Innovation Cooling's Diamond 7 TIM test results

[123bob]

OK, after looking at SiG's detail, I'm with the format. As Rip suggested, this info is useful, for more than the TIM test. The caution here is that this thread is about D7s performance. Let's try not to get too far off that.

I sat back today, and had to ask, what the heck could a rock like diamond do for heat conduction that copper can't??? I googled "thermal conductivity diamond" and got from Wilkpedia the following..details here

Thermal properties

Unlike most electrical insulators, diamond is a good conductor of heat because of the strong covalent bonding within the crystal. Most natural blue diamonds contain boron atoms which replace carbon atoms in the crystal matrix, and also have high thermal conductance. .999-12C monocrystalline synthetic diamond has the highest thermal conductivity of any known solid at room temperature: 2000–2500 W•m/m²•K (200–250 W•mm/cm²•K),[5] five times more than copper. Because diamond has such high thermal conductance it is already used in semiconductor manufacture to prevent silicon and other semiconducting materials from overheating. At lower temperatures conductivity becomes even better as its Fermi electrons can match the phononic normal transport mode near the Debye point,[6] and transport heat more swiftly, to overcome the drop of specific heat with the fewer quantal microstates, to reach 41,000 W•m/m²•K at 104 K. The same diamond at .99999-12C is predicted to 200,000 W•m/m²•K (20 kW•mm/cm²•K).[5]

Diamond's thermal conductivity is made use of by jewellers and gemologists who may employ an electronic thermal probe to separate diamonds from their imitations. These probes consist of a pair of battery-powered thermistors mounted in a fine copper tip. One thermistor functions as a heating device while the other measures the temperature of the copper tip: if the stone being tested is a diamond, it will conduct the tip's thermal energy rapidly enough to produce a measurable temperature drop. This test takes about 2–3 seconds. However, older probes will be fooled by moissanite, an imitation of diamond introduced in 1998 which has a similar thermal conductivity.

Being a form of carbon, they can burn in the presence of oxygen if heated over 800 °C (1500 °F). In absence of oxygen they can stand higher temperatures, but will convert to graphite eventually.

WOW!! 5 times the conductivity of copper. This is worth pursuing to get it right.... And also of note, diamonds can burn....

OK, to the real test, and the data we were all really looking for. At Fugger's non-request, and at the risk of getting banned, I tasted D7. Somebody had too.... It is best described as a mix between mineral oil, bacon grease, and dirt, with a healthy hint of peanut butter in the background. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I've gotten old axle grease in my mouth, from working on cars, that was much worse.....


Specs:
X3350 vid = 1.0375
Abit IP35 Pro bios = 14 (Taken from bios screen, not CPUz...CPUz shows it as 10..SiG, note the date in bios. You may have V14, the latest, in your rig...)
Corsair 2 x 1Gb regular old beat up TWIN 800mhz stuff

Settings:
vcore "actual" (CPUz reading) : 1.240
Buss Speed: 438
Multi: 8x
Core Speed: 3.5 gig
PCI-E Clock: 100
Vcore bios: 1.305
DDR2: 2.025
CPU Vtt: 1.27
vMCH: 1.44
vICH: 1.15
ICHIO: 1.65
DDR2 ref: 0%
CpuGtlref 0/2: 67%
CpuGtlref 1/3: 67%

Cooling:
CPU Block/Cooler: ZALMAN CNPS 9700 NT - Standard install
Before TIM:Ceramique
Mount age: about 6 days old. (and no, we ain't talkin' about no sheep here... )
Paste pattern: 2 rice grains in the middle with a thin square ring around the "ditch", about 3/16 from the outer edge.

Before Temps:
Idle-Before: CoreTemp v0.97.1
Ambient: 24.4C

Core 0: 54
Core 1: 54
Core 2: 38
Core 3: 38

Load-Before: (Boinc-all four cores @ 100%) CoreTemp v0.97.1
Ambient: 24.4c

Core 0: 63
Core 1: 63
Core 2: 56
Core 3: 53

After Paste pattern:
Two slightly squished rice grains in middle. See pic below.




After Temps:

After Idle: Coretemp 0.97.1
Ambient: 23.5c Opened Garage door in between....
Core 0: 54
Core 1: 54
Core 2: 39
Core 3: 38

After Load: 30 minutes (Boinc-all four cores @ 100%) CoreTemp v0.97.1
Ambient: 23.5c Opened Garage door in between....
Core 0: 63
Core 1: 63
Core 2: 56
Core 3: 53

I got nearly identical temps before and after, on this round, with this machine. Ambients varied slightly, which would indicate slightly worse performance. Will update tomorrow after it burns in.

Yo, Tasty, does this application amount look about right? I may be squishing and twisting too much also.....

Regards,
Bob