Arctic Silver 5

tmh88

I bought a 12 gram syringe of Arctic Silver 5, and I was wondering why they give you so much, if your only supposed to put on a drop the size of a grain or two of rice.

I wasn't exactly sure what to do, so I went to their website www.arcticsilver.com and followed the instructions for putting it on, and I noticed the "break in" period. I understand what it is, I think, which is when the first 200 hours i think, that the computer must be turned off every so often, and the temps will lower gradually.

Am I correct about the "break in" period, and is there anything I should do, like turning my computer off every few hours for the first week or 2.

Thrax

Just run your computer normally. That's how you break it in.

tmh88

alright thanks. As for that turning off of the computer, should I do that every few hours?

RWB

I never did that sorta thing, I just put it on and forget about it... just don't put on too much and you should be fine. If you want to be safe... turn it off when you goto bed or something.

Cyclonite

No. Just use your computer as you normally would. If you want to leave it on, then leave it on. If you want to shut it off, shut it off. The paste will reach it's maximum potential after ~200 hours of the computer being on and the paste being heated. The difference isn't tremendous, so as long as your temps are within a nominal range, don't worry about it.

tmh88

Thanks, I just usually use the thermal pad that comes with the heatsink, but this time I felt like trying something "good" to see if theres a difference.

Ok and also, back to my original question, why do they give you so much if you use so little of it?

dragonV8

Guess because it's hard to package something the size of a grain of rice. You get more, but pay for it. We use it all the time. Thought if a small amount is good, more would be better............i was wrong, lol.

Never had a problem with a small amount of it and we run 14 desktop computers.
13 intels and 1 AMD to appease Thrax.
They all run 24/7 from the time we built them. (can't fold when they are turned off. )

tmh88

Whats can happen if you use more than the suggested amount. They say about 1 to 1 1/2 grains of rice. Say you use the size of 7 grains of rice, would it not transfer heat as well or something like that?

RWB

It oozes out onto anything nearby. Makes a fun project to clean up if nothing gets fried despite it being mostly non-conductive.

Ohh and also, it's only to help the heat transfer from the CPU to th heatsink by getting into any microscopic crevases even in highly polished metal, I use a razor to wipe the termal compound onto the area, it's very thin.