thermal paste setting

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civicisr
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Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2006 5:27 pm

thermal paste setting

Post by civicisr » Tue Feb 07, 2006 5:00 pm

Is it a bad idea to build a system but not turn it on for about a week? I ask because I can do everything now except for the memory - I was thinking maybe for the thermal paste to set properly I need to turn on the computer and get things heated up? usually i would be turning it on within 20 minutes of putting on the heat sink so didn't know if waiting a week would be a bad idea

Elixer
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Post by Elixer » Tue Feb 07, 2006 5:35 pm

If you're using arctic silver or an equivalent it shouldn't really matter. These thermal pastes don't need heat to set, they settle over the course of a few days reguardless. The old style thermal paste used to need to be ran at over 50C for an at least an hour to set properly. Either way I can't see this causing any problem if the computer is turned on later, the thermal paste will still be there.

~El~Jefe~
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Post by ~El~Jefe~ » Wed Feb 08, 2006 6:55 pm

Hm. I read about this recently on that water cooling good site i forget the name.

They said that if you run AS5 for a long time without ever turning off the computer for a full cool off, the stuff doesnt work as well. SOmehow it hardens and makes more of a contact. So it could be the other way around.

I always blast my comp for like 3-4 hours of punishment after I as5 all the heatsinks, then turn it off, recheck temps, I do see some drop.

could be coincidence, but so far lots of people have seen this. shrug.

Trekari
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Post by Trekari » Thu Feb 09, 2006 12:17 am

It does in fact matter whether you turn the system off or on. Go to Articsilver.com and read their instructions on applying the thermal compound and you will see they say it takes approximately 200 hours to fully set, yet it can take longer if you use low-speed fans or do not allow the full temperature range of ambient->load to occur.

Meaning you not only need to stress the system, but you also need to turn it off entirely and let it cool back down to ambient room temperature several times for AS5 to fully cure and give maximum benefits.

-Jason

~El~Jefe~
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Post by ~El~Jefe~ » Thu Feb 09, 2006 9:43 pm

:shock:

never seen that!

Intriguing!

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