Is it ok to let thermal paste set overnight?

Inquisitive Builder · Jul 17, 2013

Hey guys,

I am thinking about building most of my rig tonight and then installing the PSU tomorrow when it arrives, but it occured to me:
Would it be ok to let the thermal paste set all night and not turn on the computer for the first time until a day or two later?

I've heard of people talking about how the heat of the CPU makes it spread, how it behaves differently when it's dry, etc, and so I am wondering if it matters how long you wait between applying the thermal paste and the time you boot up the CPU for the first time.

Thanks!

JobCreator · Jul 17, 2013

Honestly, I don't know for certain - but, I would think that's fine. There's not going to be a ton of air exposure if it's sandwiched between the CPU and HS/fan, so drying out is unlikely if left over the course of one night. (At least I wouldn't think so.) It is greasy after all, so it's not like it will evaporate. Someone else can probably give a more definitive answer, but my guess is you're fine leaving it one night.

J_E_D_70 · Jul 17, 2013

Shouldn't matter.

larkspur · Jul 17, 2013

That's no problem. The thermal paste only "dries out" over time and especially with the normal warm-up and cool-down cycles of a CPU. Installing the paste using a proper technique and letting it sit overnight won't have a negative effect.

Sometimes people refer to the "burn-in" effect. This just means that the paste needs to heat-up before it fully coats the cpu heatspreader and heatsink interface surface. It means that the CPU temps will usually drop over a few hours or days (i.e. improve - due to the paste heating up and coating the surfaces better - also any air bubbles will work their way out).

Don't worry though - As long as you apply the paste using a proper technique (personally I use the bead technique - but I've used both the credit card and bead technique and both worked fine for me) and make sure you secure the heatsink properly according to the heatsink's directions, then you'll be fine. Most problems are when people use too much paste (or too little) and/or don't get the heatsink tight enough. Again, follow the directions and you should be fine - You can check your temps and make sure that they are good in the BIOS. You can also install a temp monitor like CoreTemp after you install the OS. Feel free to ask on Tom's about your temps once you are running, we're happy to help!

JackNaylorPE · Jul 17, 2013

Well ..... the truth of the matter is TIM has to "cure" and it does that by "thermal cycling" .... turning outer on and running Prime 95 for a year and then turning it off is just one cycle.

You will find that taking certain steps will give you better performance. What I do for example is find an OC I am comfortable with (typically 72-75C) and then overclock some more to get it up to 80C. I run a series of OCCT 60 minute runs with cool downs in between.

With a decent TIM like Shin Etsu, 4-5 cycles like this seems t do the job. I now go back and return BIOS settings to my"comfy" level and instead of 72-75..... I'm seeing 69-72....sometimes lower

http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm

Important Reminder:
Due to the unique shape and sizes of the particles in Arctic Silver 5's conductive matrix, it will take a up to 200 hours and several thermal cycles to achieve maximum particle to particle thermal conduction and for the heatsink to CPU interface to reach maximum conductivity. (This period will be longer in a system without a fan on the heatsink or with a low speed fan on the heatsink.) On systems measuring actual internal core temperatures via the CPU's internal diode, the measured temperature will often drop 2C to 5C over this "break-in" period. This break-in will occur during the normal use of the computer as long as the computer is turned off from time to time and the interface is allowed to cool to room temperature. Once the break-in is complete, the computer can be left on if desired.

Now that's why I don't use AS5 .... 200 hours of thermal cycling is about 1 year or normal usage. Shin Etsu has same "cured" thermal performance and has no significant cure time.... after cupla hours of OCCT runs / cool downs, I stop seeing any improvement.

So, no ... you be fine finishing next day .... if it's AS5, it wont be fully cured till July 2014 anyway

http://archive.benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=138&Itemid=47&limit=1&limitstart=5
http://archive.benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=150&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=12

JackNaylorPE · Jul 17, 2013

Well ..... the truth of the matter is TIM has to "cure" and it does that by "thermal cycling" .... turning puter on and running Prime 95 for a year and then turning it off is just one cycle.

You will find that taking certain steps will give you better performance. What I do for example is find an OC I am comfortable with (typically 72-75C) and then overclock some more to get it up to 80C. I then run a series of OCCT 60 minute runs with cool downs in between.

With a decent TIM like Shin Etsu, 4-5 cycles like this seems to do the job. I now go back and return BIOS settings to my"comfy" level and instead of 72-75..... I'm seeing 69-72....sometimes lower

http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm

Important Reminder:
Due to the unique shape and sizes of the particles in Arctic Silver 5's conductive matrix, it will take a up to 200 hours and several thermal cycles to achieve maximum particle to particle thermal conduction and for the heatsink to CPU interface to reach maximum conductivity. (This period will be longer in a system without a fan on the heatsink or with a low speed fan on the heatsink.) On systems measuring actual internal core temperatures via the CPU's internal diode, the measured temperature will often drop 2C to 5C over this "break-in" period. This break-in will occur during the normal use of the computer as long as the computer is turned off from time to time and the interface is allowed to cool to room temperature. Once the break-in is complete, the computer can be left on if desired.

Now that's why I don't use AS5 .... 200 hours of thermal cycling is about 1 year or normal usage. Shin Etsu has same "cured" thermal performance and has no significant cure time.... after cupla hours of OCCT runs / cool downs, I stop seeing any improvement.

So, no ... you be fine finishing next day .... if it's AS5, it wont be fully cured till July 2014 anyway

http://archive.benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=138&Itemid=47&limit=1&limitstart=5
http://archive.benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=150&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=12
http://archive.benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=170&Itemid=38

Inquisitive Builder · Jul 18, 2013

JackNaylorPE :

LOL, ok, I think I will go ahead with my build then. AS5 is what I got, and so apparently I won't need to worry about it drying up until WAAAAY after I'm done building

Thanks for all your help guys!

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