IC Diamond Report

Copyright © 2000-2014, Innovation Cooling, LLC. All Rights Reserved. All trademarks used in this site are the property of their owners

IC DIAMOND 24K THERMAL COMPOUND TESTING 2014

TESTING AND BENCHMARKING DONE BY:

EAST COAST MODS & ECM ALPHA TEAM


Table Of Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................................... I

Product Data Sheet ........................................................................................................................ Page 1

Additional Information .................................................................................................................. Page 2

Benchmark and Testing

Team Frank Stein ............................................................................................................... Page 3

Team Nixfix ....................................................................................................................... Page 6

Team B ............................................................................................................................... Page 12

Team East Coast Mods ...................................................................................................... Page 15

Team V1 Tech .................................................................................................................... Page 19

Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... Page 20

Company Information .................................................................................................................... Page 20


INTRODUCTION

Welcome to our first ever benchmarking and testing of Innovation Cooling IC Diamond

Thermal Compound. Allow us to introduce ourselves to you, the reader, so that you may become

accustom to whom we are and what we are.

We, as a small company, are made up of several individuals who strive on creating works of art,

going beyond the standards of personal computing and design. We strive to build, modify, create, design

works of art that are the show pieces of today's technology. We are called; "East Coast Mods". We not

only modify the look and design of the personal computer systems used in businesses, homes and offices

we also look at real world applications that having a modified piece of tech may simplify and increase

overall productivity.

We were approached by Innovation Cooling to provide testing of their IC Diamond Thermal

Compound in real world applications. Such applications as in the meaning of the mainstream consumer,

the small business owner, PC enthusiast and Professional PC Gamers. By testing their product in such

places like in the States of Texas, California, Georgia and places like countries of Canada and Australia,

it has allowed us to measure and record various data that shows how well IC Diamond will compete

with other thermal paste on the market of today.

Some of the data collected consisted of Barometric Pressure, Humidity, Ambient Temperatures

and location of where the testing was done above or below sea levels. These test helped conduct real

time levels of heat and cooling effectiveness of the thermal compound.

Initial review and samples received from Innovation Cooling were retail versions available for

sale on the internet and open markets where applicable. Upon first inspection and impressions by our

team, it was noted that IC Diamond was 'thicker' than most paste available on the market. IC Diamond

carries a consistency of artist modeling clay. Appling a small sample between two fingers showed that

the paste could easily be managed and cleaned off with little to no effort.

Application process is simple and various techniques can be used to apply the thermal paste to

the applications it is designed for. In our testing, our team used a simple credit card/business card

applicator to apply the paste to the given area for testing.

In the following pages our team shows how well IC Diamond applies it's thermal dissipation v.

other thermal paste on the market. Also included in this review is two video links showing real world

application being applied to two graphic processing units (Video Cards). The videos were not scripted or

previously recorded. Team B simply did a "one take" video of application and another video showing

results and conclusions of such. All opinions, comments and suggestions are by Team B in their videos.

We hope this report and data provided will help you to familiarize you with IC Diamond

Thermal Compound and Innovation Cooling, The makers of IC Diamond.

Special Thanks to our Alpha Team and to Innovation Cooling for allowing us to test their

product over the course of 2014.

Robert Tarr

East Coast Mods

Manchester, New Hampshire, US

I


IC Diamond Data Sheet IC Diamond 7 Carat Thermal Compound maximizes thermal heat transfer between the CPU core and heatsink by taking advantage of diamond's superior thermal conductivity.

Purified synthetic diamond has a thermal conductivity of 2,000-2,500 W/mK compared to 406-429 W/mK for pure silver.

Diamond's five times better thermal conductivity compared to silver makes it a superior heat transfer material for cooling high performance CPUs and is electrically non-conductive and non-capacitive.

Key Features

Each tube of IC Diamond Thermal grease contains 7 carats of micronized diamond with diamond particle loadings @ 92% by weight. Material loading above 90% is recommended as the best combination of rheological and thermal properties to minimize interface pump out due to thermal cycling.

Superior bulk conductivity

Excellent thermal impedance

Tight particle distributions

< 40 µ maximum particle diameter

Silicone free

Lower viscosity

Greater stability

Non capacitive or electrically conductive

Curing Time: IC Diamond requires minimal time to attain peak performance; in most cases, IC Diamond will reach peak performance after two hours of use. *

Stability: IC Diamond is designed for stability - it will not bleed or separate in normal use.

Key Specifications

Thermal Conductance: 4.5 W/m-K (data acquired with an ASTM D - 5470 thermal interface test instrument) Thermal Resistance: 0.25oC-cm2/W@ 100 µ BLT

Average Particle Size: <40 µ maximum particle diameter

Compliancy: RoHS Compliant.

