[Review] Indigo Xtreme vs. AS5, MX-2, IC Diamond, Shin-Etsu X23-7783D

[dejanh]

Maybe they reused the packaging from TF-1000, but Heat Buster just got 10x more interesting if it's a gallium paste! That would solve one of the big deficiencies of TF-1000 (it's nickel/tin-phobic and is really hard to apply/spread on the IHS). I'm genuinely intrigued now...gotta keep my eyes peeled for it here stateside the next month (testing is slated to happen late November and early December).

Interesting! Is David a TC or AS guy? Anyway, TIM Consultant's stuff his highly vaunted and AS has a grab on the retail market like no one else, so it's great to see them working together

If I get around to it I might try to order some from across the pond...if I do I may pick up 2 tubes or so and then I can let you know if you want it for a review. No guarantees, just saying if it happens

[cstkl1]

just installed this

verdict against MX3,TX3,GC-1
Overall MX3 beats TX3,GC-1 for idle -1C and load -1C

Indigo Extreme Idle = MX3
load -6C.

Ambient Temp 32C
tested all under same conditions.
simply awesome

also one note
dont waste time using core burn in.. not hot enough actually
just do this
install smart guardian, real temp 3.3 and prime95 64bit
on water took around 1 min for reflow... actually might have been 45sec i think.

do not real temp polling is way slower than smart guardian on charts.
thats the issue for real temp so its used only as to see the max 100C
and when u connect the pump back for the reflow to solidify
-7C compared to MX3 on 4.4ghz load.

[masska]

just confirming,
you ran all the TIM's mentioned for how long?
and you overall results were 1 or 2 degrees on idle and 6 to 7 degrees on load in IX favour, is that correct?

your temps bellow I assume are IX, and what are your idle temps on the 920?

Nice results and clock btw

[cstkl1]

just confirming,
you ran all the TIM's mentioned for how long?
and you overall results were 1 or 2 degrees on idle and 6 to 7 degrees on load in IX favour, is that correct?

your temps bellow I assume are IX, and what are your idle temps on the 920?

Nice results and clock btw

GC1 around 2 months different board DFI

MX3 around 1 month
TX3 around 1 month

Idle is at 38C -41C. according to real temp and evga bios is 26-28.
btw idle temp i would say they are all the same. dont think there was a difference. dont really pay much attention to this other than in the bios.

btw ambient temp here is around 32C.

i fully endorse this product.
it freaking works.

[phantomferrari]

any possibility of reviewing arctic silver matrix? its been out for a bit and no one seems to have reviewed it anywhere. im wondering if AC could at least do better than the AC 5

[Ar3s]

matrix II has been put on hold for the moment so i am guessing matrix is the older tim consultant's grease.

[VisBits]

Great write up!

[MagicBox]

I'm inclined to give this a whirl, but from reading the review and comments I have a worry:

When the reflow process is done and the whole thing is settled, powering back up your water loop.. wouldn't running a high load that makes cores reach 90 degrees start the reflow process once more? It seems a bit 'dangerous' when my mobo is vertically during normal operation. I'm sorta weary of unwanted reflows whenever I run stability tests during OC that may push cores to a 90+ degrees.

[masska]

I'm inclined to give this a whirl, but from reading the review and comments I have a worry:

When the reflow process is done and the whole thing is settled, powering back up your water loop.. wouldn't running a high load that makes cores reach 90 degrees start the reflow process once more? It seems a bit 'dangerous' when my mobo is vertically during normal operation. I'm sorta weary of unwanted reflows whenever I run stability tests during OC that may push cores to a 90+ degrees.

once initial reflow is achieved, that is it.
The ETI only processes (reflows) the one time and once this process is complete it is set and will not resort or react again.

[dejanh]

I'm inclined to give this a whirl, but from reading the review and comments I have a worry:

When the reflow process is done and the whole thing is settled, powering back up your water loop.. wouldn't running a high load that makes cores reach 90 degrees start the reflow process once more? It seems a bit 'dangerous' when my mobo is vertically during normal operation. I'm sorta weary of unwanted reflows whenever I run stability tests during OC that may push cores to a 90+ degrees.

No, it would not re-flow again (see my next comment).

once initial reflow is achieved, that is it.
The ETI only processes (reflows) the one time and once this process is complete it is set and will not resort or react again.

You are right that it will not re-flow again, but your reason is wrong. Vapor and myself already brought this up as questions way earlier and the reason that it will not re-flow is that the surface to surface temperature between the chip and the block/heat-sink is much lower than say 90C which happens to be the core temperature. If however your pumps fail in a water-cooled system, then the surfaces could heat up and cause the alloy to liquefy again. This won't cause the alloy to drip though as the extremely thin layer of alloy will be held in place by very high surface tensions between the block and the chip. Furthermore, if there was the slightest chance of anything dripping the plastic shield that remains in place will contain any and all alloy that may "overflow" in a situation like this since the alloy re-solidifies extremely quickly at room temperature.

That's the real reason

Believe me, Indigo Xtreme is one of the neatest products to be available to the mainstream market that I have gotten in a long time. I'm a huge advocate for it now. Every one of my builds uses it, even my water-cooled HTPC build I am doing right now

[masska]

I didn't give a reason dejanh, however thank you for elaborating

No, it would not re-flow again (see my next comment).



