I remember when I first discovered thermal compound. I had no idea that working on computers could be as messy a job as changing the oil in an old Nissan. My mentor told me, and I quote, “There is no better paste than this right here.” He said this as he handed me a tube of Arctic Silver and a broken piece of a Big Lots gift card to apply the paste with. He then fell asleep playing his 27th straight hour of Everquest 2 and left me to put the computer we had taken apart back together myself.
Thing was, even in his sleepless stupor, he had been right. Arctic Silver really had no contenders back then. It was THE thermal paste, and no one argued with the fact. But over the last few years, a few other challengers have stepped into the ring, determined to take Arctic down a peg or two. Today, I’m reviewing one of those contenders. Gelid has delivered the GC1 High Performance Thermal Compound. No, really. They delivered it. I saw the birth certificate. And here were a few details from that document:
|
*INCLUDED:
|
Applicator
|
|
Net Content (g):
|
5
|
|
Specific Gravity (g/cm3):
|
3.96
|
|
Viscosity (Poise):
|
2850
|
Okay, let’s break this down before I smear it on my CPU. It doesn’t cause short circuits, I’m going to take their word for that one. I’ve never had that happen to me by using any other thermal paste so I really can’t say much about that. Applying it is child’s play. I’m going to commend them for throwing that applicator in. Much better than a broken gift card for sure. The important parts to me are the high thermal conductivity and the life of the product. It works super fast, and it lasts for 10 years without losing its power.
I took a heatsink off of a CPU once that had been on for about that long without ever having its thermal compound changed. The compound had hardened to a state that was almost like that window caulking that people use when they are too cheap to buy new seals. If this stuff can last 10 years without ending up like that, then I tip my hat to Gelid. Well, in 10 years when I do a follow-up, anyway.
Okay, now for the testing. I’m going to keep this nice and simple. I’m going to begin with my mentor’s favorite paste, Arctic Silver 5. I’m going to run each paste under normal Idle conditions as well as full load. Obviously, the lower temperature is the winner. Here’s what I’m testing on:
- AMD Athlon X2 3800+ overclocked (AMD processors here)
- NZXT ‘Beta’ Steel Case (read our review) ($49.95 here)
- Evercool Transformer 6 heatsink (read our review here)
- 2GB Samsung DDR2 800 RAM (check DDR2 prices)
- Corsair TX750W Power Supply (read our review) ($113 here)
- NZXT Sentry LX Fan Controller (read our review) ($59 here)
- 2x 120mm case fans
- 2x 90mm case fans
- A few other heat-producing gadgets.
The idle time will be 30 minutes with only background software running. These are normal Windows operations as well as Eset Nod32 antivirus. Nothing really big. Then under full load, I’m going to be playing Bioshock for 30 minutes to get the CPU worked up. Okay, time to test.
Under normal load conditions, I was getting around 35 degrees Celsius using the AC-5 thermal paste. The room I run the tests in is a little warm this time of year, around 23.8C (or 75 degrees Fahrenheit). I ran Bioshock (read our complete walkthrough) for a half an hour and then checked my temperature again. This time around I was getting 42 degrees Celsius. That’s not exactly the best temperature for a PC to hover around, but it’s nothing that’s going to fry my machine anytime soon either.
Next, I ran the same tests using the GC-1 thermal paste. You know what? That applicator really is better than a broken card. I wouldn’t say child’s play, but close. Okay, after half an hour under idle load, I was getting a steady temperature of 33 degrees Celsius. Not too shabby. Anything lower is better in my eyes. Now, after playing Bioshock for half an hour, I was getting a temperature of about 37 degrees Celsius. These are very good temperatures, and an impressive victory over the champ, Arctic Silver.
Now, for a final test. This is one just because there are always questions about not only which brand is better, but because some people believe there is no difference between thermal pastes. I speak of those who gladly use generic pastes and think nothing of it. Damn you all to Hell, you heathens. I ran down to my local supply shop and found a crappy tube that simply read “Components: Heat Transfer Compound”. Tell me that’s not generic, they didn’t even bother giving it a name. Now you want to see what happens when you don’t use the good stuff?
At an idle run for half an hour, I was getting a temp of 42 degrees Celsius. You getting that? The lowest temperature for the generic stuff was the highest temperature for the Arctic Silver, as well as the highest temperature of all tests before. I kind of feared putting the load test on the generic paste, but for the sake of knowledge, I had to. My temp monitor automatically shuts my computer down at 50 degrees Celsius.
After only twelve minutes of Bioshock, my temp monitor began beeping and my computer shut down on me. I was really glad I had saved this document before I put it to the test. I didn’t actually get a decent temperature on it because my computer wouldn’t allow my components to endure that much heat.
The Gelid GC-1 stuff did the job better than either of the competitors. If you call the generic crap a competitor. It handled the heat and did an even better job of dissipating it than the all-time great Arctic Silver. The generic stuff didn’t even make it into the league as far as I am concerned. I hear the people now, “Oh, you did the test in a muggy garage in the summer, no fair!” Yeah, and you all keep your computers directly in front of the air conditioner? Do you really want to take that chance? The cheap stuff was $2.99 a tube. GC-1 is $6.00. It’s a no-brainer.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||