[OFFICIAL] Free ICD7 thermal compound for OCF members Results Thread

Some edits coming over the next couple of days on the following report

I am starting a compilation of all forum test data that has been acquired from the forum giveaways to date. Some compounds are used so rarely it is impossible to break them out of the pack. In any event with the number that that has added up to date I can start to combine results with the other giveaways and break those out of the pack and will add those chart comparisons also.

More credence should be given to larger sample sizes, smaller less so.

1-5 samples 1 or two tests can flip results either way so usually get thrown onto the miscellaneous group.

6-10 samples may start to indicate trends but can be heavily influenced by outliers and so are lightly weighted other than a general trend indicator

11-20 samples - Starting to develop more of a confidence in the trend direction.

20-30 samples - Confidence level improves to around 95% at this point.


Some edits coming over the next couple of days-





What is different in this final report is I am combining results from all forums to date (with the exception of AMDZONE they reworked their site and deleted the thread before I had a chance to copy all data) and breaking out some of the individual compounds.

These are of course preliminary and more of a snapshot as data is being added every day and so is subject to revisions, changes and corrections as needed. All data are independent user results and IC treatment is limited to Averaging and plotting the charts. All data is publicly available for review at Overclockers.com,Overclock.net, Overclockers Austraila, Anandtech, xtremesystms, HardewareLogic and HardwareCanucks.

First up is the generic white compounds and unidentified pastes that shipped with the installed sink.

Generic white or stock paste- 26 users 7 forums




Next AS5 -125 users from 7 forums



Next MX2 - 36 users from 7 forums



Next OCZ Freeze -11 User results from 7 forums




Next TX-2 -3 User results from 7 forums, 3 results from review sites



Next ShinEtsuX23 -7 User results from 7 forums, 3 results from review sites



Next Ceramique -9 User results from 7 forums



Next Thermalright -6 User results from 7 forums



Next Misc -11 User results from 7 forums



Preliminary, some edits, corrections to be added Later

WoW! Still going strong!

It is interesting to use the forums as a proving ground for products. I noted yesterday that the "pea" method of application that was developed and validated on this thread made it into a Hardocp TIM shootout article yesterday, so the method or idea is gaining mainstream acceptance. Congrats to the users on this thread for developing the process.

JoeC said:

It is interesting to use the forums as a proving ground for products. I noted yesterday that the "pea" method of application that was developed and validated on this thread made it into a Hardocp TIM shootout article yesterday, so the method or idea is gaining mainstream acceptance. Congrats to the users on this thread for developing the process.

Click to expand...

Interestingly enough, their conclusion on that front is that thin pastes = pea, thicker pastes = spread, which is contrast to the findings on IC7, which probably is the thickest paste.

Omsion said:

Interestingly enough, their conclusion on that front is that thin pastes = pea, thicker pastes = spread, which is contrast to the findings on IC7, which probably is the thickest paste.

Click to expand...

I noted that. Baby steps here- They only tested the paste configurations for 15 min, not long enough to allow them to spread and settle in. 2 hours at a decent pressure would have been better. from start up to 2 hours is worth a couple of C- they just did not take it far enough.

I am enthusiastic about their use of a thermocouple. Would have like to seen ambient for each test rather than a flat 25 C.

Thermocouples are damned sensitive and can change a couple of degrees just by standing next to them or breathing and warming the local air.

Bump for edit

Omsion said:

Epic 19° drop that one guy had

Click to expand...

yea i was just thinking WTF happened with his setup? may be he had some real crap thermal compound to begin with and may be also the heat sink wasnt even on very good.

I have a small giveaway going with some laptop guys that adds a little different viewpoint to application potentials for those that have an interest.

Laptops

Reliability

I harp on reliability on all the forums but mostly I am ignored on the subject. For those that focus only on temps take a look what can happen in just a month.

The more liquid type pastes have more of a tendency to pump out or bake out. Though they wet well and give good performance out of the gate, if stressed you can run into this problem

JoeC said:

I harp on reliability on all the forums but mostly I am ignored on the subject. For those that focus only on temps take a look what can happen in just a month.

