Independent User Test
Results
Below is a compilation and break out
of Independent test data acquired over the last 20 months from 11 user
forums with 391 test participants. All participants
received free samples and the only obligation in exchange from
Innovation Cooling (IC) was that they agreed to post a thermal
comparison between their previous compound and IC Diamond. To
re-emphasize the point, these are actual
user test results and not Innovation Cooling generated
results, Innovation Cooling's only participation was
in data acquisition and the graphing of acquired data and providing
application instructions as required. While every effort was made to
insure the accuracy of the data there may be some errors or omission's
but on the whole we believe the supplied data to be substantially
correct.
These are of course preliminary and
more of a snapshot as data is being added every day and so is subject
to revisions, changes and corrections as needed. . All data is
publicly available for review at Overclockers.com,
Overclock.net, Overclockers Austraila, Anandtech, xtremesystms,
HardewareLogic, NotebookReview, MaximumPC, Silentpcreview, AMDZONE* and
HardwareCanucks.
IC Sampling Vs.
Individual Tests
Single tests generated by review site, individual or even IC are
anecdotal in nature subject to limitations of methodology. While most
pursue the most rigorous test procedure possible they still encounter
fluctuations of several degrees C between reviews.
Why does every review come to
a different conclusion? The problem is that their sample size = 1.
Even collecting multiple
readings the cluster size is = 1. An individual can collect all the data
readings off one system, and will still have almost no statistical power (In statistics this is known as "Intra-Sample Cluster Correlation")because the test set up is dominated by methodology. This is a
problem not only in paste reviews, but in other hardware reviews, heat
sinks, etc. as well.
In the final analysis
methodology ends up defining the final placement of all compounds- All
test methodologies fail to take into account things that have a major
impact on paste performance. For example the mounting system along with
mechanical contact between IHS and sink as evidenced with our
independent contact/pressure testing. Variability was very high on the
contact results with perhaps 1 in 10 having any thing near what you
might call full contact, even on those with lapped components.
In considering pressure
related to mounting hardware some pastes perform relatively better under
poor mounting, others perform relatively better under good mounting
(viscous ones such as ICD). Considering ICD - people that had poor
results with ICD had very poor mounting. Once they improved that
mounting, ICD did considerably better. Of course, so did their old
paste. But ICD improvement >> old paste improvement. Generally,
this resulted in ICD>old.
The debates that any one
review is the final word are of little substance. However multiple
reviews serve an important function along with observations of user
experiences allow individual users to either consciously or
unconsciously mentally benchmark results.
In summary, sample size = 1
tells little. . Sample size matters!
ICD has
been extensively tested by 391 independent users in 11 forum groups data
that is compiled with real world, real users test
results.
Notes
On The Limits Of Thermal Grease Performance
The best possible performance
for any thermal grease would be 100% heat transfer from the CPU to the
heatsink which is impossible. We have measured thermal performance for
the best possible case directly soldering the CPU to the heatsink. In
this extreme case using a solder
joint, the difference between the CPU and the heatsink was 0.5 degrees
C.
Based on test results from
391 users among 11 PC Forums, IC Diamond Thermal Compound showed 0.8
0.9 C difference between the CPU and heatsink a difference of only 0.4
C compared to the solder joint!
User results showed other
thermal compounds ranging from 1.1 C to 4.7 C difference less
performance than IC Diamond, as shown on the performance graph, a
difference due to the ingredients in the thermal compound used. Twenty
years of thermal compound development have reduced the difference
between using a solder joint to about 0.4 C. Further development may
reduce this difference by a few tenths of a degree, but for all
practical purposes the best is here now.
Notes On Test Result
Comparisons
When comparing
results more credence should be given to larger sample sizes, smaller
less so.
1-5 samples 1 or two tests can flip results either way
so usually get thrown onto the miscellaneous group.
6-10 samples
may start to indicate trends but can be heavily influenced by outliers
and so are lightly weighted other than a general trend
indicator
11-20 samples - Starting to develop more of a
confidence in the trend direction.
20-30 samples - Confidence
level improves.
30+ Samples - High degree of
confidence
The following is the break out results
from all forums to date
First up
is the generic white compounds and unidentified pastes that shipped with
the installed sink.
Generic white or stock paste
The following laptop tests are from NotebookReview
and help illustrate the expanded range of IC Diamonds use in in
different applications. The VC/GPU tests across multiple forums I am in
the process of breaking out and including those done here will be added
as a final chart here at some point. The higher delta temps is due to no
IHS and a smaller die contact, providing higher heat fluxes, hence the
higher temp differences along with other factors such as compound
failure due to the high thermal loads and higher % of generic
compounds
Bell Curve Notes
About half the
data is reported in round numbers and approximately 50% of the total
numbers were fractional numbers, so to include all numbers in the set I
rounded the fractional numbers to the nearest ½ degree. This had a
minimum impact on the overall numbers, for instance the mean dropped
less than 2/100ths of a degree.
Preliminary, some edits, corrections to be added
Later
