Coolink Chilla Ramic

TESTING METHODOLOGY

To test the thermal paste's effectiveness, I used Orthos to fully load cores 0,1,2,3 and ran it two times for 45 minutes for the CPU. The hottest core was then recorded out of the four cores available. For the video card testing I used the Far Cry 2 Long ranch benchmark for 10 runs twice with an idle time of 30 minutes in between each run. I then recorded the highest temperature obtained per thermal paste. I applied both of the thermal paste materials in the same exact way on the CPU IHS (five drop pattern) and on the GPU core (one small drop on the core) to ensure reliability of the testing was consistent. I will only be listing the maximum clock speeds I used on both the CPU (Core i7 920 @ 3990 ) and my GPU (HD 4870 845/1050). I should mention, my components are water cooled with the CPU being cooled by the Danger Den MC-TDX water block with a tri 120 radiator and the GPU being cooled on a separate loop by a Koolance full coverage block with a single 120 radiator. So, your results will very greatly from my own. Ambient temperature was around 19°C during testing.

TESTING

The competition of the thermal pastes being used. To the left, Radio Shack's Silicone based thermal paste, and to the right, Coolinks Chilla Ramic.

Before I get started on applying the thermal pastes and get on with the testing, I did a smear test. Basically, I put a small drop of each thermal past on a back of a black DVD cover. Then with my finger on the outer edge of each paste, I dragged it outwards to show you the difference between each paste. The Silicone based thermal paste disappears quite quickly during this little test. The Chilla Ramic thermal paste still retains a lot of its color. Also, when looking at these two thermal pastes together, the Chill Ramic (right) is much brighter white than the Silicone based thermal paste.

Close up view of the Chilla Ramic thermal paste.

Close up view of the Silicone based thermal paste.

I wiped each thermal paste completely off of the back of the DVD cover. This is what the Chilla Ramic thermal paste left behind. As we can see, it slightly stained the black DVD cover.

We can't even tell if there was any Silicone based thermal paste even here in this spot.

Well, not exactly the way I wanted the thermal paste to go on, but its close enough for the government.

The Danger Den MC TDX water block is mounted and secured fully.

How the Chilla Ramic spread out on the IHS of my CPU. Looks like I need to Lap my IHS a bit better next time.

Final Results

Lower is Better

Here we see the Chilla Ramic thermal paste takes a commanding lead over the silicone based thermal paste. It dropped my temperatures from a 30°C idling, to 27°C, a three degree difference. But it's not always about idling temperatures, it's about how low the full load is. Again, the Chilla Ramic shows its superiority in the full load testing as well, by giving me a 7°C drop in temperatures.

 Lower is Better

Now, once I applied the Chilla Ramic to my water cooled HD 4870, I noticed a significant reduction in temperatures again, reducing my idling temperatures by 2°C and my load temperatures by 5°C.