eVGA Frostbite vs Arctic Silver Céramique

Introduction

With the market for extreme PC cooling growing at a rapid rate over the past few years, we are seeing a much greater number of PC components and accessories geared to this end of the spectrum.  This goes back to the Foxconn “Quantum Force” line, which was kicked off with a killer mainboard, theBLACKOPS with features that had never been seen before.  Fast forward a few years, and now all the top manufacturers are mimicking elements from that board, and pushing forward with other innovations geared towards extreme cooling enthusiasts.

However, one area that has not seen any special attention is in the TIM (Thermal Interface Material) market, at least until now (the last time there was anything resembling this kind of enthusiast buzz over some cooling goo was when Arctic Silver hit the market). eVGA recently unleashed on the world their new TIM dubbed “Frostbite,” and for good reason.  eVGA claims this new compound is not only better for the extreme cooling crowd, but also superior for everyday users as well.  Not only that, but k|ngp|n himself is signing off on all these claims and endorsing the product for extreme cooling use.

The longtime standard-bearer for extreme cooling has been Arctic Silver’s Céramique, which k|ngp|n and many others have used it for years.  However, over the past year of so, many users have been testing alternatives.  Elmor (a top overclocker from Sweden) swears by OCZ Freeze, and there have been a number of positive reports with several other compounds as well.  Considering all the recent speculation, we needed to take a closer look at this new contender.

eVGA Frostbite

The product is shipped in a blister pack front with cardboard backing.

Frostbite front

On the back there is a simple set of directions for use.  Check that out, 30% silver content!

Frostbite back

Compared to the 22 gram syringe of Ceramique, the Frostbite is quite small…. but goo things often come is small packages. [Editor's note: I don't care if that's a typo, the pun is too good to resist.]

Frostbite VS Ceramique

It is a single 2 gram syringe, which should be enough for 5 or more GPU applications, or 10 or more CPU applications, using my application method (dot for CPU, small X for GPU).  The back side of the syringe allows you to see the amount of compound left.  It might seem too simple to be a big deal, but there have been many times we’ve wished for a level indicator — it’s nice to know whether you have enough TIM left for your next session. Good idea, eVGA!

Frostbite window

At room temperature (24C in this case), the Ceramique is very thick, and squeezing it out of the tube requires patience.  By stark contrast, the Frostbite is almost runny.  However, syringe operation was smooth, and I didn’t get any fluid at the top, nor any squirting messes from the rough syringe action I’ve experienced from other compounds.  Another big win for Frostbite!

Frostbite VS Ceramique consistency 1

To better show consistency differences between our competitors, each was smeared across the paper towel.  The Ceramique wanted to stay in a ball and just roll.  Very little smeared past the first rotation as my finger rolled off the top of the clump.  The Frostbite didn’t soak into the towel, but smeared across the entire length of the movement. It remained very opaque, suggesting its ability to be spread very thin, a big bonus for those with very flat surfaces in a highly tuned daily system or gaming machine.

Frostbite VS Ceramique consistency 2

erformance impressions and bench results

Evaluating TIM objectively in an extreme cooling environment is a very difficult proposition, so my testing will be mostly subjective.  I tested both compounds on the following setup.

System configuration

• (1) Intel Core i7 990X Extreme CPU
• (1) eVGA E760 Classified motherboard
• (1) 3×2GB Corsair Dominator GTX2 memory
• (2) eVGA GTX 285 Classified video cards
• (1) Ultra X3 1000W PSU for motherboard & CPU
• (1) Corsair AX1200 PSU for the GPUs
• (1) k|ngp|ncooling Dragon F1 Gemini with the SLOW base
• (1) k|ngp|ncooling Dominance Memory Cooler
• (1) k|ngp|ncooling Tek-9 5.0 Slim GPU cooler
• (1) k|ngp|ncooling Tek-9 FAT GPU cooler

Application

Arctic Silver Ceramique has always been one of our favorite compounds due to the ease of use.  It can be a bit stiff in the tube (warming it up helps), but getting it on the CPU and spread in a good pattern is nearly fool-proof.

Ceramique application

And as you’ll see below, the spread pattern was very complete.

Ceramique spread - CPU

Ceramique spread - pot

The Frostbite syringe action is top notch and its easy to control application.

