IC Diamond 7 Vs Corsair H70 Standard paste?

big_fella_andy · 8 Apr 2011 at 12:20

OOps i put thermaltake in the title, i meant Corsair!!
Just got my IPA delivered today, so decided to clean processor/H70.

Before i done this, I done a few tests

Firstly was my idle temperature

Hydro paste was running at 35 degrees after been on all morning sitting idle.

So i decided to run Prime 95 and take some temps.

Only did short tests, so after 10minutes prime 95 was reading at 58 degrees.. And 20 minutes, also consistant at 57 degrees.

I've just remounted my H70, cleaning it with IPA 99.9%, using a pea sized ammount of paste (like shown in the pictures on the website)

Nothing too much.

Idle time was jumping between 35 and 36, so a 1 degree increase, and running prime now, after 5 minutes i'm already at 63 degrees!

Has anyone else had any experience with this? I've been told that IC Diamond 7 was the best out there, so far I'm unimpressed

.

Helios1234 · 8 Apr 2011 at 12:53

Corsair use Shin-etsu thermal paste on their coolers which is amongst the best you can get. I made the same mistake and thought the MX-3 would be better than the stock paste on the cooler until I realised they used shin-etsu.

This was back on the H50 though so I'm not sure if that's the case.

big_fella_andy · 8 Apr 2011 at 14:03

Ah Bugger, lol, i've just read that the curing time of the Ic Diamond 7 is 2 hours (Under load)... Does this make much of a difference?

And will running prime 95 for 2 hours effectivly "cure" this paste?

OLDPHART · 8 Apr 2011 at 14:33

MX4, spreaders easier and its very good.

Trackside · 8 Apr 2011 at 16:37

I dropped my idle temps on the H50 with IC diamond but then I did use OCZ 5+ in place of the stock stuff when I first mounted it. Did nothing for full load temps.

big_fella_andy · 8 Apr 2011 at 19:01

Hmm, might try and reseat it tomorow, will see how it's thermal paste pattern looks then adjust accordingly.

Although, is 64 degrees under 100% load (Prime 95) for 2 hours good? (2600k running at 3.8ghz?) Not sure weather it's worth it or not.

Opinions welcome??

Sayso · 8 Apr 2011 at 20:50

TIMs are not magic and even between most of the popular ones on the market there is only about 5C difference max (if that)
The amazing decreases people see are mainly due to a bad mount/incorrect pressure/bad spread etc
Im not up to speed with the temps on a h70/sandybridge combo, so i cant comment on that, but overclock to the max temps/voltage you are happy with, a lot of people post on here with amazing overclocks and temps....not a lot of people with bad

R088ieS86 · 8 Apr 2011 at 21:08

OLDPHART said:
MX4, spreaders easier and its very good.

Agreed, I've just tried applying some IC Diamond and its annoying as!

bigjimmyauk · 8 Apr 2011 at 22:57

same here it feels like bloody clay, serious waste of £10. i'm tempted to take my d14 off and see how much it spread.

WingZero30 · 8 Apr 2011 at 23:18

R088ieS86 said:
Agreed, I've just tried applying some IC Diamond and its annoying as!

bigjimmyauk said:
same here it feels like bloody clay, serious waste of £10. i'm tempted to take my d14 off and see how much it spread.

lol

It is one of the best thermal compound. You need to let it settle in for atleast 3-4 days from the time of application. Also make sure your heatsink is fully tightened onto cpu IHS.

Innovation Cooling recommends 5-5.5m Pea-Sized blob in the middle on the cpu IHS. Ofcourse you can apply more or less depending how much pressure your heatsink mounting system exerts on the cpu IHS.

The best way I find of applying the pea-sized blob in the middle is to place the tip of the themal compound tube roughly on the centre of cpu IHS and then apply the pressure onto the handle of the tube, so the compound comes out onto cpu IHS.
While it is coming out, keep your tube tip in that position and you will see a nice blob forming in the middle

.

However if while applying the compound you lift the tip of the tube, then you will mess it up and then you will find the IC Diamond coming out of the tube like ice-cream which flows out of the ice-cream machine onto the cone lol

.

This happened to me aswell

.

However you will find that IC Diamond along with IC Perihelion gives the best spread pattern, even better than MX-4 in my case :cool:

.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=18814406&postcount=291

Trackside · 11 Apr 2011 at 13:22

Just run another prime 95 test after a 3 day 'settling in' time and I reckon the peak temps have dropped a few degrees as it now won't go over 70deg and was hitting 74-75 before. This was even when not running the fans at full speed so I think an i7 2600 at 4.8ghz on the H50 is OK with dual fans and IC diamond.

Terminator1612 · 11 Apr 2011 at 14:10

I'm getting a temperature drop of around 3-6C when using IC Diamond vs the Corsair H50 stock TIM. The CPU is now at 50-51C with 100% usage in Prime 95, whereas before I was at 55-56C. Given that I only applied the paste a few days ago, I'm happy enough with the new temps.

