Manufactures lying about thermal performance?

[yoadknux]

During the last two years or so, I started testing different thermal pastes on my GPU. Specifically, I tried ARCTIC MX-4, Noctua NH-T1 and Gelid GC Extreme. The Arctic performed slightly better than the Noctua, within margin of error, and the Gelid was about 2-4c better than both.
My Gelid ran out recently, and I found in a local store Antec Formula X which is based on nano diamonds. Supposedly it should have a thermal conductivity of 11 (with the standard units), which is very high. I applied it on my GPU and CPU, and for both, the temps were 2c higher on GPU and about 5c higher on CPU.
How can it be, considering the advertised thermal conductivity is higher than all the other pastes I've used? Is there maybe a curing time required? Or doea Antec make numbers up?

Thanks!

 

[Robert17]

It's important to remember that when testing anything that there has to be a process and set of protocols that are adhered to so that as much control against bias will give reproducible outcomes. Did you have access to each manufacturer's QC documentation for testing and reporting? Did you follow the same exact procedure on each sample in your survey? Was all hardware the same in each test including the room ambient temperature? Humidity?

There are better and worse pastes to be sure. Don't assume that their tests and yours are the same unless you do the background work to understand how their results were achieved.

 

[bmwbaxter]

I would recommend doing the test several times if you are trying to see how they compare. Will help rule out a bad mount and make sure you are adjusting for ambient temps. I don't figure antec is "lying" about their specs anymore than any other manufacturer would in their marketing.

 

[caddi daddi]

A P.R. department lie??????? pffffffffffft. perish the thought, they are all as honest as A politician on election day!!!!

 

[trents]

I would recommend doing the test several times if you are trying to see how they compare. Will help rule out a bad mount and make sure you are adjusting for ambient temps. I don't figure antec is "lying" about their specs anymore than any other manufacturer would in their marketing.

This. Inconsistencies between mounting attempts can produce several degrees spread even when using the same TIM. You need to repeat the mount for each TIM at least three times to compensate for this and you need to track ambient temp changes.

 

[Indyjones]

A P.R. department lie??????? pffffffffffft. perish the thought, they are all as honest as A politician on election day!!!!

lol