Note* Cure Time Assumes an optimized pressure of 50 PSI Lighter load pressures will increase cure times to a week or more

1


2


TEAM FRANK n STEIN

Team Frank n Stein - Frank, PC Builder, Enthusiast and Skilled Craftsman. East Coast Mods

approached Frank because we knew of the quality of his builds, his work on water cooling and overall

high knowledge of various products offered on the market for thermal compound used in cooling

personal computers and components.

As seen in these photos are the quality of a craftsman who knows his trade. This is the current

system that was used in testing the IC Diamond 24k Thermal Compound. Team Frank is located in

Dallas, Texas where southern State of the US can see record high temperatures well above the ambient

temps of eighty degrees Fahrenheit (80* F) or twenty six degrees Celsius (26.6* C).

3


These are the recorded temps of benchmarking under normal load conditions. Team Frank n

Stein had this to say about the testing of the product.

"I promised East Coast Mods I would test the ICD on Frank and give results. TBH, Frank was already

running ICD on the CPU, but I took this time to use my Artic Clean items to clean the CPU and block

and prepare it for new TIM.

I am literally 5c difference between in and out temps and the CPU is barely into the 30c range with the

ambient temps in the office being around 78 F.

The CPU appears to be operating around 10-20c above ambient temp. I am quite happy with these

results. With or without the opportunity to take pics and show what ICD can do to help out ECM and

ICD, as I said above I am already a huge fan of this TIM and use it in most of my builds.

This weekend I will be using the test strips I received as well to test pressure print of the block to the

CPU to ensure I am getting a good connection. Many times there will be reviews of TIM testing and a

few may be within a degree or two of each other, this normally is due to the contact area between the

block and the CPU and whether or not there is a “heat dam” being created. I will post results of this as

well as time permits.

I have been a big fan of IC Diamond, knowing it was a superior choice for TIM. It certainly out

performs my old favorite Antec Formula 7, and is equaled with my second favorite TIM, JunPus. If you

look at the temps in the second picture you will see the temps I am getting with this ICD.

Learn More about ICD here: http://www.innovationcooling.com/ and then go get some and see the

results yourself – you will not be disappointed."

4

http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.innovationcooling.com%2F&h=PAQEmo97k&enc=AZPEquhxISJ1HyIu_2Zr1NXa65VnGp5jmiap9NDaEOrQONYkcq26hb_GU6O2-x2P1n1zuSzyT5jNjB4Bm5w0xn4kS6Epbp-vLcVionxpO5_FK_Yo7XgxKcUXIh1zwqpBV76guil5VFU0IloyI3eWzCEpkHbutGRryLrhetHj4B_6ag&s=1


Testing and Temps Conclusion

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TEAM NIXFIX

Team Nixfix - Alan Clancy, PC Modder and Builder. East Coast Mods approached Alan because

we knew about his skills when benchmarking, testing and knowledge in various water cooling

applications.

Alan applied the Fuji Test Film to his CPU die, the results can be seen here in Fig. 1. From the

results of the CPU, it was shown that the best contact points were on the outer edge and less contact in

the center of the die. Thus Alan chose to "lap" his heatsink for his CPU. Several hours were spent to

achieve the affects seen in Fig. 2.

Figure 1 - Fuji Test Strip Application

CPU Test Strip CPU Test Strip - Close up

Figure 2 - Lapping of the CPU Heatsink

After Lapping of CPU Heatsink/Waterblock

Alan then chose to test several aftermarket thermal compound vs. IC Diamond 24K Compound.

The results and screen shots are from test running at a full load on the CPU processor, a Intel i5 4690.

During the Artic Silver 5 testing, the processor was clocked at 4200 MHz. The test the results were 39*

Celsius (min.) and 52* Celsius (max), See Fig. 3. During the testing of MX-4, the processor was clocked

at 4300 MHz. The testing of MX-4 results were from 41* Celsius (min.) and 51* Celsius (max), See Fig.

4. During the testing of IC Diamond 24k, the processor was clocked at 3900 MHz (min.) and 4385 MHz

(max). The testing of IC Diamond 24k results showed a range of 38* Celsius (min) and a 49* Celsius

(max), See Fig. 5 and 5a.

