Before I begin I'd like to thank Nevin
House from Arctic
Silver for sending over both the thermal paste and the epoxy
for evaluation. Arctic Silver and
consequently Arctic Silver 2 were and still are without a doubt the best
thermal compounds on the market. There are others that are competitive:
OCZ and Coolermaster and Nanotherm all have their takes, but they just
aren't as good. Close, but not quite there. Well, the folks at AS2 decided
to go one step further. The biggest problem with AS2 was the price.
Costing around $20 at release and about $10 now, it's still quite a money
monger. And a 3 gram tube holds enough paste for 20-30 CPU applications.
Most people never do more than 5. Unfortunately
this is still a problem, but it's getting better. The new Arctic Alumina
will be sold in 1.75 gram containers which will in turn significantly
lower the price yet at the same time still be more than enough for the
majority of computer enthusiasts. The optimal solution would be small
blister packs costing a few pennies each, but chances are it'll still be a
while before we see some of those.
The tubes actually look pretty similar:
they're the same size (AS2 on top, Alumina on the bottom - for those that
can't figure it out from the picture). The Alumina one actually appears
bigger because I've used a good deal of AS2 and therefore pushed the
syringe down a bit. Anyhow, the final production units will feature a
white Mylar label instead of the silver one you see above to eliminate any
confusion between the two products. So
what's Alumina all about? Well, let's see. Before I go on, a lot of this
information can be found in a more concise form on Artic
Silver's website, I'm just adding some additional quips. The
main difference is the material used. Instead of the 78-82% silver that
was the basis of AS2, Alumina is basically a layered composite of aluminum
oxide and boron nitride. This type of composite is a ceramic, and like
others it is not only a thermally conductive filler but also an electrical
insulator that is neither conductive nor capacitive. In simplified terms,
it means that unlike AS2 it doesn't conduct electricity or store it. So if
you spill some on electrical components on the PCB (or any other place for
that matter) you shouldn't worry about it shorting out.
Because it's made out of a completely
different material, the Alumina looks radically different and in some ways
resembles regular thermal paste (but is by no means to be confused with
such). I really can't paraphrase the explanation given to me by the AS
team, so here's the quote:
Arctic Alumina compound does not contain
any silicone. The suspension fluid is a proprietary combination of
advanced polysynthetic oils that work together to provide three
distinctive functional phases. As it comes from the tube, Arctic Alumina
compound's consistency is engineered for easy application in a thin even
layer. During the CPU's initial use, the compound thins out slightly to
enhance the filling of the microscopic valleys and insure the best
physical contact between the heatsink and the CPU core. Then the compound
slowly thickens over the next 20 to 100 hours of use to its final
consistency designed for long-term stability.
This three-step "phase change" of
the Alumina should prove to be pretty impressive in the results withdrawn.
As far as the price is concerned, the tubes will be sold for $3.95 a piece
beginning somewhere around November 20th. The price per gram isn't that
much different ($0.10-0.30 less) than AS2 but it's still significantly
less because of the quantity per tube. Testing was done with my Leadtek
Geforce2 MX (stock speed and stock HSF). First I used AS2, then Alumina
with a thermistor attached to the side of the GPU for the duration of the
testing. In theory a ceramic-based compound shouldn't perform as good as
silver, but let's see what the results dictate:
![](Mik%20AA%20doc%27s/asalumina-graph1.gif)
I
know it seems like a big difference, but please do look at the scale :o)
It's actually less than 1C which is very respectable considering the
different materials involved. I think the greatest achievement of the
Alumina is the inhibition of electrical conductivity/storage without the
sacrifice of performance. Now you don't have to worry about killing your
Geforce3 when gluing on those tin-coated copper ramsinks. Finally, cleanup
is a treat. Unlike AS2 which not only gets all over the place but tends to
stay there, Alumina wipes off with no problems whatsoever. So here's the
deal: Pros
- Virtually identical performance to AS2
- Non-conductive
- Non-capacitive
- Easy cleanup
- Somewhat cheaper per gram
- A lot cheaper because less is in each
tube
- Price: $3.95 per tube
Cons
Is there anything wrong with the new
compound? Only as much as was wrong with AS2: virtually nothing. While
they could sell it in even smaller packs, it's just a marketing technique.
The product itself rocks. There's also an epoxy version of Alumina which
I'll be evaluating once my Geforce Ti gets here :o) In case you
haven't noticed, Alumina is still unavailable to the public, but will be
within the next week or two. Thanks again to Nevin
House from Arctic
Silver for sending over both the thermal paste and the epoxy
for evaluation. If you
have any questions or comments let me know here
or post in the new forums
or both. Thanks for reading and enjoy the site!
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