[O/C]IC Diamond 7 Carat Thermal Compound

Any updates from anyone on "longer term" testing?

I got some of this stuff recently and I also found it very hard to apply. It's sort of like trying to spread clay.

So what I did was get some isopropyl alcohol to help lubricate the compound, and a coffee filter around my finger to spread it. I managed to get it into a very thin layer. Here is a pic of it: http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/1092/img0788le3.jpg

I've been using this since 7/15. It's holding up quite well thus far on my HD2900XT. I'll be using this on my Q6600 when it arrives.

eaglescouter said:

The obivous problems:
How to apply the needed pressure without any lateral or rotational movement.
This would be a single seating system, re-use would be difficult at best.
The CPU heat spreader and the heat sink would each hold (imbedded) about 1/2 of the diamond charge upon removal, and lapping to re-smooth would be a challenge.

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I suppose you could apply a thin layer of a metal like indium to both the hs, and ihs that should give you enough contact for phonon conduction through the diamond particles.

That's very good customer support, I am amazed. I hope you can find some retailers in Japan as well.

I like this product too. seems to give decent temps. But I hate the way it is so hard to apply even with a razor blade. I always get peel - away bare spots on the cpu. No matter what I alway tend to get these bare spots. I decided to just waste it away and make 2 lines of the paste to drag from the center and unfortunately that just used up the whole tube. Not really much in the tube. Can't we get an easy way to apply this nice and even? Or put more in the tube?

kimochii72 said:

I like this product too. seems to give decent temps. But I hate the way it is so hard to apply even with a razor blade. I always get peel - away bare spots on the cpu. No matter what I alway tend to get these bare spots. I decided to just waste it away and make 2 lines of the paste to drag from the center and unfortunately that just used up the whole tube. Not really much in the tube. Can't we get an easy way to apply this nice and even? Or put more in the tube?

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kimochii72, Thanks for the feedback


The Customer feed back on application has been mixed so I would like to recommend a failsafe method.

The best way to apply this would be to apply a pea sized amount on the center of the IHS, Then mount your heatsink - not a full mount just enough to squish it to the edges of the IHS - Separate And let solvent dry for 10 min. Then reattach permanently. Excess will just squish out

This will spread the compound evenly, better than a finger spread or razor spread would and leave less waste.

The thick character or "tackiness" of the compound is the nature of the beast. If we thinned it anymore you would lose performance and it would be subject to pump out affecting long term stability.

This was our best compromise, we had one version that had double the performance of ICD7, But was so thick as to be pretty completely unusable except for maybe 1 or 2% of the totally hardcore market That might want that extra 1/2 -3/4 deg C it would have provided.

Volume wise you will find we have the same amount you will find in AS5, using the method described above you should be able to match coverage area of other TIM's on the market

You should sell the higher concetrate stuff to OCF members

So i take this stuff is a little better than AS5 but harder to apply..im getting some paste tonight i think to replace this easy to apply dynex stuff lol..

JamesXP said:

You should sell the higher concetrate stuff to OCF members

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You wouldn't want it, it had the consistency of dried toothpaste, I don't think you could have squeezed out of a syringe without breaking the syringe

Well I got my Q6600 today and went to use the IC7 and the syringe was not moving. I'm applying ALOT of force and no more was going to come out. Luckily I had bought 2 and the second unopened syringe worked fine.

What's the shelf life of the TIM and is there a good way to store it? Should it dry out and harden like it did to my first tube after just a few weeks?

TTP said:

Well I got my Q6600 today and went to use the IC7 and the syringe was not moving. I'm applying ALOT of force and no more was going to come out. Luckily I had bought 2 and the second unopened syringe worked fine.

What's the shelf life of the TIM and is there a good way to store it? Should it dry out and harden like it did to my first tube after just a few weeks?

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TTP Sorry for the inconvenience.

The grease will not dry out or separate, but the oils can migrate or wick out of the grease. Take any TIM and put it on a paper towel and the oils will leach out in short order.

The first few runs at our plant were short runs of a few hundred tubes as system tests and were reported OK by staff.

