences...

ToshiroOC · Jul 21, 2003, 10:20 PM

The thickness of the thermal compound will have a much greater effect on cooling than the actual substance in many instances...

Cereal Killer · Jul 21, 2003, 10:37 PM

After reading this article, I went to go pick up some Ceramique compound. I have always used AS3. I wanna see if the ceramique is in fact better...

Be back with the results...

Cereal Killer · Jul 21, 2003, 10:45 PM

Ok guys....this is just quick preliminary test results here...nothing official.

Keep in mind that the original AS3 had already been "burnt in" (shall we say) as it had way over the 72 hour requirement whereas the Ceramique has had the 10 minute burin job.

Running Sisoft Sandra' Burn-in plugin @ 100% CPU MAX load in a loop for 10 times gave me the following MAX reading temps on my brother's 1600+ Palomino (1.9GHz O/C).

AS3: 43C
Ceramique: 42C

I guess after the required burn in time, the results should be wider by another degree or so.

So far so good....looks like Ceramique is just as good as AS3 or even better for less $$$.

The 2.7g tube cot me $8.50CDN versus the $9.99CDN for the AS3.

krazy1 · Jul 24, 2003, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ToshiroOC
The thickness of the thermal compound will have a much greater effect on cooling than the actual substance in many instances...

This is sooo true it isn't funny.........

Necrosis · Jul 24, 2003, 09:11 PM

Your typical white thermal paste does work very well but normally this kind of paste is used in special applications. Mainly in power systems, and is good enough to used w/ passive heatsinks like on power mosfets. However, the problem w/ this kind of paste is that it dries out over time thus literally insulating and trapping what it is supposed to be transferring.

~~Sourcer_2002~~ · Jul 24, 2003, 09:33 PM

How you thin you apply it and how well you apply is the key!