Heatsink Roundup
Reviewed by James 02.19.2004

Silver versus Ceramique

Several months ago, AMD announced that their warranty would not hold for their boxed processors if Arctic Silver 3 was used as the thermal compound, stating that the product which is 70% composed of electrically conductive matter, i.e. silver. This statement was a bit misleading, however. AMD has actually never supported the use of third party cooling solutions. Thus, the notion that using Ceramique as opposed to Arctic Silver 3 will help maintain your warranty is misleading. It is true, however, that Ceramique will never, ever short your processor, while it is at least possible that Arctic Silver 3 could, though it is still not likely. So, with some safety advantages, does Ceramique provide any cooling advantages over Arctic Silver 3?

The Ceramique consistently outperforms the Arctic Silver 3. However, the difference is almost null for the high performing heatsink, the SK-900u. This behavior is expected; it makes sense for there to be less room for improvement than in the underperforming heatsink. It may not be worth going out to buy if you have a full tube of Arctic Silver 3, but if you are in need of some thermal paste, Ceramique is the clear choice.

Conclusion

The benchmarks show what was to be expected, the SK-900u blows the competition away. Maintaining temperatures under 30C most of the time, even after crunching SETI at overclocked speeds, makes it the obvious choice for anyone who runs their processor in an extreme configuration. However, it's price and installation procedure make it prohibitive to even your above-average user/gamer: only those looking to beat back the god of heat need buy this 570g block of micro-finned copper. For those aiming to maintain a stable, slightly overclocked system, Thermalright may still be your best option. The SK-6 and the SK-7 are both easy to install and do a great job of cooling, though the Microfins heatsink is still a close competitor, and you don't have to deal with a dozen wires. Cooler Master's lackluster entry was surprising. Though it comes with a variable speed fan, accessible from a 3.5" bay or a PCI slot, the performance of the heatsink is insufficient for serious consideration. OCZ's two entries were not top of the line. While the Gladiator could not hold up under the stress of the overclocked processor, the Goliath 2 SE heatsink is a consideration, especially when taking into account its smart-fan, which should keep noise levels down. In the end, the extreme performance of the SK-900u, combined with the Ceramique thermal compound, makes it Techwarelabs cooling solution of choice

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