Grease Wars 5: The Gooey-est
Introduction
This is a
Nanothern vs. Arcticsilver shootout. The last GW4
shootout entailed all Nanotherm products without any Arcticsilver representation.
Tested here is the latest incarnation of the Arcticsilver product line: Ceramique.
No matter who wins, both cooling solutions are "best in class" products.
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Factory
Specifications
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Ceramique
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- Negligible
Electrical Conductivity
- Does not
contain any silicone
- Does not
separate, run, migrate or bleed
- About 1cc
& 8cc syringes
- Price: $4.95=1cc,
$9.95=8cc
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Factory
Specifications
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Nanotherm
Experimental
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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.
ESG Associates
has long since released the "experimental" grease I've tested again
here as Silver XTC. These two gooey contenders are so far above anything else
I have lying around (other Nanotherm products, AS3, etc.), that it only made
sense to compare the best available.
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. The testing rig has changed from over
six months ago to reflect the hotter, more difficult to cool P4's. The ever
popular 2.4B (533FSB) is not only a great at stock speeds, but typical overclocking
reports suggest speeds in the 3.2 to 3.4GHz range.
