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Arctic Silver 5 vs. The new kid on the block
Arctic Silver 5 has been the faithful companion for many a CPU cooler for quite sometime now, however can the newly released IC Diamond and Perihelion break up this long lasting friendship?
Innovation Cooling or IC is relatively new, having been established in 2007. However, fear not, they have a background in electronic cooling and have certainly not been sitting around since the off. Currently their site states “350+ independent tests, on 11 forums as well as 10 website reviews”, which is not to be sniffed at.
The IC Perihelion and Diamond has been kicking around since 2008. Since then it has undergone refinement, repacking and reformulating, with the aim of topping the competition.
Prices/ Availability
Arctic Silver 5: £6.73 – 3.5g
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=AC-000-AC
IC Perihelion: £5.10 – 4g
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-002-ID
IC Diamond £6.12 - 1.5g
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-000-ID
IC Diamond: £12.98 – 4.8g
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-001-ID
Test System
Intel i7 950 @3.07GHz
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R
OCZ Gold 6GB 1600MHz
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme w/ Yate Loon D12SM-12
MSI GTX460 1GB Cyclone
Crucial C300 64GB
Antec 300 w/ 2x Yate Loon D12SM-12
Corsair HX 520W PSU
The Testing
First up is the tried and tested old friend that is AS-5 aka Arctic Silver 5.
Through the tests the thermal paste was applied in line with the manufacturers application instructions. In the case of AS-5 the vertical line method was recommended. After application the thermal paste was allowed to cure for 48 hours before testing commenced. Temperatures were taken with Real Temp 3.60 and load temperature taken after 5 minutes of the CPU at 100% with the assistance of Prime95.
Ambient:18°C Idle: 31°C Load: 60°C
Lapped result Idle: 29°C Load: 58°C
IC Perihelion is next in line. Unlike AS-5, IC recommend that Perihelion and Diamond are applied via the pea method. On top of this they even go as far as to give the exact dimensions of said pea, which should be 5-5.5mm in diameter.
Differing from AS-5, the ceramic based Perihelion is non capacitive or electrically conductive. Good news for the end user who is looking to use the compound in a sensitive area such as on graphics card.
Again quite different than AS-5, Perihelion’s consistency out of the tube is that of soft well kneaded play-doh or the like.
IC Perihelion comes in a 4 gram tube.
Ambient:18°C Idle: 31°C Load: 60°C
Lapped result Idle: 29°C Load: 58°C
Last up to test is IC Diamond. IC recommend the same application method as Perihelion and before you go fashioning a diamond ring out of it, IC Diamond is made using synthetic diamond.
Not to be confused with a diamond quality rating, IC Diamond comes in two sizes, 7 carat – 1.5 grams and 24 carat – 4.8 grams.
As with IC Perihelion, IC Diamond is non capacitive or electrically conductive. Whilst the consistency is not as thick as Perihelion, it is still quite thick when compared to AS-5.
All in all IC must feel quite confident with IC Diamond as they go as far as stating “Unmatched thermal performance and reliability”.
Ambient:18°C Idle: 30°C Load: 58°C
Lapped result Idle: 28°C Load: 55°C
Non Lapped Vs Lapped
To get the above lapped results and to see how the different thermal pastes preformed on a near perfectly flat surface the i7 950 and Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme were both lapped.
Before lapping the following pressure test was taken. The graded red area shows the contact made between the processor and the heatsink.
As shown before lapping the contact was concentrated to the top and bottom edges, reduced contact in the mid section and little to no contact on the far left and right.
This will cause the thermal paste to be thicker in some areas than others which can impede thermal performance.
Raw Image
Pseudocolor Representation and Pressure Statistics
Pressure Histogram
Line Scan
3D Image
Lapped
The following pressure tests were taken after lapping.
The raw image shows a massive improvement in contact area. The lap allowed a consistent pressure over the majority of the processer resulting in a uniform layer of thermal paste, which is ideal for improved heat conductivity.
Raw Image
Pseudocolor Representation and Pressure Statistics
Pressure Histogram
Line Scan
3D Image
Conclusion
A long lasting friendship may have been broken. Innovation Cooling managed to pull it off and hold their claim with IC Diamond which showed a drop in temperatures over AS-5.
IC Diamond showed an improvement of 1°C idle and 2°C load over the temperatures achieved by AS-5. On the lapped chip the results in favour of ICD increased. Showing a drop again of 1°C at idle over AS-5 but under load the difference edged out to 3°C in ICD's corner.
For those looking for a cost effective paste whilst retaining great cooling power then IC Perihelion should not be over looked. Whilst it did not beat the AS-5, it kept up with it every step of the way. Also in favour of the Perihelion and Diamond for a matter of fact are their non capacitive or electrically conductive property, giving them a wide range of uses in an electrically sensitive environment.
So there it is. Arctic Silver 5, CPU coolers everywhere will now have their eyes set on a new paste after all these years.
