Testing the NVIDIA GTX 970 with IC DIAMOND

frostdragon · 14 Nov 2014 at 11:58

IC-DIAMOND BEFORE AND AFTER TEST

We heard good things about MSI's gtx 970 4-g gaming graphics card, so we decided to purchase one.

We thought that we would give the the good old 'tried testing and true' IC DIAMOND Before and AFTER test.

That is with stock paste and after application of IC diamond.

We tested the graphics card with fans on auto (GPU IDLE AND FULL LOAD) and Fans on full.
and then the same again with IC DIAMOND

ALL ambient room temperatures were recorded. To obtain this we ran the graphics card for a FULL hour and then the GPU was left to cool down naturally for 30 mins. ONLY THEN where AMBIENT room and idle temperatures recorded.

ALL ambient temps were recorded by the use of a K-PROBE and voltcraft meter. GPU temps recorded by MSI after Burner and Kombustor.

Testing motherboard was MSI XPOWER 2
CPU 3960X INTEL (at stock) (water cooled cpu )

Removing the stock heatsink. PLEASE excuse the poor photographs as my main camera was at the office, whilst I was at home conducting this test, so I had to make use of my phones camera

PLEASE NOTE we only tested the GPU CORE and not the memory.

TO remove the heatsink from this card, involved the simple removal of four screws.

Only to be confronted on what looks to be the usual stock paste that is very liquid, which gives rise to concerns of reliability over time. This is worrying given the amount of watts that go through any graphics card in general.

Let us clean that GPU CORE to a nice shine shall we?

Now apply a small amount of IC DIAMOND TIM to the gpu CORE

All we have to do is perform testing.

The next post will show the before and after testing and the ambient room temps.

To be continued....... IN NEXT POST

frostdragon · 14 Nov 2014 at 11:59

testing section BEFORE ICD

TESTING SECTION

As previously shown in the above post.

We tested the graphics card with fans on auto (GPU IDLE AND FULL LOAD) and Fans on full.
and then the same again with IC DIAMOND

ALL ambient room temperatures were recorded. To obtain this we ran the graphics card for a FULL hour and then the GPU was left to cool down naturally for 30 mins. ONLY THEN where AMBIENT room and idle temperatures recorded.

ALL ambient temps were recorded by the use of a K-PROBE and voltcraft meter. GPU temps recorded by MSI after Burner and Kombustor.

Testing motherboard was MSI XPOWER 2
CPU 3960X INTEL (at stock) (water cooled cpu )

Please note that when the fans are set to AUTO They do not engage until the GPU reaches 63C

BEFORE ICD

Ambient room TEMPS 21.3C

GPU IDLE FANS AUTO

GPU IDLE FANS FULL

GPU FULL LOAD FANS AUTO

GPU FULL LOAD FANS FULL

frostdragon · 14 Nov 2014 at 12:00

tESTING AFTER ICD

TESTING WITH THE APPLICATION OF IC DIAMOND

Same procedure as above except....

AMBIENT ROOM TEMPS

23.8C

The above image also shows the importance of testing the room temperatures by the use of proper equipment. Cheap standard room thermometers are often inaccurate and can give false results.

IC DIAMOND APPLICATION

IDLE FANS AUTO

GPU IDLE FANS FULL

GPU FULL LOAD FANS AUTO

Have to retest on this one as I cannot find the file

GPU FULL LOAD FANS FULL

Conclusion and fans auto gpu full load results to arrive soon, however on average so far we are seeing a 5-6c drop in temperature all across the board. So in other words the marketing ploy that other TIm manufacturers like to inform us that all Compounds perform only one degree of each other ,so what is the point etc etc. Well given the evidence shown above this is CLEARLY NOT the case at all!

We see on average a 5-6c and in one result 7c temperature drop from stock paste. THIS is when we factor the AMBIENT ROOM TEMP differntial

However even after the evidence presented above, if you do not take our word for it, then PLEASE TRY FOR YOURSELVES! We are giving away TEN TUBES TO TRY on YOUR graphics card.

rtho782 · 14 Nov 2014 at 12:05

Very interesting! I want to try this on my 980s now.

What about warranty issues from removing the stock heatsink?

Is it electrically conductive? If this gets over the resistors on top of the GPU will it cause issues?

Where do you sign for the giveaway?

layte · 14 Nov 2014 at 12:14

Does this still scratch/stain anything it's applied to? When I sold off my old 4770k after 12 months the bottom of the heatsink was permanently stained and the writing on the CPU appeared to have been scratched off and was no longer legible. I'd be very wary about putting it on something like a GPU where it could directly damage the core.

frostdragon · 14 Nov 2014 at 12:15

ICD is not electrically conductive or capacitive buddy!

IT is ideal for GPUS and mobos etc for the reason.

Also the viscosity of the product is very high, thus being again ideally suited for the above and for reliability.

