Want to improve the cooling system in your Mac? A company called Evergreen, which makes cooling solutions for micro-electronic assemblies, says it can help.
The company’s TherMagic Thermal Interface Material is designed to address the problem of “heat-stressed” CPUs. It’s characterized by “zero bondline,” low thermal resistance and amorphous flow, according to Lesley Lazerus, product manager of Evergreen.
“This product can be used in any, literally any, situation where there is a heat source and associated heatsink,” he told MacCentral. “It can absolutely be used on Macs.”
TherMagic Thermal Interface Material (TIM), the first product in Evergreen’s new line, is a material used to attach heatsink devices to microprocessors. It addresses the most critical issues to providing an effective path for conducting waste heat away from the CPU to the heatsink, increasing microprocessor performance, stability and longevity, Lazerus said. Performance testing demonstrates an average reduction in CPU temperature of 2 degrees Celsius, he said.
TherMagic TIM is designed for use with any non-bare aluminum metal cooling assembly, including anodized aluminum, copper, nickel-plated metals and silver. The interface is non-electrically conductive. Total applications are estimated at 20-30 CPU cores or 10-15 heatsink surfaces.
In response to consumer demand, the microelectronics industry is installing increasingly more powerful microprocessors into smaller system assemblies, said Mike Magee, president and CEO of Evergreen. The industry now faces a “significant” challenge in adequately cooling these systems, he added.
TherMagic TIM is particularly directed toward lowering thermal resistance at the junction of microprocessor and heatsink. The constituents of TherMagic TIM come together to form a new class of thermal transfer material referred to as a “zero bond line” interface that eliminates any structural barrier between the mating surfaces, thereby reducing thermal resistance, Magee said. Low thermal resistance facilitates the transport of heat away from the microprocessor, resulting in lower CPU temperatures.
TherMagic TIM consists of a conductive material suspended in a formulation of silicone oil. The material exhibits an amorphous quality, giving it the ability to “wet” contact surfaces and readily flow into microscopic air pockets. These microscopic air pockets would otherwise serve as heat insulators, degrading the overall cooling performance of the system, and reduce the actual surface area contact, said Magee.
Thermagic TIM has a list price of US$8.99. The TherMagic product line is available directly from Evergreen’s Web sit.