Test Rig Configuration

Enough about the thermal compound itself; let's focus on the more interesting part all about the performance and efficiency of the Arctic Cooling MX-2 thermal paste. The system used to compile and analyze the cooling performance figures is build around the high-end Intel Core 2 Duo technology, which will provide extensive central processing power which requires adequate cooling. We are using our new and high performing system based around the Intel 975X Express chipset powering our mainboard. So, let's go through the system specifications.

• Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz Dual Core Processor
• ASUS P5W Digital Home Deluxe (i975X) Mainboard
• Crucial Ballistix 2GB PC2-8000 Dual Channel Memory
• Rosewill RCX-Z2-EX CPU Fan Heatsink Cooler
• Jetway Radeon HD 2900 XT 512MB Graphics Card
• Western Digital 320GB Caviar SE 8MB Cache Hard Disk
• Speeze RockeTeer 600W (SLI Ready) Power Supply
• Spire Pininfarina SP-ATX-PALU Silver Tower Case
• Arctic Cooling MX-2 Performance Thermal Compound
• Dell UltraSharp 30" 3007WFP (Black) LCD Flat Display
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional incl. SP2 Edition

As you can see we have used the some high performance components, and we would like to express our thanks to Crucial and Jetway for their generosity on supplying us with some excellent hardware. The ASUS mainboard is based around the Intel 975X chipset supporting the Intel Core 2 Duo processor and DDR2 memory. We will be using our modest Core 2 Duo E6300 but running at 2.8GHz to support leverage our findings of the thermal efficiency of the thermal compounds. So both the mainboard and CPU are fine tuned to support this overclocking, to provide the maximum compatible and stable clock speeds. Currently the Core 2 Duo processors are the top of the market, with AMD trailing behind.

With the reference system as above listed we will now look into the different other thermal compounds that we selected from the competition and to compare these to the new Arctic Cooling MX-2 compound. Each time we will clean up the surface and apply the new compound and run it through the same stages to get the results of the performance of the compound. Yeah indeed, that takes quite some time to each time remove the Rosewill heatsink, to clean up and reapply new compound and again quite a lot of time to let the compound do its work. But since Arctic Cooling provided us the MX-2 compound quite early before it would hit the market we had plenty of time to play around.

Thermal Compound Competitors

When you want to compare the performance and efficiency of a thermal compound then you need as well to look at the competitors. To that extend we actually grabbed some other high performance compound to go up against the Arctic Cooling MX-2 thermal compound. We found some high grade compound from Akasa and Arctic Silver which we will put against the compound of Arctic Cooling. In fact most of you will know Arctic Silver, as it has build up quite a name since they came to the market for very good cooling performance. On the Akasa name, we ain't that certain it is well known but that doesn't mean it has no good reputation. Well, actually Akasa has a quite good name and very decent products.

As a reference of comparison we will be starting with the thermal paste coming along with the Rosewill CPU cooler. This is a standard thermal compound that comes with quite some CPU coolers these days. And in that aspect it is a good base to use to find out the difference with the different other compounds designed to provide superior performance and being more thermal efficient. Actually the Rosewill compound isn't too bad either, but the more optimized compounds from some of the different companies dedicated to designing the best compound will certainly come with great value.

Well, we start with the Akasa thermal compounds and we will be using their newest products and compare those to the Arctic Cooling MX-2 compound. Akasa has been at the forefront of innovative product development. Their research and development continues to produce new and inventive components to excite this demanding market. The heat dissipation requirements of modern CPU chips require thermal integration solutions of an increasingly advanced and technical nature in order for them to maintain the operating environment conducive to optimum power, reliability and speed. From Akasa we actually got two products from their new range of thermal compounds, the imaginatively named Pro-Grade 460 and Pro-Grade+ 5022.

Next to Akasa we also opted to go for another brand to compare and this time we opted for Arctic Silver. Most of you will certainly know this name, and its reputation on the thermal compound market. So from Arctic Silver we went for their latest version which is the Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound. Yes indeed, before this version we also had Arctic Silver 2 and 3 which made the company known for its excellent efficiency. Arctic Silver 5 is made out of unique high-density filling of micronized silver and enhanced thermal conductive ceramic particles. And next to that is optimized for use between modern high-power CPU's and high performance heatsinks or water cooling solutions.

And lastly we also took another thermal paste from Arctic Cooling, cause in the end the new version should be better than the previous version? That is exactly what we want to see, so from Arctic Cooling we got the MX-1 thermal compound to put against the MX-2 version. Important to know is that the MX-1 compound doesn't contain any metal particles, that means no problems regarding electrical conductivity and capacitance. In contrast to silver and copper compounds, contact to electrical traces, pins, and leads cannot result in any damage.