Today, the Swiss team over at Arctic Cooling just released its new premium thermal compound solution known as Arctic MX-3. Over the last couple years, the MX series has earned a highly reputable name among the enthusiast community due to its non-curing nature and high thermal conductivity.
The new paste has been reengineered for noticeably more heat transfer over its MX-2 predecessor. It is composed of carbon microparticles that give it an impressively high 8.2W/mK thermal conductivity level. More specifically, it has a viscosity of 875 poise and a density of 2.32g/cm3 and is a metal-free, non-electrically conductive compound.
Arctic Cooling claims that its new formula will beat Arctic Silver 5 by around 2C and stock cooling by around 7C on a stock-clocked Phenom X4 9950 at full load. The closest competitor we have seen come close to the new conductivity level is OCZ Freeze, which tops out at around 3.8W/mK. We are interested in seeing another high-performance thermal compound comparison but this time with Arctic Silver 5, OCZ Freeze, and Arctic MX-3 in the mix.
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Arctic Cooling releases MX-3 thermal paste
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Very high 8.2W/mK thermal conductivity