Introduction
With the market for extreme PC cooling growing at a rapid rate over the past few years, we are seeing a much greater number of PC components and accessories geared to this end of the spectrum. This goes back to the Foxconn “Quantum Force” line, which was kicked off with a killer mainboard, the BLACKOPS with features that had never been seen before. Fast forward a few years, and now all the top manufacturers are mimicking elements from that board, and pushing forward with other innovations geared towards extreme cooling enthusiasts.
However, one area that has not seen any special attention is in the TIM (Thermal Interface Material) market, at least until now (the last time there was anything resembling this kind of enthusiast buzz over some cooling goo was when Arctic Silver hit the market). eVGA recently unleashed on the world their new TIM dubbed “Frostbite,” and for good reason. eVGA claims this new compound is not only better for the extreme cooling crowd, but also superior for everyday users as well. Not only that, but k|ngp|n himself is signing off on all these claims and endorsing the product for extreme cooling use.
The longtime standard-bearer for extreme cooling has been Arctic Silver’s Céramique, which k|ngp|n and many others have used it for years. However, over the past year of so, many users have been testing alternatives. Elmor (a top overclocker from Sweden) swears by OCZ Freeze, and there have been a number of positive reports with several other compounds as well. Considering all the recent speculation, we needed to take a closer look at this new contender.