Completely puzzled - What is 'Indigo Extreme'?

T

Trackr

[H]ard|Gawd
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Feb 10, 2011
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So, I've been on the scene as long as most of you guys have, and I thought I had a pretty good understanding of TIM.

I've written in dozens of 'Which is the best TIM' threads, and only now have I actually been recommended this weird thing called 'Indigo Extreme'..

Imagine my shock, that all this time, there is a TIM that beats out every other.. and is a hard plastic casing that wedges itself between the CPU and HSF..

So, am I blind, or is it just a gimmick?
 
It is a liquid metal that stays in its own wrapper. What you see is correct. It looks like a band aid that you stick on top of the cpu then mount the heatsink on top of that. You then turn on the pc with no cpu fan or water pump running to let it heat up and within a few seconds it redistributes the liquid metal to fill in all voids.

From all the data I have seen it looks like it is the best around, but at $16 an application it isn't cheap.
 
caniba said:
It is a liquid metal that stays in its own wrapper. What you see is correct. It looks like a band aid that you stick on top of the cpu then mount the heatsink on top of that. You then turn on the pc with no cpu fan or water pump running to let it heat up and within a few seconds it redistributes the liquid metal to fill in all voids.

From all the data I have seen it looks like it is the best around, but at $16 an application it isn't cheap.
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But it's been here since I have.

So, how come no one has EVER discussed it?

I simply can't trust something that's been around forever and for some reason, no one has ever talked about it until now..
 
I'm sure that many people mentioned it in their posts.It's just not popular like the AS5 (possibly due to the cost).
 
Not popular simply due to their cost, but I'm sure there have been discussions on it. A $7 22g tube of Arctic Ceramique can last at least 40 applications, while the $16 Indigo Extreme only lasts one. The Indigo Extreme is more than 80 times the cost of Arctic Ceramique. Not that many people have that kind of money to throw at a system, especially if they're swapping out parts every few weeks or months.
 
Tsumi said:
Not popular simply due to their cost, but I'm sure there have been discussions on it. A $7 22g tube of Arctic Ceramique can last at least 40 applications, while the $16 Indigo Extreme only lasts one. The Indigo Extreme is more than 80 times the cost of Arctic Ceramique. Not that many people have that kind of money to throw at a system, especially if they're swapping out parts every few weeks or months.
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But you agree that Indigo Extreme is the best TIM on earth?

What about the "Contact Debate"?

http://skinneelabs.com/tim/comparison-2011/

Apparently, with poor contact, the Indigo Extreme is far better, but with "Great contact", all TIMs are about the same.

So, what does this contact thing mean, really? Why choose poor contact? Or is it difficult?
 
This is news to me also. And 16 bucks doesn't seem like too much for a high performance computer. People are paying a lot more than that for minor performance upgrades. When I do a new build for myself and have everything perfect I might try this out.
 
Even with all TIMs having great contact, IE is still the best. No one intentionally uses poor contact (except for testing purposes); it just happens sometimes, especially with people with less experience. Like others have said, it's not really talked about that much because of its cost. Sixteen bucks is a lot when it's every application.
 
I suspect a lot of it also comes down to the install process.

It's significantly more involved than normal TIM (and missing any step can ruin the application and out you $16).

It's significantly more annoying than applying normal TIM.

And it involves steps, like running a heatsink without fan for up to 10 minutes, that make a lot of people nervous. Even if Indigo's makers say it's totally safe, a lot of people are going to stay miles away from the product simply due to concern that they might lunch a $300+ CPU applying $16 TIM.
 
You'll find a lot more discussion of Indigo Extreme on more extreme overclocking/cooling sites like overclock.net or xtremesystems.org. Not a LOT, mind you, but much more than here.

I've used it. It works pretty well. But installing it is more involved than a normal paste. Having used it once I declined to use it on future systems, because it isn't worth the extra hassle to me.

And yeah, it was nerve-wracking to turn on my previous water-cooled system with no pump running and seeing the water boiling inside the cpu cooler and tubing, which is part of the install process for Indigo Extreme.

But don't avoid it because you haven't heard about it, just avoid it for cost, annoyance, or concerns about CPU heat during the install process. But if you want the absolute coolest CPU temps Indigo Extreme will help get you there.
 
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Oh wait.... :confused:

I am getting old... :D
 
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