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Tuniq TX-2 Preview

Posted by IKIKUINTHENUTZ | Published in Cooling | [-no comments-]

Tuniq is a sub division of a well known manufacture of modification accessories named Sunbeamtech. Tuniq considers themselves as “fashion” designers of unique computer components of the computing industry with their product selection stretching from computer cases, CPU coolers, and power supplies. Tuniq strives to provide quality components at reasonable costs to all ranges of clients. Expanding their Cooling line up, they have recently released a brand new thermal paste called TX-2. We shall briefly see if this thermal paste is noteworthy to consider in our upcoming Thermal compound review.

TX-2 is Tuniq’s brand new formula to improve on their last paste called TX-1 with hoping of being able to achieve better results than other competitors in the recent rising thermal paste market such as the ever growing popularity of MX-2 or the innovative IC diamond. With impressive specification claims by the manufacture with aggressive MSRP this product is worth a look and see if such claims and attractive price holds true.

As you can see, Tuniq provides the product in a simple plastic bag with no documentation what so ever. While not bad nor good, it just means the product is provided as is without any added extras. The cutting of extras can pass the savings off to the consumers. However with the lack of documentation the product is difficult to use for those who are not familiar to applying paste to any type of computer component.

On the backside of the packaging and on the tube, the specifications are listed. Impressive claims are bestowed to any one who reads it.

When I removed the tube from the bag and inspected it for a while, the tube itself have a striking resemblance with 2 other well known thermal paste that I am familiar with. Even though similar, similar tubes do not account for what is inside.

The bottle provides 3.5grams worth of the paste which is the most common amount thermal paste manufactures provide to all customers. Grey in color, characteristics of “watery”, and no smell sums up the description of the paste.

Another noteworthy feature of this thermal paste is the fact that it is non-conductive and non-captive which makes it very safe for GPUs, Chipsets, and open die processors.

The left picture shows how much came out when tapped 2mm

The right picture is just a more clear detail of the paste

TESTING

Testing system consist of a AM2 4400+ X2 Brisbane @ 2.3GHZ, EVGA 590sli, Powercolor X1050, 1 X 2GB 667mhz Mushkin ram, 250gb Seagate Hard drive, ASUS SATA burner, 600W XG Magnum External Power supply, Windows XP home, all on an open tech station custom made by a fellow from an other forum.

The paste will be tested with the AMD stock heatsink and compared with Arctic Cooling MX-2 on load only for reference because this is only a preview for a planned thermal paste round up. The thermal paste round up will be using a different testing station however more details of that will be disclosed in the future.

The application I am going to use for the TX-2 will be exactly the same with the MX-2. I will be using Core temp to record results and using Orthos to stress out the CPU. I also used Speed fan to keep the CPU fan running at 50 percent at 1500rpm.

Since there are no instructions provided on Tuniq’s website, Ive decided to let the AMD heatsink to do all the spreading by pressure.

Some of you may think that this is too little, let me remind some of you that contact between the actual die under the IHS and the heatsink is really all you need, nothing more.

Click to Enlarge.

Here is a bar chart comparing the both paste under LOAD. I got these results by recording 10mins with core temp, summing up both numbers of both dies then divide which finds the average tempature.

Comments/Suggestions

Honestly I cannot fully comment on the paste until after the planned thermal paste round up. However I can say it’s almost like MX-2 and it’s neck to neck with it which usually means that it can fare with the top preforming thermal pastes in the market. Offers great performance with a low price tag, this is a great product to consider. Though the packing is not flashy, this product is worth a try out.

Pros

Offers performance similar to the popular MX-2
great bargain for almost half the price compared to the majority of thermal paste in the market
paste spreads well with pressure
non conductive/captive

Cons

no documentation
a bit “watery” which can be difficult for some people to apply
Hard to find in retail stores
I thank Tuniq for providing the sample. Stay tuned for a Thermal Compound round up!

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