A big thank you to GreyWolf for the review.
Arctic Silver 5 has been the faithful companion for many a CPU cooler for quite sometime now, however can the newly released IC Diamond and Perihelion break up this long lasting friendship?
Innovation Cooling or IC is relatively new, having been established in 2007. However, fear not, they have a background in electronic cooling and have certainly not been sitting around since the off. Currently their site states “350+ independent tests, on 11 forums as well as 10 website reviews”, which is not to be sniffed at.
The IC Perihelion and Diamond has been kicking around since 2008. Since then it has undergone refinement, repacking and reformulating, with the aim of topping the competition.
Prices/ Availability
Arctic Silver 5: £6.73 – 3.5g
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=AC-000-AC
IC Perihelion: £5.10 – 4g
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-002-ID
IC Diamond £6.12 - 1.5g
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-000-ID
IC Diamond: £12.98 – 4.8g
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-001-ID
Test System
Intel i7 950 @3.07GHz
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R
OCZ Gold 6GB 1600MHz
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme w/ Yate Loon D12SM-12
MSI GTX460 1GB Cyclone
Crucial C300 64GB
Antec 300 w/ 2x Yate Loon D12SM-12
Corsair HX 520W PSU
The Testing
First up is the tried and tested old friend that is AS-5 aka Arctic Silver 5.
Through the tests the thermal paste was applied in line with the manufacturers application instructions. In the case of AS-5 the vertical line method was recommended. After application the thermal paste was allowed to cure for 48 hours before testing commenced. Temperatures were taken with Real Temp 3.60 and load temperature taken after 5 minutes of the CPU at 100% with the assistance of Prime95.
Ambient:18°C Idle: 31°C Load: 60°C
Lapped result Idle: 29°C Load: 58°C
IC Perihelion is next in line. Unlike AS-5, IC recommend that Perihelion and Diamond are applied via the pea method. On top of this they even go as far as to give the exact dimensions of said pea, which should be 5-5.5mm in diameter.
Differing from AS-5, the ceramic based Perihelion is non capacitive or electrically conductive. Good news for the end user who is looking to use the compound in a sensitive area such as on graphics card.
Again quite different than AS-5, Perihelion’s consistency out of the tube is that of soft well kneaded play-doh or the like.
IC Perihelion comes in a 4 gram tube.
Ambient:18°C Idle: 31°C Load: 60°C
Lapped result Idle: 29°C Load: 58°C
Last up to test is IC Diamond. IC recommend the same application method as Perihelion and before you go fashioning a diamond ring out of it, IC Diamond is made using synthetic diamond.
Not to be confused with a diamond quality rating, IC Diamond comes in two sizes, 7 carat – 1.5 grams and 24 carat – 4.8 grams.
As with IC Perihelion, IC Diamond is non capacitive or electrically conductive. Whilst the consistency is not as thick as Perihelion, it is still quite thick when compared to AS-5.
All in all IC must feel quite confident with IC Diamond as they go as far as stating “Unmatched thermal performance and reliability”.
Ambient:18°C Idle: 30°C Load: 58°C
Lapped result Idle: 28°C Load: 55°C
Non Lapped Vs Lapped
To get the above lapped results and to see how the different thermal pastes preformed on a near perfectly flat surface the i7 950 and Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme were both lapped.
Before lapping the following pressure test was taken. The graded red area shows the contact made between the processor and the heatsink.
As shown before lapping the contact was concentrated to the top and bottom edges, reduced contact in the mid section and little to no contact on the far left and right.
This will cause the thermal paste to be thicker in some areas than others which can impede thermal performance.
Raw Image
Pseudocolor Representation and Pressure Statistics
Pressure Histogram
Line Scan
3D Image
Lapped
The following pressure tests were taken after lapping.
The raw image shows a massive improvement in contact area. The lap allowed a consistent pressure over the majority of the processer resulting in a uniform layer of thermal paste, which is ideal for improved heat conductivity.
Raw Image
Pseudocolor Representation and Pressure Statistics
Pressure Histogram
Line Scan
3D Image
Conclusion
A long lasting friendship may have been broken. Innovation Cooling managed to pull it off and hold their claim with IC Diamond which showed a drop in temperatures over AS-5.
IC Diamond showed an improvement of 1°C idle and 2°C load over the temperatures achieved by AS-5. On the lapped chip the results in favour of ICD increased. Showing a drop again of 1°C at idle over AS-5 but under load the difference edged out to 3°C in ICD's corner.
For those looking for a cost effective paste whilst retaining great cooling power then IC Perihelion should not be over looked. Whilst it did not beat the AS-5, it kept up with it every step of the way. Also in favour of the Perihelion and Diamond for a matter of fact are their non capacitive or electrically conductive property, giving them a wide range of uses in an electrically sensitive environment.
So there it is. Arctic Silver 5, CPU coolers everywhere will now have their eyes set on a new paste after all these years.
A big thank you to GreyWolf for the review.
