There are many companies out there today making thermal compounds and vying for your dollars. At one point the best was Arctic Silver, but some of these other companies are pushing them out of that top spot, and let’s face it you can’t be on top forever. With all the choices out there today, besides obviously performance, what is the final deciding factor on which to purchase? The price? The quantity? Or other special features. Today for review I’ve got a new entry into the thermal compound arena called MX-2, and it’s from Arctic Cooling, a company that is highly respected for it’s quality and the performance of their products. So I decided to put it up against the top dog, Arctic Silver 5 and see just how it fares…
Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound
Reviewed by: Kristofer Brozio AkA Dracos
Sponsor: Arctic Cooling
Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:
Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound
High Performance Thermal Compound for the Enthusiast
Turbo MX-2 is a high conductive and low resistance compound for components that require the best thermal dissipation. MX-2 is ideally suited for use in CPU, GPU cooling and other applications between power semiconductor components and heat sinks where high thermal conductivity is critical.
Main Features:
-High Thermal Conductivity
-Low Thermal Resistance
-Non-Electrical Conductive
-Non-Capacitive
-Non-Curing
-Non-Corrosive
-No Bleeding
-Odorless
No Metal Particles
Since the MX-2 compound does not contain any metal particles, there are no problems regarding electrical conductivity and capacitance. In contrast to silver and copper compounds, contact with electrical traces, pins, and leads cannot result in any damage.
Durability
Curing and bleeding of the compound is not possible. In contrast to metal or silicon pastes, this compound does not show decreasing performance over time, does not need to be reapplied and has a durability of at least 8 years.
Technical Data:
Density: 3.69 g/ cm3
Viscosity: 2850 poise
Net Weight: 4 g
Application:
CPU, GPU and other applications between power semiconductor components and heat sinks.
Recommended Retail Price (excl. VAT):
5,95 / US$ 7.95
A Better Look at Things
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Arctic Cooling was nice enough to send me two samples of the MX-2 compound for review, they come packaged in a sealed plastic clamshell with the familiar Arctic Cooling color scheme. The same specs and information I have listed on the previous page are listed on the package as well, along with a graph showing comparison results.
The MX-2 comes in an easy to apply syringe that has a nice quantity in it, allowing for numerous applications or many across several systems.
The MX-2 has a consistency that is a bit thinner that Arctic Silver5, but one of the main features and selling points is that it is non-conductive so you don’t have to worry about getting it where it shouldn’t be and possibly shorting something out.
Another main features is it’s durability, according to Arctic Cooling it never needs to be re-applied and will last up to eight years. Well I can’t exactly test that, and I really don’t know who has a system from eight years ago that never upgraded, so we’ll just have to take their word for it…
Installation, Testing and Comparison
For my testing, I mentioned earlier that I’m testing the MX-2 against AS5 to see if this stuff is as good as they claim.
My test system is an AMD based setup, with an X2 4200+ with stock cooler. This test ran for two weeks (14 days), one week was using the MX-2 and the second was using the AS5.
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I used my air conditioner to keep the ambient temperature around 22.5C-23C during all of the testing.
The system was used for several hours each day, I let my children play games on it everyday as well to make sure it was in use, and I ran Prime95, two instances, one on each core to get full load on the CPU.
When changing the thermal compound I made sure to clean the CPU and the heatsink and to make sure it was seated correctly to insure proper testing and accurate results.
I used SpeedFan to record the temperatures for idle and load testing. Idle temperatures where recorded after the system sat after boot for 30 minutes running nothing but windows processes and anti-virus. Load temps were recorded during the running of the two instances of Prime95.
As we can see the MX-2 is better than the AS5 by as couple degrees, I think we can call a clear winner to be the MX-2.
Summary:
Not only is the Arctic Cooling MX-2 thermal compound better performing that AS5, it also has the added features of not being conductive.
I don’t know about you but I try and take the least chances I can when it comes to my systems, if I can get rid of one potential hazard then that makes me a less stressed person. The MX-2 does that in that it is non-conductive so there are no worries of accidentally hitting a trace circuit and shorting your system or worse.
I think even if the results were switched around and the AC MX-2 had the higher temps, I still would choose the MX-2 just for it’s non-conductive properties, and yes it’s better performing but in the end it only averages out to be a couple degrees difference.
DragonSteelMods gives the Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound a 5 out of 5 score and our Recommended Award as well.
Pros:
-Non conductive
-Large quantity for price
-Low price point
-Easy to apply
-Excellent performance
Cons:
-None that I could find
I would like to thank Arctic Cooling for the chance to review the MX-2 Thermal Compound and for their continued support of DSM.
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