Arctic MX-4 Question

[ace-101]

I just applied my MX-4. I noticed that the temps became higher at idle. I'm not doing any stress test yet. Is there a waiting time for this compound to settle and perform at it's best? I've seen some post saying it will take two weeks or it will take time to perform at it's optimum.

CPU is 4770K running 4.3ghz @ 1.27V with 212 EVO.

Thanks!

 

[MeteorsRaining]

Wait for a couple of days, let it settle, temps will fall.

 

[Calculatron]

Arctic Cooling MX-4 is, more or less, non-curing.

How did you apply the compound?

 

[ace-101]

Actually this is the second time I applied this paste. Did not get good temps with my first application so I decided to re-apply again. I found out that I applied too little the first time using the pea method. Now I applied more. How can I upload photos here so I can show you?

 

[MeteorsRaining]

Upload it to a hosting site like imgur or tinypic, then link the address or copy the 'forum' section URL for it to be displayed right here.

 

[nikoli707]

the "cure" time is different for every paste and cpu and cooler setup. and its not really a set 50 hours or 200 hours. its a heat up and cool down cycle. heat makes metals, copper in this case, stretch and contract. on the microscopic level, as the top of the cpu heats up faster and is at a different temp then the bottom of the cooler, the two literally slide against each other, and stretch and contract against each other. think of it as how fault lines works for an earthquake, except in this case as they cool down the return to their previous position. as they slide against each other, the thermal paste gets pushed around and eventually finds the valleys and gaps that are full of air, on a microscopic level, and fills them in.

metal on metal does a better job of transferring heat than the thermal paste. but air does a bad job at this, worse than thermal paste. you dont need a lot of thermal paste at all, just enough to fill in air gaps on the nano meter level.

 

[ace-101]

These are the pics before I re-applied the MX-4
http://tinypic.com/usermedia.php?uo=adkBqYNLltvYttAgKg1nWIh4l5k2TGxc#.VEtTNvmUeao
http://tinypic.com/usermedia.php?uo=adkBqYNLltuEXZDekZepKoh4l5k2TGxc#.VEtTWvmUeao

This is the new application. It's not that clear but it's a lot more than I applied before.
http://tinypic.com/usermedia.php?uo=adkBqYNLltuB1u%2Fi09onmYh4l5k2TGxc#.VEtT3_mUeao

 

[MeteorsRaining]

Have you actually spread it or kept it like that for pressure to do the rest?

 

[ace-101]

Yup I just allowed pressure. That's the common method that I have seen than spreading it.

 

[MeteorsRaining]

Perform a stress test and monitor temps, then perform it after a couple of days. Don't worry if they're still hotter than usual, if they're lower than they were today, the paste is settling in fine.

 

[ace-101]

Here are my current temps.
Ambient - 24C
XTU - 79C
Rendering (Autodesk Revit) - 80C
x264 - 80C

 

[MeteorsRaining]

Warmish I'd say, still very well under safe limits. Do check after a couple days.

 

[ace-101]

What temps should I expect?

 

[ace-101]

Tried Intel Burn Test and temps reached 96C