Arctic Silver 5 and OCZ Freeze were both tested in for idle 5 minute, idle 15 minute and load situations. Load situation is defined as 15 minutes on Prime95, while idle 5 minute is measured 5 minutes after Prime95 is shutdown, and idle 15 minute is measured 15 minutes after Prime95 is shutdown. Arctic Silver ArtiClean stages 1 and 2 were used to clean previous thermal compound before applying the new.
The test machine:
AMD AthlonXP 2800+ @ 3200+
Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro2 nForce 2 ultra 400
(512MB x2) Corsair XMS PC3500
ATi X850 AGP
Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2
NEC DVD+/-RW
Lite-On CD-RW
Western Digital WD4000KD
Western Digital WD1600JB
Western Digital WD1200JD
Enermax Liberty 500 watt
ThermalRight AX-7 heat sink with Thermaltake SmartFan II on full setting
Thermaltake Xaser 6000A case with Antec 80mm tri LED fans
The results are quite impressive. As you can see the Freeze compound barely eeks out a win here against Arctic Silver 5. This is incredible considering that Freeze is completely silver free.
OCZ made a bold statement and delivered with Freeze. It is a great step up from Arctic Silver 5 not only in terms of cooling prowess, but also in terms of ease of spreading and clean up. Plus Freeze gives you the peace of mind of not being metallic based. Pricing for Freeze is around $5 for a 3 gram tube, which is a little bit less than a 3.5 gram tube of Arctic Silver 5 (but it's the same amount of paste, silver is rather dense).
Pros
Excellent heat transfer
Easy to apply (good consistency)
Easy cleanup
No cure time
Cons
None
Since Freeze was able to outperform Arctic Silver 5, it receives our Editor's Choice Award.
Here is a quote from OCZ on the availability of Freeze:
Quote:
Originally Posted by OCZ
As far as right now Freeze is available through NCIX on special order only. It will soon be available through TigerDirect, Newegg, and our other major online resellers within the next few weeks.