ID-Cooling Frost X45: A Best Value Thermal Paste

Introduction

Thermal Paste, thermal compound, or TIM (thermal interface material), as you may call it, is a heat-conducting material that plays a crucial role in transferring heat from the heat source to the cooler. Why do we need this in the first place? Ideally, we want the perfect flat contacting surfaces (CPU/GPU and coolers) and that is where thermal paste comes in as it helps to fill any small holes/cracks.

However, this is not the case, particularly on the Intel SKUs particularly the LGA1700 compatible CPUs which have concave layout. Not only that, but there are micro gaps between the two contact surfaces that impede the heat transfer from one source to the other. Air fills these micro gaps and if you don’t know, air also has thermal conductive rating which is usually around 0.026 to 0.03 W/mK. This is too low a value to effectively transfer heat from CPU/GPU to the cooler.

This is why we need a solution that not only fills those micro gaps but also provides effective heat transfer between the contacting surfaces, and this is where the thermal pastes come into play. There are many types of these pastes including:

• Regular Silicone based Thermal Pastes
• Liquid Metal
• Phase Changing Thermal Pates
• Thermal Pads

The market is filled with a lot of offers in the first category as this is the most mainstream option employed for heat transfer.

These thermal pastes have a thermal conductivity rating from over 2 to as high as 17 W/mK. If you want to go further, then liquid metals are your options with over 50W/mK thermal conductivity ratings. However, these are electrically conductive and can easily kill your CPU and/or motherboard.

When it comes to the thermal pastes, there are many variables or factors that need to be accounted for. These include:

• Thermal Conductivity
• Thermal Resistance or Impedance
• Viscosity
• Specific Gravity
• Operating Temperature Range

Users tend to pay attention to one variable, which is thermal conductivity. There is nothing in this kind of attention as we want the thermal paste with a higher value anyway. There are cases where the actual difference between a thermal paste of 16 W/mK may have a marginal gain over the thermal paste of 12 W/mK. The make up of the thermal paste would determine the thermal conductivity. Pastes with small particles tend to provide high or better thermal conductance compared to the pastes with large particles since these particles fill the micro gaps.

But we also want the thermal pastes with lower thermal resistance. Here thermal resistance may have a different understanding than the electrical resistance. Thermal resistance simply means the overall drop in temperature across the thermal paste interface. This is related to the thermal conductance and viscosity of the thermal paste.

Viscosity is a critical variable as it will give you a hint or idea about the longevity of the thermal paste and its related pump-out effect. Viscosity simply refers to how hard or soft, the material will be under the mounting pressure. Too soft or thin pastes may not have a long life under the mounting pressure as the thermal paste may dry out. Similarly, thermal pastes with high viscosity will be hard to apply. Low viscosity thermal pastes would come in handy where the thermal load is not that significant like on Core i5s. As a general rule, a mediocre viscosity rating would do you fine.

In our last content, we tested Duronaut from Thermal Grizzly. This time I am taking a look at Frost X45 from ID-Cooling. This is a new high-performance thermal paste from the manufacturer, which is gaining popularity in my local area in general. ID-Cooling sent us a couple of 2gm packs with the DX360 Max cooler so I decided to test this thermal paste as well.

This paste is available in 2gm and 4gm packs. The 2gm pack will be available at USD 6.99 whereas the 4gm pack at USD 7.99. The price per gm comes to USD 3.495 for a 2gm pack compared to USD 1.997 on a 4gm pack.

Closer Look

The product comes in a standard packaging from ID-Cooling. This thermal paste is rated for 15.2 W/mK making it quite a contender with other high-performance thermal pastes.

Salient specifications are listed over the backside of the packing box. The part number is ID-TG-FROST-X45-2g.

The following are provided:

• 1x Applicator
• 1x Thermal Grease Cleaner

The applicator has a standard design and it is used to even spread the thermal paste over the CPU IHS.

The black color tube has ID-Cooling branding along with the thermal conductivity rating. The salient features of this thermal paste are:

• designed for mainstream users
• no curing
• non-electrically conductive

This thermal paste has a gray color. It has a conductivity rating of 15.2 w/mK. It is available in 2gm and 4gm packs. Its thermal resistance is rated at 0.03ᵒC-cm²/W. The operating temperature range is impressive with -50ᵒC to 300ᵒC. The density rating is 2.8 g/cm³ with a viscosity rating of 140 Pas.

This is a silicone oil-based thermal paste that uses nano particles. Unfortunately no further data or info is available on the mixture and its concentration. I think ID-Cooling might be using a combination of aluminum and zinc oxide but it is not confirmed.

