Tuniq TX-3 Thermal Compound Review

Main Menu

Login Form

Support Us!

Product: TX-3
Manufacturer: Tuniq
Supplied by: Tuniq
Price: 8USD/RM28
Launch Date: May 2009

All of these thermal compound/grease/paste, thermal adhesive and thermal pad are having one common function which is to enhance the cooling performance by increasing the thermal conductive rate between two surfaces. Today we will have a quick look on Tuniq latest thermal compound; TX-3 where its predecessors; TX-1 & TX-2 have gained pretty good reputation from worldwide in this area.

Company Profile

Tuniq was formed as a division of Sunbeamtech and took on a whole new direction in product designs. We at Tuniq aim to provide authentic performance through a minimalist approach by stripping down the unnecessary components in product designs. Our research and development team consists of members who have over a decade of experience as well as young designers who are able to think outside of the box. It is this unique merge of experience and fresh ideas that enables us to bring to our customers such exquisite, elegant, top-quality products.

We feel that product design should be Zen-like: simple, functional, harmonious and without frails. Each product from Tuniq aims to combine the virtues of high performance, elegant design, and extraordinary value. When handling a Tuniq product, you will appreciate its impeccable finish and will be pleasantly amazed by its quality and performance.

Features

Specifications

Package & Contents

Since Tuniq TX-3 is a simple cooling component, it is just packed with a simple transparent sealed plastic container. Same with other standard thermal compounds, no other accessory is included but if possible we would like to see an applicator where users can use it to spread over the thermal compound evenly and easily.

A Closer Look: Tuniq TX-3

Many users may not really understand the real usage and benefit for a good thermal compound and some of them don't even really care about it. Unlike thermal adhesive and thermal pad, thermal compound will be dry after certain of period so it is important to replace the thermal compound regularly so that the cooling performance is always kept at top performance. Tuniq TX-3 is the 3rd version of Tuniq TX thermal compound where its predecessors; TX-1 and TX-2 were launched quite some time ago so a replacement model is finally released recently.

Tuniq TX-3 comes with a tube of 1ml (3g) thermal compound which is pretty standard size for most of the thermal compounds but there are couple of other brands which comes bigger tube of thermal compound to attract more customers. Anyway such standard tube of thermal compound should able to last for around 30 applications which is pretty enough for an average usage.

Tuniq TX-3 is a non-toxic and non-conductive thermal compound so it is safe to use it and it will not cause any electrical short circuit on the PCB like other conductive thermal compounds. Tuniq TX-3 consists of ultra small molecular structure of thermal compound to provide thinnest layer for maximizing the thermal conductivity between two surfaces by filling all the gaps between them. In term of technical perspective, Tuniq TX-3 is having 83500 cP viscosity and 6.2 W/mK high thermal conductivity and it is able to operate within -45°C till 200°C.

Although the tube of Tuniq TX-3 is quite giant but basically the content is pretty less compare with its size. Anyway it is good to see Tuniq includes a see-through window on this tubing so that user can monitor its usage and get a replacement before the thermal compound is fully used up. Tuniq TX-3 comes with grey thermal compound although it is not a silver conductive thermal compound and basically we found that the thermal compound of Tuniq TX-3 is quite solid than other lousy liquid thermal compounds.

Installation, Testing & Performance

Installation for Tuniq TX-3 is pretty standard with other thermal compounds. Before applying the Tuniq TX-3 on the processor, the old thermal compound needs to be cleaned off completely by using thermal compound removal like Tuniq TR-1. After that excrete about 0.1ml of Tuniq TX-3 on the middle of the processor protective cap or the die then spread out the thermal compound evenly with a applicator if there is any else any flat surfaced card like credit card will do. Lastly will be installing back the CPU cooler on the processor carefully especially for those processors that do not come with protective cap as the die can be damaged easily if the fasten process is not right.

Test Bed:

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8300 @ 2.83GHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3 (Gigabyte G31M-ES2L)
Heatsink: Noctua NH-C12P
Memory: Kingston HyperX DDR2 8500
Hard Drive: 250GB 7200RPM 8MB Seagate
Graphic Card: Galaxy GeForce GTX260+
PSU: In Win Commander 750W
Router: TRENDnet TEW-639GR
Optical Drive: DVD RW
Monitor: Dell 22" Wide Screen LCD
Speaker: Edifier R501
Mouse: SteelSeries Ikari Laser
Mouse Pad: SteelSeries QcK+
HeadSet: SteelSeries 3H
Operating System: Microsoft XP Pro SP2/Vista Home Premium
Ambient Temperature: 27 Degree Celsius

Here is the performance result between Tuniq TX-3 with the rest of the top thermal compounds in the PC cooling industry currently. As you can see the performance of Tuniq TX-3 is pretty good and it can considered one of the best thermal compounds that we have tested before although there is another thermal compound which is having the similar cooling performance with Tuniq TX-3. Although there is only minor performance difference between TX-3 and its competitors but this is understandable as the rest of the thermal compounds are top and best selling thermal compound around the world.

**The test result may vary with different setup as it might be limited by the heatsink, fan or ambient temperature as well.

Verdicts

Once again Tuniq has produced another great thermal compound; TX-3 which is able to compete with other world's top thermal compounds. Besides that Tuniq TX-3 is non-toxic, non-conductive thermal compound which are additional advantages over other thermal compounds. Last but no least, Tuniq TX-3 is just being sold at 8USD which is super good deal for such great performance thermal compound.

Pros:

+ Value
+ Decent cooling performance
+ See-through window
+ Non-toxic, non-conductive material
+ Work under low pressure environment too

Cons:

- No applicator

Thanks to Tuniq for providing this sample for us to review.