AS3 break-in period

Quote from articsilver.com....

"Important Reminder:

Due to the unique shape and sizes of the silver particles in Arctic Silver 3, it will take a minimum of 72 hours, and as many as 200 hours 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.) The CPU's temperature will drop as much as 2C to 5C over this "break-in" period."

I've experienced this myself and wonder if anyone knows what might make the period longer or shorter. Like does running at load 24/7 for three days speed up the break-in, or is it not dependant on temperature its just a time thing?

Its interesting that they say the break-in period is longer if you have no fan, unless they are assuming that no fan means low heat, which implies that heat speeds up the process.

johnoh,

Heat, vibration, and pressure are the determining factors. Higher heat will only shorten the time a slight amount so just use the computer in as you normally do. Low vibration like with a water cooled system will increase the break-in time dramatically. Water cooled systems will often not see the lowest temperatures until the compound has been on for several months.

I just changed our instructions because even though they said break-in time was a MINIMUM of 72 hours, I kept seeing posts on various forums stating that the break-in time WAS 72 hours.

After 72 hours, break-in is complete on very few systems.

Nevin House
Arctic Silver, Inc.

Thanks for your answer Nevin. Does your comment about temperature even extend to keeping the machine off? One reason I ask is because sometimes I'll only have the machine on for an hour a day and wonder if that means it'll be 72 days before the AS3 break-in is through.

You have me curious about pressure now. Does more pressure extend or shorten the time?

In case anyone was wondering, the reason this whole thing is important to me is because I have a flexible plastic duct taped to the 80mm fan that goes on my sk7 and when I remove the sk7 I need to untape the duct or else putting the sk7 back on is a royal pain because I can't see around the duct. So then in the process of re-taping I sometimes jostle the sk7 and screw up the as3 coating which leads to higher temps. But because of the break-in period it can be hard to know if I've actually disturbed the as3 coating or not.

If you only use your computer for an hour a day, are you really worried about a 1-2 degree drop in temperature?

If you only use your computer for an hour a day, are you really worried about a 1-2 degree drop in temperature?

Click to expand...

I didn't mean to appear worried. But it would be good to know how this settling-in thing works.

johnoh,

Once again, 72 hours is the MINIMUM break-in time. In the vast majority of cases, the performance will not reach its full potential for 200 hours or so.

If you only use the computer an hour a day, the compound will take a looooong time to break-in. Just as if you only drove your car 3 miles per day.

Higher pressure usually shortens the break-in time.

Nevin

Exactly! Just like driving our cars 3 miles a day is the most strenuous thing you can do... Wear it out by not having the engine and oil up to temp and in the right places.
So we all need to be sure to use our computers the maximum amount each and every day!

LoL!

Not knocking anything, but anyone else never really noticed a differance after a day? Honestly... I've never seen a temp drop in person couldn't also easily equate to something else.

That is the true test... When you can look back at the entire setup and say... Yep it's working because there isn't a single thing that could be contributing any more.

So in terms of heat the moral of the as3 break-in story is

ambient (cpmuter off) temperature causes almost no break-in to occur

idle temperature causes break-in to occur

high at-load temperatures do not really speed up the process.

hi...

i live in the uk, with the weather we get here the temps are always up and down due to the eratic weather.
one day it's cold then it's warm then hot,
i could not see any difference at all as the ambient temp is constantly changing it makes it very difficult to tell,
unless your in a proper test enviroment.

I run my rig 24/7 Folding @ Home and it only takes a couple of days to see a small drop in temps after a fresh application of AS3...
This time of year tho, a couple of degrees decrease in temps may not even be noticeable due to the warmer ambient temps of summer...

I just think it's so cool we have Nevin here! I compeltely forgot about that LoL!

Guess it's cause I'm on and off in cycles...