The more liquid type pastes have more of a tendency to pump out or bake out. Though they wet well and give good performance out of the gate, if stressed you can run into this problem

Click to expand...

That's why I'm using your stuff. I like to set it and forget it. I got the large tube and I haven't touched my AS-5 for a good long while.

oh wow nice improvements iv ever heard of this paste then again i havnt bought paste ever since i got that big tube of mx-2 like a year ago lol... whats the washer method???

i agree that regular paste does get dried up after a while.. every time i take my waterblock off it looks exactly like those pics lol!

Another Review For those that have an interest

so where can i buy?

http://www.petrastechshop.com/icdi24cathco.html


http://www.petrastechshop.com/icdi7cathco.html

I am updating all forum results to date for the website 10 forums 336 user tests.

I thought you might be interested in our progress as you guys were the first to test IC Diamond

Those are some pretty good results overall ...

Latest update

Latest update






NOTE ON COMPARISONS

When comparing results more credence should be given to larger sample sizes, smaller less so.

1-5 samples 1 or two tests can flip results either way so usually get thrown onto the miscellaneous group.

6-10 samples may start to indicate trends but can be heavily influenced by outliers and so are lightly weighted other than a general trend indicator

11-20 samples - Starting to develop more of a confidence in the trend direction.

20-30 samples - Confidence level improves.

30+ Samples - High degree of confidence

















The laptop tests are from Notebook Review and help illustrate the expanded range of IC Diamonds use in in different applications. The VC/GPU tests across multiple forums I am in the process of breaking out and including those done here will be added as a final chart here at some point. The higher delta temps is due to no IHS and a smaller die contact, providing higher heat fluxes, hence the higher temp differences along with other factors such as compound failure due to the high thermal loads





Bell Curve Notes

About half the data is reported in round numbers and approximately 50% of the total numbers were fractional numbers, so to include all numbers in the set I rounded the fractional numbers to the nearest ½ degree. This had a minimum impact on the overall numbers, for instance the mean dropped less than 2/100th’s of a degree.

Notes: IC Sampling Vs. Individual Tests

Innovation Cooling elected to use this more or less unique method to introduce our products as the review cycle runs like molasses for thermal compounds, 10 -12 for ICD in the last 2 years with many comparisons already obsoleted due to new product cycles.

Hardware reviews serve an important function along with observations of user experiences allow individual users to either consciously or unconsciously mentally benchmark results. Our problem was there were not enough reviews to to make comparisons on as compound comparisons are notoriously tedious vs. heat sink or other hardware.

Single tests , individual or even those done by Innovation Cooling are anecdotal in nature subject to limitations of methodology. While most pursue the most rigorous test procedure possible they still encounter fluctuations of several degrees C between tests/reviews.

Why does every test come to a different conclusion? The problem is that their sample size = 1.

Even collecting multiple readings the cluster size is = 1. An individual can collect all the data readings off one system, and will still have almost no statistical power (In statistics this is known as "Intra-Sample Cluster Correlation")because the test set up is dominated by methodology. This is a problem not only in paste reviews, but in other hardware reviews, heat sinks, etc. as well.

Click to expand...

In the final analysis methodology ends up defining the final placement of all compounds- All test methodologies fail to take into account things that have a major impact on paste performance. For example the mounting system along with mechanical contact between IHS and sink as evidenced with our independent contact/pressure testing. Variability was very high on the contact results with perhaps 1 in 10 having any thing near what you might call full contact, even on those with lapped components.

In considering pressure related to mounting hardware some pastes perform relatively better under poor mounting, others perform relatively better under good mounting (viscous ones such as ICD). Considering ICD - people that had poor results with ICD had very poor mounting. Once they improved that mounting, ICD did considerably better. Of course, so did their old paste. But ICD improvement >> old paste improvement. Generally, this resulted in ICD>old.

In summary, sample size = 1 tells little. . Sample size matters!

ICD has been extensively tested by 391 independent users in 11 forum groups data that is compiled with real world, real users test results

Another review for the "mental" averagers

i missed a few free give aways, but based on the results i have seen so far i decided to buy my self a tube, il post results here

Gilgamesh in the UK just started up another giveaway