I personally didn't mind applying the IC Diamond paste either. Following the instructions on their site was simple really.

V F · 11 Apr 2011 at 17:27

I don't know how true it is but I was reading a few weeks back on overclock.net? lapping the H50/70 doesn't void the warranty.

I'd love to get mine lapped and also fit a spacer to see if I can get anymore improvements at quiet fan speeds. Currently 29c idle, 40c load at 1250 - 1400rpm. If I ramp up the Sharkoons to 2000rpm I'll get 22 - 24c idle/web browsing and 30 - 33c load on gaming but it's very noisy. Though it's great to have the option.

j.col · 11 Apr 2011 at 17:31

make sure you have used enough IC diamond.
the first time i used it, i used too little.
as wingzero30 said, you need to use a pea sized amount, this looked really big to me, but it did drop my temps from the first mount (using grain of rice size)

Ace Modder · 11 Apr 2011 at 17:33

Thread title fixed.

big_fella_andy · 11 Apr 2011 at 18:30

Thanks Ace.

Just thought i'de post some results with the H70 Shin Etsu Vs the Ic Diamond 7.

Firstly, System spec.Obsidian 800D case. (Extra exhaust fan on top, extra intake fan on bottom, and the rear exhaust fan reversed using the H70 cooler.
GTX 460 Scc Superclocked Evga
3x HDDs
8gb Corsair Vengeance (2x4gb) 1600mhz
2600k I7 Sandybridge running at 3.8ghz
Asus Sabertooth Motherboard. P67.

All tests are done using Prime 95 Torture test, with fans on 100%

Shin Etsu results
Idle = 35 Degrees
10minutes prime = 58
20minutes prime = 58/59
(never done any longer tests, wanted to get playing some games on the new rig)

Day 1 of Ic Diamond 7
Idle 35 - 36
10minutes prime 61
20minutes prime 62

I'de reseated this because i wasn't too happy with temps, had a Little too much thermal grease on. So Reapplied

The Second results

Idle 36 degrees
10minutes prime = 61/62
20minutes prime 62/63
50minutes prime 64 degrees

2 Days later (after a few hot/cold cycles) The results followed...

Idle 35 degrees
10minutes prime 61 degrees
20minutes = 61 degrees
50 minutes = 62 degrees

a Further 2 days later
Idle = 33 degrees
10minutes = 57 degrees, has had 1 or 2 jumps to 59, but have came straight back down within 5 seconds. So a slight improvement over the Shin Etsu
20minutes = 58/59 degrees, only jumped to 59 when writing a post on the forums.

No Further tests will be compaired with the Shin Etsu as i didn't do long testing.

However. 50 minutes of prime on the Ic diamond 7 is giving me results of.
58 degrees at the moment, the last minute it has been jumping to 60 degrees, but has been setteling on 59 degrees for 20 second periods. So will call it 59 degrees.

And the 10minutes it's taken me to write this post, bringing us to 60 minutes, has gave the Ic Diamond 7 a temperature of 60 degrees.

Overall results and thoughts... If you don't mind messing about with a thick clay like substance, then Ic Diamond 7 is good stuff, and seems worth the £5 it will cost you over the Free shin Etsu stuff the H70 comes supplied with.
Results are a bit disapointing at first, but it definatly does get better over the course of the week.

Will be doing a 50minute test in another 4 days time for one last comparison. then a 50mm Fan will be getting installed on the motherboard to see if this helps the temps even more.

GJ02 · 13 Apr 2011 at 06:38

I've got some of this arriving today
Do you spread it, or just let the heatsink and pressure spread it out ?

Trackside · 13 Apr 2011 at 07:38

Have a look at the manufacturers site for application instructions - basicaly a pea sized blob in the middle and let the pressure of the clamp down mechanism spread it on it's own. Spreading it manualy beforehand can ( it's claimed) introduce air gaps. What seems crucial to optimal performance is enough clamping pressure which obviously varies between different cooler designs to even spread and paste quantity is not the whole story.

big_fella_andy · 13 Apr 2011 at 16:00

GJ02 said:
I've got some of this arriving today
Do you spread it, or just let the heatsink and pressure spread it out ?

I've just put a peasize ball in the middle.

I've had an old BB gun lying around though which took 5.5mm ballbearings lol, so i just used one of them for reference (they recomend using 5.5mm blob in the middle of the CPU)

http://www.innovationcooling.com/applicationinstructions.htm

Instructions there.

Also, this Does get better with use 100% and when it's cured it's brilliant stuff.

I've had it on about a week now, and i've just added a fan on my motherboard.

Temps now.
Idle = 31 degrees
10minutes prime 53 degrees
20minutes prime = 55 degrees
60minutes prime 55 degrees, but i did see it drop to 54 degrees
2 hours prime = 55 degrees and showing no sign of climbing.

GJ02 · 19 Apr 2011 at 16:34

im not overly impressed with this stuff