Some minor processing problems affecting only a few pieces may have slipped into the system from the initial run. This was an isolated issue and due to a missed procedure that allowed oils to leach from a few samples.

We thought we had captured all of the affected tubes but it appears that a couple may have slipped through. When they surface, we will of course replace them immediately.

TTP email me your shipping address and I will ship you a replacement tomorrow.

Also, I would appreciate the return of the defective tube; I will of course compensate on all charges for the return.

Just ordered 2 tubes. Will apply it to a x1900xtx and a e6300 as soon as it comes in. Will report with the results.

That's some tiptop and personal CS. Glad to see your long running 'affiliation with a company in the cooling market' has born fruit! I've got some of this stuff, waiting to use it on a WC mounting and am glad to see you have some recommeded directions - it does seem thick. Maybe you want to edit though? An actual 'pea-sized amount' is actually pretty darn big unless there are some breeds of micro-peas I am not familiar with

MadMan007 said:

That's some tiptop and personal CS. Glad to see your long running 'affiliation with a company in the cooling market' has born fruit! I've got some of this stuff, waiting to use it on a WC mounting and am glad to see you have some recommeded directions - it does seem thick. Maybe you want to edit though? An actual 'pea-sized amount' is actually pretty darn big unless there are some breeds of micro-peas I am not familiar with

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Mmmmiiiiccccooooo ppppeeeeaaaassss.......Soylent Green is made of peas!

I actually got a tube of this along with an Ultra120-Extreme. I'm interested in seeing how it does compared to AS5.

I'm posting this in hope that it will help my fellow overclockers out.

This stuff is thick; at room temperature it won't come out of the tube easily.

I put a cup or so of water in the microwave and set the microwave on high for two minutes. According to my candy thermometer the water was at 150F.
I tried spreading that out (per JoeC's) instructions but it was still to think. Another minute in the microwave put the temperature at 175F. That worked better but it cools off so fast I still had problem spreading it around. The finger in a plastic bag method doesn't work very well. I have a big blister on my finger to prove it.

At this point I got a blow dryer and started heating it up with that. I had a nice pea sized blob on the CPU. I keep on heating it with the blow dryer and spreading it around with the Ultra120 Extreme. This took a few minutes. Not quite getting the coverage I wanted I put a little bit more on and spread it around with the heatsink some more.

Coverage wasn't perfect but I figured it was close enough. JoeC says that there is the same amount as what comes in the smaller AS5 tube. I think I used around a third to one half of what was in the little tube.

I waited the ten minuets as instructed before mounting the heatsink.

Hope that this helps someone out and always if you have any questions just ask!

Yea that's the thing, aside from soylent green micropeas a real pea-sized blob would use up a good portion of one tube.

Well, I just jumped on the bandwagon! I'll be changing out 3 CPUs in the next couple of weeks and mounting some new ones this fall. May as well get 'em while they're hot!

Also, I'm just chicken when it comes to using AS5 on a de-lidded Opty. Since the IC7 is 100% electrically neutral it'll be like using Ceramique w/the performance (or better) of AS5.

HeatsinkFactory.com said:

Non capacitive or electrically conductive

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With my butter-fingers I'm holding you guys to that ...!

Hey Joe, you think you could take a pic of what you consider an appropriate blob of the compound on a C2D IHS?

eaglescouter said:

An interesting tidbit: A diamond, when struck by a hammer on an anvil, is crushed. However a diamond slowly squeezed in a vice, will penatrate the jaws of the vice without being damaged.

Using that theory, diamond grit of the appropriate size could be pressured between the heatsink and the cpu heatspreader, partially penetrating each, and leaving little or no space between.

The obivous problems:
How to apply the needed pressure without any lateral or rotational movement.
This would be a single seating system, re-use would be difficult at best.
The CPU heat spreader and the heat sink would each hold (imbedded) about 1/2 of the diamond charge upon removal, and lapping to re-smooth would be a challenge.

Click to expand...

Is this the case with ICD7? My next heatsink I'm planning on getting will be a gold plated Koolance waterblock. Gold is a soft metal, so will this damage the surface of this waterblock at all?