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Artic Silver 5 Compound Testing - Screenshot

Figure 3

The test the results were 39* Celsius (min.) and 52* Celsius (max)

7


MX-4 Thermal Compound Testing - Screenshot

Figure 4

The testing of MX-4 results were from 41* Celsius (min.) and 51* Celsius (max)

8


IC Diamond 24K Thermal Compound - Screenshot

Figure 5

The testing of IC Diamond 24k results showed a range of 38* Celsius (min) and a 49* Celsius (max)

9


IC Diamond 24K Thermal Compound - Screenshot

Figure 5a

The testing of IC Diamond 24k results showed a range of 38* Celsius (min) and a 49* Celsius (max)

10


Photos of a Custom PC Build by Alan Clancy - Team NixFIx

System Specs:

AMD FX8350,

Asrock 990fx Extreme 4 MB,

Corsair Dominator Platinum RAM 16Gb,

Sapphire Vapor X 7970 6Gb,

Kingston Hyper X 120Gb SSD,

Seagate Barracuda 2Tb HDD,

Win 7 Ultimate,

Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Business

Full custom WC loop and full custom modified case and build.

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TEAM B

TEAM B - Ray Butos is a PC Enthusiast who has enjoyed building custom PC's and his

personal computer for gaming and multitasking. In Ray's videos he explains this to the viewers; "Today I

replace my Thermal compound(most likely dried out) on 2 EVGA GTX 670 4GB SC with IC Diamond

24k. Its the first time I've replaced the TIM in over 2 years!" This video was published on August 30th,

2014 and the two video cards he is replacing the thermal paste on are EVGA GTX 670 4GB SC.

The specifications of the cards are:

Base Clock: 967MHz

Boost Clock: 1046MHz

Memory Clock: 6008MHz

Cuda Cores: 1344

PCIe 3.0

Here is a snippet of the first video where Ray is removing the air cooled heat sink and preparing the

cards for the application of IC Diamond.

Noted in the video, the recorded ambient temp of the room Ray was working in was 28* Celsius and the

outside recorded temperature was 59* Fahrenheit, it was sunny with partial cloud cover.

The link to watch the video on You Tube is located here:

http://youtu.be/OZWDiYFEoJ0?list=UUbnNErswOuu_Mq-pHcgLhgg

12

http://youtu.be/OZWDiYFEoJ0?list=UUbnNErswOuu_Mq-pHcgLhgg


In his follow up video Ray shows viewers the "before temperatures" and "after temperatures" when

using IC Diamond Thermal Paste. Also Ray offers up final thoughts and conclusions on using IC

Diamond and it's performance with his two graphics cards. Video was published on September 5th,

2014.

Ray explains that since his room is not cooled by an Air Conditioning Unit (AC) that ambient

temperatures can reach as high as 38* Celsius. The video is record in 1080p thus the video can be

paused to review the temps shown.

Below is a snippet of the video and recorded temperature screen shots. (Before temps)

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Below is a snippet of the video and recorded temperature screen shots. (After temps).

For the follow up video go to this link:

http://youtu.be/bXya8cBd5KU?list=UUbnNErswOuu_Mq-pHcgLhgg

14

http://youtu.be/bXya8cBd5KU?list=UUbnNErswOuu_Mq-pHcgLhgg


TEAM EAST COAST MODS

TEAM EAST COAST MODS - Robert Tarr, CEO/Owner of East Coast Mods was first

introduced in 2012 as a Facebook Group. It's original purpose was to bring together artist, PC enthusiast

and builders and others to show off galleries of their creativity and artistic styles.

Simple modifications to PC Case Enclosures to more elaborate complete custom builds were showcased

on the Facebook Group. Artist from around the world have shown various talents and skills to others and

followers to promote, educated and enjoy all that can be done with just a little imagination.

As East Coast Mods grew as a group, Robert also showed his artistic style of "modding". From simple

paint mods of computer components such as mice, game pads and keyboards to also creating 3D models

of future designs.

Now in 2014 Robert continues to grow, expand his knowledge and talents. Such talents also includes

taking once discarded broken laptops and replacing defective parts with working ones.

As experience in disassembly of a laptop become the norm, Robert went further to learn what could be

done to keep laptops cooler given their small form factors and lack of larger ventilation as seen in PC

Cases.

First test subject was a Dell Inspiron Laptop. Model 1545. With a broken screen, keyboard and DVD

drive, Robert set out to replace those parts. Upon inspection, it was shown that the heat sink for the

laptop was accessible through a panel on the bottom of the laptop.

As seen in these pictures, removal of five screws from the heat sink allowed access to the GPU and CPU

units. See Fig 1.

After careful removal of the heat sink, thermal pad over the GPU and removal of old (unknown maker)

thermal compound on the CPU die, IC Diamond could now be applied.

