Arctic Cooling MX-2

The next solution to be discussed is one of the leaders in the thermal interfaces market – Arctic Cooling MX-2 thermal compound from the Swiss Arctic Cooling Company. The product is packed in an attractive clear plastic package with a black insert:

The front bears product name in large print and its major features. The back – the same, but in greater detail together with brief technical specifications and a chart comparing Arctic Cooling MX-2 against the competitors. It shows that MX-2 is 2°C more efficient than Arctic Silver 5. This thermal interface doesn’t have any specific distinguishing features to boast. Almost like all the other testing participants of our today’s session, it doesn’t leak, doesn’t cause corrosion, doesn’t conduct electricity, boasts high thermal conductivity and low thermal resistance. It is extremely stable.

The syringe contains 4g of thermal compound:

It is of light gray color, and its consistency is almost identical to that of Tuniq TX-2, so it is also very easy to apply and evenly distribute over the surface:

Unfortunately, the manufacturer doesn’t mention the operational temperature range for this solution, but I assume it is similar to that of Tuniq TX-2. One 4g syringe retailing for ~$9 should be enough for 15 cooler installations. CPU and cooling solution testers may be more comfortable with a 30g syringe selling for ~$40.

Coollaboratory Liquid MetalPad

Coollaboratory Liquid MetalPad is still a newcomer in this market, compared with other solutions discussed today as well as with its own counterpart – Coollaboratory Liquid Pro. It is shipped in a clear plastic packaging:

Besides the actual thermal interface and user’s manual, it is bundled with a damp napkin and a piece of rough material for cleaning away the compound after use:

 Liquid MetalPad kit includes six squares of the liquid metal in solid state, i.e. as very thin foil. Three squares measure 38 x 38 mm and are intended for CPUs, while the other three are a little smaller, 20 x 20 mm, and are intended for graphics processors:

This is what these MetalPads look like:

They are very easy to use: just place the foil sheet on the processor or GPU heat-spreader, carefully put the cooler on top making sure it doesn’t shift sideways and then heat up the processor to 60°C in any appropriate application. It would be best to run several heating/cooling cycles to make sure that MetalPad burns in fine. Nevertheless, I failed to get MetalPad on the CPU heat-spreader to burn in completely, even despite long-term testing. However, on a graphics processor running at considerably lower temperatures it did in fact stick very securely to the cooler base:

So, the test results were different in both cases, but we are going to talk about it later today. After I already finished testing, I managed to find some advice about MetalPad application in the forums: it’s better to warm it up with a blow-drier before installing the cooler, and if the base surface is not very even, you may as well use two or three MetalPad foils. I doubt that it is the best way-out, but it is available to you.

MetalPad films cannot be used over and over again, and they are in fact pretty expensive: one package with 6 MetalPad sheets costs $15.