Thermal compound has been used on heatsinks ever since they were first used. No matter what type of cooling method for your processor (air, water, phase-change, liquid nitrogen), there will always be some microscopic space between the chip and heatsink, which are filled with air. A “dry joint” does not transfer heat very well, as there is more air between the two surfaces than actual physical contact. Even with a mirror finish there are still microscopic pockets of air which hinder heat transfer away from the processor.
Notable characteristics of silver and copper *
A chunk of silver is a very ductile and malleable (slightly harder than gold) univalent coinage metal with a brilliant white metallic luster that can take a high degree of polish. It has the highest electrical conductivity of all metals, even higher than copper, but its greater cost has prevented it from being widely used in place of copper for electrical purposes. Pure silver also has the highest thermal conductivity, whitest color, the highest optical reflectivity (although it is a poor reflector of ultraviolet), and the lowest contact resistance of any metal. Silver halides are photosensitive and are remarkable for the effect of light upon them. This metal is stable in pure air and water, but does tarnish when it is exposed to ozone, hydrogen sulfide, or air with sulfur in it. The most common oxidation state of silver is +1; a few +2 compounds are known as well.
Because silver is the highest electrical and thermal conductor, manufacturers have used it as the magic ingredient in high-performance thermal compounds. Silver, as we all know, is expensive, and so are compounds based on silver. More advanced forumulas exist, as the current King of Thermal Compounds (Arctic Silver Ceramique) contains no silver at all. There is still room for inovation and competition on the thermal battlefield, and one of the newest heirs to the Throne is TherMax Tech’s XFlux-GA Thermal Compound.
TherMax Tech claims the compound is an electrical insulator, but one should still be conservative with the it. While the compound is not electrically conductive, it should still be kept away from electrical traces, pins, and leads. The compound is slightly capacitive and could potentially cause problems if two electrical paths are bridged. The compound is absolutely stable and will not seperate, run, migrate or bleed up to 200 degrees Celcius. No toxic substances are present in the compound or were used in its creation. The compound also cleans up easily with rubbing alcohol.
TherMax Tech, Inc. is the premier manufacturer of high-performance thermal compounds for computer and high-power electronics. They have developed a series of high-performance thermal greases, XtFlux-KA, XrFlux-KAII, and XfFlux-GA. The company was started in October of 2005 and based in Texas.
| Thermal Compound Comparison | |||
| TherMaxTech xFlux-GA | Arctic Silver 5 | Arctic Silver Ceramique | |
| Thermal Resistance (cm2/W) | 0.067 | 0.0045 | 0.007 |
| Thermal Conductance (W/m2) | ~200,000 | 350,000 | 200,000 |
| Density (g/ml) | 3.40 | ? | ? |
| Viscocity | 750 | ? | ? |
| Thermal Limits (Celcius) | -50 to 200 | -150 to 180 | -50 to 180 |
| Base | secret forumula of high-purity particles (one of them copper) in silicone oil | 99.99% pure silver in 88% solution of non-conductive filler. | Aluminum oxide, boron nitride and zinc oxide in polysynthetic oil |
The TherMax Tech XFlux-GA compound is packaged in a clear plastic bag that is sealed with a cardboard label at the top. 3.5 grams of compound is contained in a translucent medical syringe with a clear reusable cap. The yellow label on the syringe provides the product name, company website and “Keep Away From Children” warning. The cardboard label stapled onto the bag mirrors the syringe’s information.
Being very curious about this unique product, we opened the bag and tested the brown compound. It feels very greasy and sticky, and does not wipe off easily. Wiping the product off with a dry paper towel left our fingers stained brown, but came off easily with soap and water. The brown color leads us to conclude that the main ingredient in this solution is copper. TherMax Tech acknowledged that copper was one of the ingredients, but would not provide more clues to its composition. The compound is thick, but not as thick as generic compound, almost feeling like oil-based paint. The brown compound is very sticky, like printer’s ink, and adheres very well to metal.
To test the thermal grease we used 2 different heatsinks: a generic Intel OEM (a copper core surrounded by aluminum and 80mm fan) and the good-performing Zalman CNPS-Cu Flower heatsink (all copper heatsink with 92mm fan). Thermal grease was applied to our Pentium-4 and spread to coat the entire surface. Some of the excess from the processor was rubbed into the base of the heatsink to prime it, then placed on top of the processor and secured. Load was tested using 3dMark 2005 and the highest temperature recorded from the motherboard’s thermal sensor. After the test, the heatsink was uninstalled and compound removed with rubbing alcohol. The heatsink and compound results can be found in the tables and charts below.
The TherMax Tech XFlux-GA heatsink compound performs better than generic white silicone compound and Artic Silver 5. The statistics of the GA compound is similar to Arctic Silver Ceramique and this test proves performance to be similar as well. Nearly all the compounds held roughly the same temperature at idle, but the thermal efficiency of the compounds is revealed at full processor load. The XFlux-GA performs as well as the previous King of Thermal Compound!
What is this extra performance going to cost? Let’s do a price analysis of all the competition and see who offers the best value.
| product | amount | price | price/g | |
| ThermaxTech | 3.5g | $4.99 | $1.42 | |
| Arctic Silver 5 | 3.5g | $5.99 | $1.71 | |
| Arctic Silver 5 (large) | 12g | $16.99 | $1.41 | |
| Arctic Silver Ceramique | 2.5g | $4.99 | $1.96 | |
| Generic Silicon Compound | 1g | $1.95 | $1.95 | |
| Prices taken from online retailers Jan 2006 | ||||
As can be seen from the previous analysis, the TherMax Tech compound has a decent price ratio. You have to buy a huge tube of Arctic Silver to reach the value that XFlux-GA offers. In addition to this finding, the TherMaxTech xFlux-GA offers better performance than the competition, and performs as well as the highly efficient Arctic Silver Ceramique.
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