AI Technology Cool Silver Thermal Interface Material

Testing and Conclusion

Today, we will be comparing Cool Silver to Arctic Silver 5. In the above image you can see the two thermal pastes side by side, I put small dabs of each on a peace of overhead transparency film and smeared it so you can see them. First thing I noticed was the AS5 was much creamier looking than the Cool Silver. The Cool Silver almost looks like it has sand in it; but it is actually quite smooth.

The test system:

• CPU: Intel P4 560J 3.6GHz LGA775
• Cooler: Zalman 9700 LED, Stock Intel
• Motherboard: MSI PM8M2-V mATX
• Memory: 1GB Kingston PC2700
• Hard Drive: 360GB Seagate PATA Hard drive
• Optical Drive: Sony DVD Rom
• Power Supply: Ultra X-Finity 600W

After 3 days of normal use, I started the testing; temperatures taken after 30 minutes of idle and again after 30 minutes at 100% load. To obtain 100% load, I ran Super Pi 32m calculation and an instance of http://folding.stanford.edu/ to take up any extra head room that Super Pi wasnt using. Temperatures taken from Speed Fan, and an ambient room temp of 72 degrees Celsius, all this was done twice just to double check.

First, we will look at the stock Intel heatsink. As you can see in the charts, Cool Silver wins out over the Arctic Silver 5 by 4 degrees at idle and 2 degrees at full load. So far, AiTs claims on cool silver are holding true. Lets see how it does paired up with an aftermarket CPU cooler.

At idle Cool Silver wins again, but this time only by 2 degrees. At full load, Cool Silver is the winner with a 2 degree difference. Now. I dont see enthusiasts running out and overnight shipping a tube of Cool Silver to replace Arctic Silver 5. What we do have is one very good alternative that should not be dismissed. Even when cost is involved there is not much separating these two for the 3.5 gram tube of Cool Silver will set you back a whole $6.99, just $1 more than Arctic Silver 3.5 gram tube. I think it would be advantageous of the guys/gals running stock coolers to get a tube of Cool Silver and set aside 15-20 minutes of their day to change over. I also think the HTPC crowd could take advantage of Cool Silver to help them in their goal for a cool quite machine.

Legit bottom line: I don’t see enthusiasts running out to buy Cool Silver and stripping down their machines to switch. However, for those who are looking to build a new rig, do yearly maintenance, or swap out a cooler, I suggest giving Cool Silver a try. I know I will!