Frostbite application

Spread was excellent, and yes, this was the 1st attempt!

Frostbite spread - CPU

Frostbite spread - pot

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti Roundup: ASUS, EVGA, Gigabyte & MSI

A few weeks ago, NVIDIA released the GTX 560 Ti; a graphics card that has proven to be just the right fit for a large cross-section of the current market. AMD did their best to rain on the parade with their own HD 6950 1GB and did succeed to a certain extent even though availability has been a bit spotty and selection is limited. Nonetheless, NVIDIA’s own board partners have forged ahead with a long line of GTX 560 derivatives. 

The GTX 560 Ti follows very much in the GTX 460’s overclocking footsteps since it has the ability to increase both core and memory clock speeds to some incredible levels. This has allowed several companies like EVGA, Gigabyte, ASUS and MSI to release some higher end products which feature increased clock speeds, custom cooling and some excellent software which can be used to push things even further. 

For this roundup, we have chosen four of the more popular GTX 560 Ti cards currently on the market: the ASUS DirectCu II TOP, MSI Twin Frozr II OC, Gigabyte Super Overclock and the EVGA Superclocked. Their clock speeds and feature lists run the gamut so by seeing what they offer, we should be able to get a good indication what the GTX 560 market will look like in the coming months. 

In previous generations, it wasn’t unusual to see $30 or more tacked onto a GPU’s price simply because it carried a minimal speed increase. Times have changed as the market has become more competitive and every one of the cards featured in this roundup carries no more than a $20 premium over reference-based products while clock speeds get significant bumps. Indeed, the MSI Twin Frozr II OC model features a $249 price; the same cost as a standard GTX 560. 

We have already see that the GTX 560 Ti has what it takes to compete with the previous generation’s flagship products and even gives current GPUs a run for their money. It should be interesting to see how this translates into a lineup of pre-overclocked and custom cooled AiB cards. 

EVGA offers a sneak peek at Nvidia's next dual-GPU monster

CES — What's this? We dropped by EVGA's suite here at CES today to see what they're up to, and among the various video cards on display was this rather intriguing number:

EVGA wouldn't give us many details about the card in question, but they did say it's a future dual-GPU product. Given that EVGA is an exclusive Nvidia partner, that essentially confirms something we've half expected for some time now: a dual-GPU, SLI-on-a-stick video card must be on the way, presumably as a member of the GeForce GTX 500 series.

As you can see, there are three DVI outputs on the card, made possible by the presence of two GPU display engines. This card should be capable of driving three monitors and allowing games to run across them all at once via Surround Gaming, Nvidia's answer to AMD's Eyefinity.

This is a decidedly high-end product. The card is relatively long and sports a pair of eight-pin auxiliary power connectors, suggesting that a beefy PSU will be needed in order just to run one of these babies.

Judging by our mystery card's apparent power and cooling requirements, we'd expect it to house a pair of GF110 GPUs, perhaps de-tuned a bit from the fastest single-GPU GF110 implementation, the GeForce GTX 580, simply so that two chips can be powered and cooled on a single card. The presence of eight Samsung K4G10325F one-gigabit GDDR5 DRAM chips on the back of the board, four per GPU, means there's at least 1GB of total memory on the card. One possibility is that there are eight matching DRAM chips on the other side of the board, or 1GB per GPU. If true, that would mean only four of each GF110's six memory controller/ROP partition units are enabled. It's also possible there are 12 DRAM chips on the other side of the card, with five memory/ROP units enabled per GPU, making this card more like a pair of GTX 570s. The latter configuration may be more likely.

The presence of an SLI connector also suggests the possibility of a four-way SLI configuration based on a pair of these video cards running in tandem.

That nifty triple-fan cooler is a custom job from EVGA. The company was showing off a couple of cards with coolers designed around this motif, including a smaller and rather handsome GeForce GTX 570.

We already know AMD has plans for a video card—code-named Antilles and expected to be sold as the Radeon HD 6990—based on a pair of the Cayman GPUs that power the Radeon HD 6950 and 6970. Now it would seem Nvidia has a rather direct answer to Antilles in the works, as does its close partner EVGA. We don't have any word yet on the timing of this monster's availability, but judging by its presence here with a custom cooler attached, it surely can't be too far from release.

Refer to : http://techreport.com/