| Zalman ZM-STG1 Super Thermal Grease
|
The Basics:
The ZM-STG1 comes in a small bottle, perhaps a bit like nail polish. And just like nail polish, there is a brush attached to the cap that is to be used for the application to your processor and cooler.
 
According to the Sharka Computers website, each bottle contains approximately enough thermal grease for ten applications, so the small bottle goes a long way.
The instructions are pretty brief, and with a clean surface you simply paint a thin layer of the ZM-STG1 on to your processor and cooler as shown below. The grease goes on dark and shiny and within a minute or two it dries to a pale, dull gray color. It is easy to apply a thin coating as the grease is fairly thin and easy to work around with the brush.
 
Testing:
Testing consisted of monitoring the thermal output of an Intel D80 dual core processor while at idle and under a heavy load. Idle conditions were established by allowing the test system to sit at the CentOS 4.3 x64 desktop for a period of no less than one hour. The load conditions were generated by running two instances of Folding@Home, configured to take advantage of the dual cores on the Intel D-840 processor, for a period of 2 hours. A Spire Digipanel temperature monitor was used to monitor the processor and ambient temperatures.
The CPU cooler used with the ZM-STG1 was another Zalman product, the CNPS8000 Low Profile Heat Pipe CPU Cooler As a point of reference, the performance of the ZM-STG1 was compared to the "generic" white thermal paste that was included with the CNPS8000.
The chart below summarizes the results recorded while the ambient temperature was maintained between 19 and 20 degrees Celsius.
As you can see in the chart above, idle temperatures dropped 1.5 degrees Celsius while the load temperatures dropped 3 degrees Celsius. The load results translate to just under an 8% drop in temperature, which is pretty impressive to me considering the effort required and minimal cost (under $10).
|
|
|
|
