The Alphacool brand has announced not a new water block, but a new TIMÂ or “thermal interface material.” We are pleased to share the announcement of its Apex Thermal Putty X1. Specifically, this is a thermal paste designed to replace thermal pads. It is more flexible and easier to apply than pads.
Apex Thermal Putty X1: a thermal paste that is more versatile than thermal pads!
The purpose of this product is simple: to replace more traditional thermal pads. It offers the advantage of not having to worry about the thickness of the pads, as the paste is flexible and easily compresses under pressure. In contrast, if you chose thermal pads that were too thick, you would not be able to reassemble your graphics card or you would bend the PCB, which is not really desirable.
All you need to do is make small balls of thermal paste, press them onto the surface of the components to be cooled, and reinstall the heatsink on your card so that they spread out on their own under pressure. What’s more, their non-conductive properties mean that there’s no need to worry if the compound spills over and comes into contact with the PCB. Alphacool also claims that it will not harden over time.
Without going into all the details about the fluidity of the paste, its density, or anything else, we’ll just note its thermal conductivity of 10 W/mK. In contrast, we know that it is designed to operate in a temperature range between -20 and 125°C. So if you want to try your hand at overclocking with a custom water cooling system that pumps frozen water, you can.
As for the price, a 30g jar costs €29.98, while a 50g jar costs €46.98.
Check out the Alphacool product pages here!