Fig. 1: CPU and GPU Die with Heat Sink shown

15


After replacement of the thermal compound with IC Diamond simple use of the laptop in applications

such as writing a word document, checking E-mails, web surfing were done over a total of one hours

time.

After which HWMonitor Software and CPU-Z Software was used to show the recorded temps and

various ID's of the Dell Inspiron 1545 Laptop. See Fig. 2

It was noted that after the application of IC Diamond the onboard cooling fan for the CPU and GPU die

did not "spin up" as often as before paste was reapplied. Also noted that the laptop "appeared" cooler

and a person could use the laptop comfortably on their lap without much of a heat issue.

Additionally a use of a third market cooling solution for under the laptop will help keep cooler air

entering in and thus cooling down the CPU and GPU dies.

Fig. 2 - Dell Inspiron Model 1545 - Dual Core Intel Processor - 1.2 GHz

Next testing of IC Diamond was on Robert's own personal computer system.

Current configuration is:

AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core 7750 Black Edition Processor - Stock 2.8 Ghz, Overclock'd 3.1 Ghz

Kingston DDR2 800Mhz 4GB Memory

XfX Radeon 6750 1GB Graphics card (Stock 80mm Air Cooler)

Foxconn A7DA-S Rev. 3 Motherboard

16


Robert first replaced the thermal compound on the XfX Graphics Card from the original stock thermal

paste. A picture of the card can be seen in Fig. 3.

Then Robert applied thermal compound of IC Diamond to the Northbridge and South Bridge of the

Foxconn A7DA-S motherboard from the original stock thermal paste. See Fig. 5 for motherboard.

Robert's final replacement of Artic Silver 5 compound, applied by him 4 years ago when the computer

was built on the CPU die. The Athlon X2 is cooled by a Zalman 90mm Air Cooling solution.

Fig. 3 - XFX Radeon 6750 1GB Fig. 4 - Zalman Air Cooler 90mm

Fig. 5 - Foxxconn A7DA-S Rev. 3 Motherboard

Before application of IC Diamond Thermal Paste, the speed of the processor was record stable at

2.8 Ghz. Over clocking of the processor was not possible due to high temps above 50* Celsius on idle.

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After preparing the areas for new thermal compound, inspection of the Northbridge, Southbridge and

CPU Die were taken to ensure a clean surface was available. See Fig. 6

Fig. 6 - HWMonitor and CPU-Z used to record current temperatures. Ambient room temp was 27* C.

Temperatures were well within normal range running at stock speeds however now with a increased

voltage from a 1.25v to a 1.5v and an increase to the clock speed from 14 x 200 to a new speed of 15.5 x

200 the temps reached no higher than 50* on full load.

The current system is enclosed in a Thermaltake Element G Case with included 3x 200mm fans.

Robert's conclusion is that with IC Diamond Thermal Compound used in his personal computer system

it will increase the life and usage for several more years to come.

18


TEAM V1 TECH

Team V1Tech - Hassan Alaw has been building, testing, configuring and assisting others with

computer builds for many years. Hassan Alaw was chosen due to his knowledge and use of several

thermal compounds on the market.

Hassan Alaw had this to say; " Thanks to IC Diamond by Innovation Cooling LLC for sponsoring us.

We have been using their thermal paste for the past few months and it's proven to be a very efficient and

reliable compound. It's great that we will be able to use it in all our future custom built computers and

water cooling mods."

Hassan Alaw also shared some photos of products in which IC Diamond was used. Below are the

pictures he submitted to East Coast Mods.

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https://www.facebook.com/pages/IC-Diamond-by-Innovation-Cooling-LLC/178676248816485


CONCLUSION

Special thanks to Innovation Cooling for allowing us to test, research, benchmark and review

their product. It has been a wonderful time during 2014 to be working closely with a company who's

passion and dedication to bringing such a successful product to market and to those whom enjoy

building, repairing and configuring personal computers.

All images included in this report were allowed with the permission of the original author/tester

chosen by East Coast Mods. All other images were used under the General Use License and are for

representation only.

We here at East Coast Mods would recommend this product to any consumer who expects the

best and longevity of a product such as IC Diamond to be used in their personal computer, home theater

systems and various other technology where such thermal paste is applicable.

COMPANY INFORMATION

Innovation Cooling LLC

350 East Main Street

Ansonia CT 06401

203-732-5312

WWW.INNOVATIONCOOLING.COM

[email protected]

Innovation Cooling © 2007 - 2014

###

East Coast Mods

74 Clinton Street, 1W

Manchester NH 03102

603-674-5828

WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/GROUPS/EASTCOASTMODS

[email protected]

East Coast Mods © 2012 - 2014

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