Grease Wars 4: Supercool Goo
Introduction
This is an
all Nanothern shootout. Five samples in total were tested, with two of them
being of the XTC vintage and one experimental syringe. Experimental products
are always great fun because one never knows what to expect. Is this new product
the holy grail of thermal solutions, or a flop? In more areas than one, Silver
XTC will create quite stir...
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Factory
Specifications
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Nanotherm
Ice2 & Blue2
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- Available
in two flavors: Ice & Blue
- Negligible
Electrical Conductivity
- Thick, Viscous,
Sticky Consistency
- Does not
Separate, Leech or Dry Out
- Price: $4.75
& 4.95 shipped (respectively) USD for 1.5ml/2.0gm
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Factory
Specifications
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Nanotherm
Silver XTC
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- 99.98%
pure silver particles
- 80 to 83%
silver by weight
- Compound is non-electrically conductive
- Designed
for operating temperatures in excess of 500ºF
- Price:
$7.95 USD for 4.0gm
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The Products
(from the Nanotherm
review)
I remember
an old TV ad that opened with senior citizens driving down a crowded street.
A woman asked the male driver about changing the car's oil and his reply was,
"motor oil is motor oil."
When setting
up your new P4 or XP screamer, I'm sure most consider very carefully every
single part that goes into the case. Except for some odd reason, the thermal
grease gets left out. Some argue the benefits when grease is substituted for
an inefficient pad, but is there is difference between greases themselves?
Can one be significantly better than another? If you recall my aging Arctic
Silver review, you'll see that quality of thermal paste varies greatly.
What I've
discovered with heatsink compound is that generally speaking, you want a thick
viscous compound. This is good for several reasons. First, a viscous grease
is less prone to drying out over time (months, years). Second, tiny air pockets
are less likely to decrease the tight coupling between heatsink and CPU.
Due to an
NDA, I can't reveal many of the Nanotherm experimental particulars, but suffice
it to say that it will prove to be quite the "out-of-the-box" product.
XTC feels like nothing I've squished between heatsink and fan before. It is
an unusually thick, dry and pasty goo.
Testing
Notes
For those
of you who have P4's, you'll relate to what I'm talking about. Changing CPU's
or grease is a significant exercise. To facilitate more consistent results,
I completed all tests with the ASUS P4T533-C out of the case. Even with the
superior cooling capabilities of the InWin S508 super mid tower P4 case, you
should add at least 10º F to the CPU and case temps for more real world
results.
