By now I’m sure most if not all of you know what arctic Silver II is and why it’s the best. arctic Silver, Inc which all of us overclockers have come to know and love. They have come out with the newest revision of their silver thermal compound, arctic Silver 3.
Arctic Silver 3 does not contain any silicone. The suspension fluid is a proprietary mixture of advanced polysynthetic oils that work together to provide three distinctive functional phases. As it comes from the tube, Arctic Silver 3’s consistency is engineered for easy application in a thin even layer.
During the CPU’s initial use, the compound thins out to enhance the filling of the microscopic valleys and insure the best physical contact between the heatsink and the CPU core. Then the compound thickens slightly over the next 50 to 200 hours of use to its final consistency designed for long-term stability.
Arctic Silver 3 uses three unique shapes and sizes pure silver parcticles to maximize parcticle-to-parcticle contact area and thermal transfer. This exclusive combination gives the compound a distinctive silver-green color as each type of parcticle reflects light differently. Arctic Silver 3 also contains a small percentage of specially engineered micronized boron nitride. The thermally-enhanced boron nitride ceramic parcticles improve the compound’s flow characteristics and long-term stability.
You can tell from the picture below comparing the look of arctic Silver II and arctic Silver 3 that 3 is a little darker in color. Also the feel of 3 compared to II is that 3 during application goes where you want it easier.
I decided to use my server as a test bed. I will be comparing arctic Silver II and arctic Silver 3 in the following tests. I will be using a Compunurse thermal probe that is directly touching the side of the core. I decided to use a Compunurse rather than the in-socket probe because I feel that in-socket probes are unreliable. If you want to learn why, read this arcticle
Test Bed
- MSI KT7 Pro 2-A
- Duron 800Mhz
- 512MB PC133 RAM
- Asus v7700 Geforce 2 GTS
- 300w Antec PSU
- OCZ Gladiator w/ 60mm Panaflo L1A
I first let the system idle for about 15 minutes and took the readings from the compunurse display. As you can see from the graph below arctic Silver 3 is half of a degrees lower than arctic Silver II
I then used Prime95 and torture tested it to get the CPU at load. arctic Silver 3 continued to perform better than arctic Silver II staying a half a degree less.
I then overclocked the Duron 800Mhz to 1000Mhz (10×100) after booting up I let the system idle for 15 minutes again and then took the readings from the Compunurse. arctic Silver 3 was .5 degrees less still than arctic Silver 3.
Again I used Prime95 and torture tested it to get the CPU at load. Again arctic Silver 3 is 1 degree less than arctic Silver II.
Conclusion
Once again arctic Silver, Inc has come out with another outstanding product, which surpasses the previous version. If you want to get the lowest temperature out of your system arctic Silver 3 is definitely the thermal compound to use. Without a doubt I can say that arctic Silver 3 is the best thermal compound that I have ever used and the only one that I would use any machine I build. Even though the temps are not that different between 2 and 3 if you have a thermal pad or “white goop” I would suggest you get 3. If you already have arctic Silver 2 I see no need to rush out and buy 3 unless you want to get every degree of your CPU. With a different CPU or higher voltage you may see more of a difference in temperature between Arctic Silver II and arctic Silver 3.
Pros
- Well priced
- Best performing thermal compound
- You can use it for 20+ applications
Cons
- Can be somewhat conductive