Innovation Cooling's Diamond 7 TIM test results

[tastymannatees]

To Tasty, some “brain drizzle”.
1. I got to thinking about the composition of this stuff. It has diamonds as micro particles and the primary heat transfer mechanism. Diamonds are a VERY hard substance. When we twist the mount, are we really screwing it up? We move particles that may have stuck into the mating surfaces, and create micro-gouges in the IHS and HS. Is this better? Should we perhaps not twist and instead apply only downward force? The squish, without the twist? I would think we want to embed the diamond crystal in both opposing sides of the mount. That is the key to diamond’s heat transfer. Transfer is across its crystalline structure. If I twist, do I stack up particles in the grooves and screw up the interface layer? My empirical tests show worse results when I really mash and twist. I blew out the mount on the first machine I reported on in this thread (farm-12). I did that to the second one as well, farm-09. This one (farm-04), I did not do that to, and I won’t. My temps on farm-04 improved over run-time….

2. The Pea size seems golden so far. My best mounts came from that.

3. I’m about to switch gears on the first three machines here. Farm-04, 09, and 12 are going to be playing musical parts for some other testing I’m doing. Therefore, their mounts won’t be able to age. What I’m thinking of doing is exactly some aging tests with them. I’ll do my swapping, record the data on each machine with D7 mounts, then let them run for a week, or month, or whatever you want to see….

4. I have 10 other quads I can test on. I’ll do them all if you want. Most of the rest are Shin Etsu x38, G751 types. I may have one or two AS5 machines. I’ll have to check their logbooks. (For the rest of my teammates, yes, I keep logbooks on each machine. I track the hardware, settings, op systems, clocks, freeze-ups, failure, swaps, etc in the books. Well worth the time to write in them. I can tell you my clocks, for any given config, using the logs….It’s hard to be an Engineer sometimes…..) The question here is on getting more samples. I can cover the 10, but may run out if you want further pattern, application, or aging tests. (And no, I'm not eating the stuff on toast. It really doesn't taste that good... I am intrigued by the bacon grease part though, still.....) I'm up to testing different compositions too. I wonder if a bit thinner, no twist, would result in better transfer. The animal you're dealing with is not like metal or ceramic based TIMs. I find this entire exercise fascinating....and yes, if Innovative profits from it, just remember your friends here at XS/WCG......

Regards,
Bob

EDIT: This is supplied by my mass water cooler on the farm.....

1.The Twist is something that was added recently on the Anandtech giveaway. Some members with lighter loaded sinks were having some difficulty with spreading the paste by compression alone and only had favorable results after they tried it. I use only the compression pea method. The twist should be a light 1-2. Intense twisting may introduce air bubbles(I Probably should put some slide pictures together on that).

2. Pea works well and is supported with the slide pictures. Intel recommends that the entire IHS be covered. I thought it was interesting Bail_w's contact pictures mirrored our slide pictures exactly.

3&4. As much data as I can get. same, multiple variations and Identical hardware all useful. Shin Etsu is one of the better compounds,high quality and I do not have much user data on that maybe 1 or 2 out of 80+ results so I would like to see more.

Just to note.Tower sinks and some water blocks sometimes give me(and other pastes) a problem when mounted vertical, weight of the sink, hoses can sometimes lift the sink .001-.002 on the top side and levering heavier on the downside, perhaps even deflecting the IHS some. It is a little subtle but can be detected in the contact pattern with the compound being a slightly thicker in the top side.

""""I find this entire exercise fascinating....and yes, if Innovative profits from it, just remember your friends here at XS/WCG...... '''''

We can always use working capital partners for expenses, bump us up to first class from business class on those tedious trips to China and Europe, we need to dine at better quality restaurants with our customers and stay @ some of those 5 star hotels to make a better appearance. Send all money to the following PO Box....