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Thermalright Chill Factor


Date
: 01/14/07 – 05:04:18 AM

Author
:

Category
: Cooling

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer:
Thermalright

Price:
$5.95 (Xoxide)

Thermalright has been a popular name here at Overclockers Online with their high performance CPU coolers such as the HR-05-SLI, MST-9775, and HR-01. Specializing mainly in cooling solutions, Thermalright has taken the next logical step by releasing their very own thermal compound. Thermal interface materials, or TIMs, aim to fill in the microscopic air gaps between heatsinks and CPUs in order to facilitate better heat transfer due to better contact.

According to lab tests done by Thermalright, their new
Chill Factor
performs better than the legendary Arctic Silver 5. Hopefully, we will see similar results in our evaluation of this promising newcomer.

Page 2 : Package and Contents

Thermalright has chosen a faux blister pack for the Chill Factor. The package showcases the product and it is easy to open, without the aid of a pair of scissors.

The front clearly shows the huge tube filled with the Chill Factor, 4.8mL to be exact, surrounded by a black-and-gold design theme.

Turning to the back, we see the following product description:

From this description alone, we see that the Chill Factor has an advantage over most generic TIMs: it is not made from silicone. Therefore, we can assume that it is metal-based which is preferable for the sake of higher thermal conductivity.

Also, there is the following note which captures the essence of thermal compounds:

And a few warnings:

At the bottom, we find the URL to Thermalright's website as well as UPC codes and a "Made in Taiwan" tag.

Taking the tube out of the package allows us to see the syringe-style format. The sheer size of the tube dwarfs many other thermal compounds I've seen. The imprinted "4.8mL" really drives the point home that Thermalright wants to emphasize the value of the Chill Factor over other similarly priced thermal compounds which offer much smaller amounts.

Note that there is no manual included which is not good as beginners will have to dig through Thermalright's website or some other source.

Before continuing, let's take a closer look at the specifications.

Page 3 : Specifications

Thermalright's website has a small page dedicated to the Chill Factor.

I found this list of features there:

My guess that the Chill Factor is metal-based in the previous section is proven wrong here as the first and second items state that it is not electrically conductive. It must be made from a synthetic compound then. I'm not sure why the first item says "thermal resistant" as the purpose of thermal compounds is to be thermally conductive. All the other features sound good. I am a fan of thermal compounds that are easy to apply and easy to clean as I am constantly switching out heatsinks.

Some technical specifications:

Now that we know every theoretical detail about the Chill Factor, let's see it in action.

Page 4 : Installation

As I mentioned earlier, there is no manual included with the Chill Factor. Therefore, I did some searching and found installation instructions at Thermalright's website.

I will quickly go through the installation instructions for the CPU so as not to bore you with trivial details. The process is more or less the same for video card cores or chipset dies.

These instructions are identical to the instructions given by Thermalright, which can be found here as mentioned above. Thermalright has even included descriptory pictures for your convenience.

First of all, you will want to remove the heatsink in order to clean off the old thermal compound from both the heatsink and the CPU's heatspreader using high-purity alcohol or other suitable cleanser.

Secondly, apply a small amount of the Chill Factor to the top of the CPU's heatspreader and/or to the heatsink's base. Use a flat card, such as a credit card, to evenly spread the compound. Then, install the heatsink; be sure to follow the directions for your particular heatsink as mounting types vary greatly between different models.

For the sake of consistency, this is the process I will be using with all the thermal compounds, even the NanoFusion and Arctic Silver 5 which have other recommended methods of application.

Jody has written an excellent guide, complete with detailed pictures, on the general procedure of applying thermal compound, available in the forums via this URL.

All things considered, installation was very easy. The compound was easy to spread and not at all clumpy, allowing me to apply it in a thin and even layer as you can see in the following picture:

Moving on, get ready for some test results.

Page 5 : Testing and Performance

The test setup consists of the following:

The consistencies of the contenders vary greatly from runny to thick. The Chill Factor was one of the smoother and softer compounds, followed by Arctic Silver 5, then NanoFusion and the Evercool STC-01.

Each thermal compound was installed and allowed to cure for two days by leaving the computer on and running SP2004 Orthos. Then, the computer was shut down for 2 hours and then turned back on and idle temperatures were measured after 30 minutes of idling on the desktop with no programs running except Everest, which was used to record the temperatures three times over a 3 hour period. The temperatures were then averaged and rounded to the nearest degree.

Average CPU temperature as provided by Everest was used as opposed to manually averaging core 1 and core 2 temperatures. Everest was also used to measure the GPU temperature.

Load temperatures were measured by running 3DMark2006. The maximum CPU and GPU temperatures over 3 runs were recorded, averaged, and rounded to the nearest degree.

Ambient room temperature was kept at 20°C.

Here are the idle temperatures:

The results seem to favor the Chill Factor, which competes very well with Arctic Silver 5 and NanoFusion.

The load temperatures further augment the initial results:

The Chill Factor competes very well once again and is only slightly behind Arctic Silver 5. It consistently performs better than the Cooler
Master NanoFusion and Evercool STC-01.

Page 6 : Conclusion

Overall, the tests show Thermalright's Chill Factor to be a formidable competitor.

Competing well with Arctic Silver 5, the Chill Factor might be a great alternative due in part to its great advantages. For one, you get a lot of thermal compound for the same price as other premium thermal compounds. Also, it should appeal to beginners and enthusiasts alike as beginners can relax due to its electrical non-conductivity and ease of application while enthusiasts will love the performance and value.

All in all, I would highly recommend that you consider Thermalright's Chill Factor for your next thermal compound purchase.

Advantages:

Great performance (competent with Arctic Silver 5)
Good value (big syringe), inexpensive
Easy to apply
Electrically non-conductive

Disadvantages:

No manual is included

Overclockers Online would like to thank Thermalright for providing the review sample of the Chill Factor.