As for warranties.... I KNOW EVGA still allows you your warranty if you remove the heatsink, A far as MSI, I think they do also.

The main issue is this, TEMP performance is only one thing. But given hoq liquid the stock paste is then one can reasonably be concerned of performance over time. That is with the high heat of a GPU then there is a good chance the stock paste will dry out. Thus when you have a thicker paste the more reliable it is as it physcially creates a gasket seal, allowing no air to enter the joining of the surfaces.

Golden rule is this:

Thinner the compound less reliable over time
Thicker the paste is the longer it lasts before re-application.

antran · 14 Nov 2014 at 12:16

I don't know the ambient temp. of my room, my card is idling at 33-34C with the fan running on auto.

I might give this a try

Thanks

frostdragon · 14 Nov 2014 at 12:16

This product has never scratched or stained any product fella. That is usually the marketing ploy of those whom are in the employ of certain other companies.

Let us examine this fully

OCUK has sold what around 20,000 tubes of this product? They have had ZERO returns and ZERO returns due to warranty issues either and that says it all

rtho782 · 14 Nov 2014 at 12:18

Sounds good! I was thinking of re-pasting my CPU so might get some and do my GPUs too. Heat is what is holding my GPU overclock back and this sounds like it could save me £300 odd on water cooling.

The guy saying the writing on his CPU vanished, I would think was more likely the ink being lifted, which wouldn't be a problem with a bare die like a GPU and wouldn't be something I'd care about on the CPU as there is no way they could argue it invalidated the warranty.

frostdragon · 14 Nov 2014 at 12:23

Hhehe nothing is as good as watercooling fella. IC Diamond does help but it cannot perform miracles. To be honest any company that says otherwise is being dishonest with their customers. Water cooling can achieve (on full load as much as a 30C TEMP drop) I have only seen ICD perform as much as a 10c drop on a GPU at full load and only then for the reason that it was incorrectly mounted (both times before and after)

Unlike other manufacturers we base our data from ACTUAL give away tests and the aforementioned is pretty conclusive.

rtho782 · 14 Nov 2014 at 12:26

Eh, I know watercooling would be better but it's also £300 and lots of hassle, this could keep me amused with my cards again for a few weeks for a few £

If I can hit 1500 as a 24/7 clock then I'd be happy, and I'm close to that now, temps just creep a bit higher than I'd like.

frostdragon · 14 Nov 2014 at 12:30

YUP the icd will certainly help with that.

Best thing to do is after application of icd

RUN your gpu at full load for about four hours (curing time) and test after you will notice a temp drop

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-000-ID

rtho782 · 14 Nov 2014 at 12:37

Done!

layte · 14 Nov 2014 at 12:38

frostdragon said:
That is usually the marketing ploy of those whom are in the employ of certain other companies.

I can assure you I'm not engaging in any underhand marketing ploy. Not that the same can be said for your own PR. When I discovered the damage to my equipment I went searching online, I found their to be quite the history of issues with this stuff.

http://www.hardwarebbq.com/ic-diamo...e-hand-thermal-pastes-damaging-cpu-gpu-cores/

I used to use your product with everything, now I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole.

frostdragon · 14 Nov 2014 at 12:42

Rtho782

You will have great temp drops.

Remember to run the gpu at full load for around four hours, let it cool down for about an hour then run and test again, you will see the temp drops on full load

tommybhoy · 14 Nov 2014 at 13:20

Cracking paste it really does drop temps well-but it's a one trick pony.

I did get a tint on my heatsink after removal but the cpu/gpu cores wipe clean with no stain.

After the first use it becomes unusable the next time you go to use it, no matter how long you rest it between your danglies to heat it up.

frostdragon · 14 Nov 2014 at 13:24

heheh thats strange fella never heard of that one before.

As for stain on copper is it something like this?

rtho782 · 14 Nov 2014 at 13:37

Let's say I want to do my desktop CPU (1150), two 980s, and my laptop (Ivy Bridge cpu and 650M).

Is one tube going to be enough?

frostdragon · 14 Nov 2014 at 13:54

rtho782 said:
Let's say I want to do my desktop CPU (1150), two 980s, and my laptop (Ivy Bridge cpu and 650M).

Is one tube going to be enough?

One small tube does around 3-4 to 1366 IHS sized cpu

So yes you should have enough

tommybhoy · 14 Nov 2014 at 15:14

frostdragon said:
heheh thats strange fella never heard of that one before.

As for stain on copper is it something like this?

Darker, happens with some other pastes too, personally not anal about the backside of a cooler-as long as it completely removes from the core in case of warranty purpose-that's all I'm concerned with.

Pros-Cost, works really, really well dropping the temps considerably lower than other pastes.

Cons-Harder to apply/remove, my tube increased viscosity and hardened to the extent it was unusable over the space of a few months-despite the cap firmly replaced and stored in the same container as other pastes.