You are right that it will not re-flow again, but your reason is wrong. Vapor and myself already brought this up as questions way earlier and the reason that it will not re-flow is that the surface to surface temperature between the chip and the block/heat-sink is much lower than say 90C which happens to be the core temperature. If however your pumps fail in a water-cooled system, then the surfaces could heat up and cause the alloy to liquefy again. This won't cause the alloy to drip though as the extremely thin layer of alloy will be held in place by very high surface tensions between the block and the chip. Furthermore, if there was the slightest chance of anything dripping the plastic shield that remains in place will contain any and all alloy that may "overflow" in a situation like this since the alloy re-solidifies extremely quickly at room temperature.

That's the real reason

Believe me, Indigo Xtreme is one of the neatest products to be available to the mainstream market that I have gotten in a long time. I'm a huge advocate for it now. Every one of my builds uses it, even my water-cooled HTPC build I am doing right now

[Vinas]

Hi Vapor, I want to say this review is straight to the point and informative. Some reviews include irrelivant data but I thought this one was spot on. Describing what it needed to and leaving out the obvious stuff.

If I may give just one friendly critique.

Could you describe your temperature control measures a little more? I'm interested to learn a little more about the testing environment so that I can better understand the test results.

Thanks for sharing your findings!

[CedricFP]

I've just installed Indigo Extreme and couldn't be happier. Won't use a different kind of TIM again.

[dejanh]

I've just installed Indigo Extreme and couldn't be happier. Won't use a different kind of TIM again.

Welcome to the club

[zalbard]

A heads up regarding Indigo Extreme.
If you lap both CPU and your heatsink / waterblock, make sure not to mount it too tightly before you re-flow.
I lapped both. Couldn't do the re-flow using the first set, so had to remove it and throw it away. Carefully applied the second one, same thing.
Good I was smart enough to loosen the screws of my Megashadow. It finally managed to re-flow properly, thank God.

[kgtiger]

Congratulations Vapor on yet another outstanding effort.
Looking forward to the next lot of testing from you.

A heads up regarding Indigo Extreme.
If you lap both CPU and your heatsink / waterblock, make sure not to mount it too tightly before you re-flow.
I lapped both. Couldn't do the re-flow using the first set, so had to remove it and throw it away. Carefully applied the second one, same thing.
Good I was smart enough to loosen the screws of my Megashadow. It finally managed to re-flow properly, thank God.

Zalbard, would I be right in thinking that.
You feel the first 2x attempts failed due to having to much pressure on both the CPU and WC block, there by having less pressure on them, this helped the re-flow process?

[WaterFlex]

I have just swapped mx2 for mx3 and can see only 1C. May be I need some more time?

[Alexandr0s]

Well, the fact that you actually got a 1C temp difference more likely has something to do with the remounting. Because when you look at this image, you'll notice the temp difference between mx2 and mx3 is less than 1C.

[WaterFlex]

The things are getting better, guys!
I used MX-2 without remounting for a half of year. Then I had remounted MX2 2 weeks ago and had the same temps. (Room temp is the same).
And right now I used MX3 and have 2C better temps! Tarrific! Cores temp under 1 hour Linpack running became 2C less already!
I`m looking forward what temps be in several more hours! (MX-3 is MUCH MORE viscous than MX-2, maybe MX-3 need more time)

[zalbard]

Zalbard, would I be right in thinking that.
You feel the first 2x attempts failed due to having to much pressure on both the CPU and WC block, there by having less pressure on them, this helped the re-flow process?

Correct, yep.
I guess there was no space between the lapped CPU heat spreader and the lapped heatsink's base so it didn't actually have any space to "flow" to.

[WaterFlex]

26 hours of Prime95 64bit...and i can see the result: MX-3 does a better job than MX-2, 2C ! Great result!

[LarsMarkelson]

Bump... any update on reviewing the AS Matrix Thixotropic stuff?

[GamerBR]

I just got the Indigo Xtreme today. This stuff is just awesome, about 6ºC better than IC Diamond on load on air on a overclocked I7 running Linx(76ºC max vs 82ºC). And it wasn't a bad mount, I did it two times with IC Diamond and the temperatures were about the same.

On a sidenote, I couldn't use a program designed for stress testing for the initial reflow, first I turned the computer with the fans on(a delta that generates 150CFM and two Thermaltake Smart Fan II, 78CFM each) and the temperature was already at 85ºC, after I started prime95 test the computer turned off about 5 seconds later. Then I decided to compress a file using 7-zip, the heat generated was pretty similar on all cores, and it quickly rose to near 100ºC, after it dropped to around 91º I used prime95, which also stayed on the 100ºC mark until it start to drop and it stopped at 82ºC.
Then I shut down the PC and let it slowly cool, I think it's better than turn on the fans/the pump.

[masska]

I just got the Indigo Xtreme today. This stuff is just awesome, about 6ºC better than IC Diamond on load on air on a overclocked I7 running Linx(76ºC max vs 82ºC). And it wasn't a bad mount, I did it two times with IC Diamond and the temperatures were about the same.

On a sidenote, I couldn't use a program designed for stress testing for the initial reflow, first I turned the computer with the fans on(a delta that generates 150CFM and two Thermaltake Smart Fan II, 78CFM each) and the temperature was already at 85ºC, after I started prime95 test the computer turned off about 5 seconds later. Then I decided to compress a file using 7-zip, the heat generated was pretty similar on all cores, and it quickly rose to near 100ºC, after it dropped to around 91º I used prime95, which also stayed on the 100ºC mark until it start to drop and it stopped at 82ºC.
Then I shut down the PC and let it slowly cool, I think it's better than turn on the fans/the pump.

good info, thanks for sharing

[vengance_01]

I am ordering some today to test with my new Corsair H50 and to go along with this, 2 1850 RPM Gentle typhoon. Can we say 7-8C drop across the board! I hope so.