Arctic Silver - Ceramique Thermal Compound
By Captain Computer
Published: May 5, 2003
Thanks to Arctic Silver Inc. for sending us Ceramique
We are going to take a look at Arctic Silver's latest thermal compound, Ceramique. Ceramique does not contain any metal or other electrically conductive materials as does their other products.
I've been using Arctic Silver's products for years and we're going to see how Ceramique stacks up against Arctic Silver 3. | Arctic Silver Ceramique Specs | | High-density, ceramic-based thermal compound. | | Made with micronized aluminum oxide, boron nitride and zinc oxide o maximize particle-to-particle contact area and thermal transfer. | | The compound thickens slightly over the first 100 to 300 hours of use to its final consistency designed for long-term stability. It will take a minimum of 12 hours to achieve maximum particle to particle thermal conduction and for the heatsink to CPU interface to reach maximum conductivity. | | Ceramique can easily be cleaned from CPUs and heatsinks with isopropyl alcohol or any of the cleaners listed in the product instructions. | | Does not contain any metal or other electrically conductive materials. It is a pure electrical insulator, neither electrically conductive nor capacitive. | | Temperature Limits - Peak: – 40°C to >180°C, Long-Term: – 40°C to 140°C | | 2 to 10 degrees centigrade lower CPU full load core temperatures than standard thermal compounds or thermal pads. | One noticeable difference of Ceramique is that it does not contain any metal or electrical conductive materials. Keeping with Voided Warranty tradition this review will be short and to the point. It will not provide complete application instructions, those can be found here. If you've read my article on HSF Preventative Maintenance then you can be assured that the test results will be as accurate as they possibly can be. I was preparing to do this review when I saw the condition of my HSF and decided to do that article. | System Specs | Aluminum Case
MSI KT3 Ultra mobo
AMD 1900+ (1.6ghz)
512mb PC2100 DDR
Matrox Marvel G450 etv w/32meg DDR
ASUS CRW-4012A
Panasonic A03, Matshita DVD-RAM LF-D310
WD-60gig HDD
Netgear FA310TX ethernet
2 - 80mm front intake fans
2 - 80mm side fans - 1 intake, 1 exhaust
1 - 80mm rear exhaust fan
Global Win Copper CAK-II 38, 7000RPM HSF
46.7 Dba, 38.4 CFM
HEC 350-LD PSU | This figure shows the placement of the temperature sensor on an AMD processor. Remove the HSF assembly from the computer and for ease of cleaning I also removed the CPU from the motherboard. Thoroughly clean and remove all the existing thermal compound from both the HSF and the CPU. This is extremely important because any residue of the old compound left behind will not allow the new thermal compound to work at its full potential. Arctic Silver, Inc. a list several cleaning solvents to use for removing the old compound. The procedure for applying Arctic Silver Ceramique is different than their other products. For an AMD processor, deposit an amount of Ceramique about the size of 1/2 the size of a BB in the center of the CPU core. The procedure for an Intel P4 processor is different and can be found on the Arctic Silver web site. Place a small mound of Ceramique on the heat sink in the area where the CPU core will contact the surface. Spread the compound using a piece of plastic wrapped around your finger or lint free cloth (lens cleaning tissue) in the core contact area. Re-clean the area using a lint free cloth. After cleaning there should be a slight haze left on the surface of the heat sink. It will appear that you have removed the compound but it has filled in the grooves and imperfections of the surface of the heatsink. These test results were obtained using Sandra 2003 Pro Burn-In-Wizard. Arctic Silver, Inc. recommends at least 12 hours for Ceramique to start working effectively. The results in the above chart were after 72 hours burn in time. As the chart indicates, Arctic Silver Ceramique has lowered the CPU temps by a little over 2 degrees Celsius. I ran the Burn-In-Wizard for about 1 hour. By lowering the CPU temps this also lowered the case temperature which in turn will help keep the other components in the system running cooler. Conclusion: Arctic Silver Ceramique performed better than I thought it would. Their claim that it would lower temps from 2 to 10 degrees held true in my particular instance. Arctic Silver, Inc. has yet come out with another great product. If you haven't tried any of their products, it is well worth the investment to get a tube of Arctic Silver Ceramique. I don't think you'll be disappointed. As I've stated above, complete removal of all the old thermal compound is necessary to achieve the full benefits that Arctic Silver Ceramique will provide. I give Arctic Silver Ceramique a Voided Warranty: 
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