Testing

Now coming to the main point of this article, the following configuration is used for thermal paste testing: –

• AMD Ryzen 9 9900X [243W]
• ASRock X870E NOVA WiFi
• G.Skill Trident Z Neo RGB 32GB DDR5 6400MHz CL30
• Maxsun Arc B580 iCraft 12G [For Display]
• XPG Rocket 4 Plus 2TB NVMe SSD [For OS]
• Fractal Design ION+ 2P 860W PSU
• Thermaltake Core P6 TG Snow Edition in an open frame layout
• Noctua NH-D15 G2

I have included below high-performance thermal pastes for the comparison:

• Thermal Grizzly Duronaut
• Noctua NT-H2
• Alphacool Subzero
• Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut

The sample size is reduced but it is kept relevant by including the high-performance thermal pastes only for better comparison.

How have we tested?

The following testing methodology is used for the thermal paste testing:

• AMD Ryzen 9 9900X was set to operate at 243W Thermal load, producing good enough heat output for this testing
• Thermal Pastes were applied in an even spread
• Since mounting pressure plays important role, I stopped as soon as threads run out on each screw of the cooler.
• Ambient or Room temperature was in range of 21.7ᵒ to 23.2ᵒC throughout the testing day. Since thermal pastes strive for even decimals of degree Celsius, I am reporting delta temperature.
• At least one thermal cycle was completed before actual testing. This was done by powering the system and leaving it idle for at least 5 minutes. Then a 10-minute run of Cinebench R23.2 was run followed by idle state and then the system was powered off for 20 minutes. Actual test was done on the next power cycle.
• For testing, PC was left on idle for 5 minutes.
• Cinebench R23.2 run was made to put load on the CPU.
• An average of three test runs is made.
• CPU Tctl/Tdie Temperature is taken as a reporting value.
• The fans were running at full speed (100% PWM duty cycle).
• HWInfo64 was used to monitor the sensors.

Please note that not every run of the stress test may yield the same result. This could well be due to many factors like mounting pressure, thermal paste application, varying ambient temperature. Not to mention the silicon differences even among the same category of the chips. Hence, it is pertinent to mention the testing methodology along with the specifics.

Let’s take a look at the results.

Result

The Frost X45 has 1.0ᵒC advantage over the Noctua NT-H2 whereas this difference (1.8ᵒC) is huge compared to the Kryonaut. It is highly competitive against the Thermal Grizzly Duronaut.

ID-Cooling Frost X45 has a sucker punch when it comes to thermal performance or thermal management. This thermal paste is sitting on top in our graph with competition only from Duronaut. It has a better performance with 1.7ᵒC better temperatures compared to NT-H2 and 1.8ᵒC better temperatures compared to the Kryonaut. The difference with Duronaut is in decimals, and even then it is a win for Frost X45.

Conclusion

ID-Cooling Frost X45 is a new thermal paste from the manufacturer. Competition among thermal pastes is increasing these days and they even compete for every decimal gain provided pricing is right. The Frost X45 is a high-performance thermal paste. Its statistics include:

• Gray color.
• Thermal conductivity rating of 15.2 w/mK.
• Availability in 2gm and 4gm packs.
• Thermal resistance rating of 0.03ᵒC-cm²/W.
• The operating temperature range of -50ᵒC to 300ᵒC.
• The density rating of 2.8 g/cm³
• Viscosity rating of 140 Pas.

This thermal paste is not electrically conductive and it is non-curing as well. Though we don’t know the exact composition of the mixture, it is silicone based with high viscosity and uses nano particles for effective heat transfer.

This thermal paste is available in 2gm and 4gm packs. The 2gm pack is expected to retail at USD 6.99 whereas the 4gm pack at USD 7.99. The shelf life of this thermal paste is not known, hence I don’t have a recommendation on which pack is suitable, but it is clear that the 4gm pack gives you a better value. This pricing also does not make any sense, that there is only 1 dollar difference over a 2gm difference.

This thermal paste has knocked out the other four high-performance thermal pastes in my testing. Even though the difference against the Duronaut is only in decimals, the pricing of the Frost X45 gives itself a distinctive advantage and a clear winner.

PS: I know this is a one-time testing and it will not and can’t indicate the long term performance and durability of these pastes. Our test results are from using a specific configuration and they only attempt to show a relative performance of these thermal pastes. It is only a measure of what to expect from a thermal paste.

The Frost X45 comes recommended by us.