Though it has very good thermal properties ... eventually, I don't use Artic Silver. In addition to cost, the reasons why are on AS5s web site:
http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm
Arctic Silver 5 was formulated to conduct heat, not electricity.
(While much safer than electrically conductive silver and copper greases, Arctic Silver 5 should be kept away from electrical traces, pins, and leads. While it is not electrically conductive, the compound is very slightly capacitive and could potentially cause problems if it bridges two close-proximity electrical paths.)
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.
At the typical 30 hours per week, that's 7 weeks. I don't want to wait 7 weeks to dial in my OCs, the limits of which are based upon temps and the ability of the cooler / TIM to stay below desired limits. I also don't want to worry about excess TIM being squeezed out of a lil drip falling somewhere unseen and causing problems.
Shin Etsu G751 has the same thermal properties, cost half as much, cures in minutes and is not capacitive.
http://pcpartpicker.com/product/mDPfrH/masscool-thermal-paste-g751
That being said, if you already spent the money ...
Questions:
1. Are you saying that a) the cooler came with a pre-applied paste (solid at room temperature) and you left it on .... or b) are you saying the cooler was used for some time in another installation and then you took it off and reused the old paste.
a) i just fine
b) was a no-no
2. If you were installing the cooler and re-oriented it while paste was still wet and machine was not booted, chances are you are just fine as long as both surfaces still had it spread evenly and you placed it in a manner so as not to trap any air bubbles.
Not saying that it isn't a better idea to re-apply in these instances, just saying that I have seen it done a few times w/o any real impact on performance. It is however certainly possible. Even with fresh clean installs we can see 2-3c variations which is why users will typically do 3-5 installs and report the average.
One time the user mounted the cooler in standard blow to rear position using IGP and turned on machine just to get into BIOS ... he spent a few minutes in there and happened to take note of CPU temp.
The box wound up on my bench an hour later when he brought it over because it was a 4 PCI slot MoBo and when he went to install the 2 GFX cards, the top card was hitting the cooler. He didn't have any more TIM, but while he was here he wanted to make sure everything fit so I watched him uninstall / reinstall the cooler (fans blowing up) and the cards went in just fine . He turned on and looked in BIOS to make sure everything was "seen" properly and he commented the BIOS temp was same.
After giving him the speech about replacing TIM, he left with the mindset that he was going to order some Shin Etsu and reinstall.... but anxiousness got the best of him and he installed the OS ... and then anxiousness took hold again and he installed a game. That was 2 years ago and he still hasn't gotten around to using the tube of Shin Etsu. He's got a 4.7 Ghz OC on it and temps are in the 70s.
So yes it **can** work just fine ... I doubt that would have been the case if he had taken the box thru several thermal cycles or heated it up to any significant temperature...as it was the paste was still "wet" and pliable.
Seen few more instances where dropped screws, access to wire sockets or headers required reseating and where wiping clean was not an option but these were after only a few seconds to few minutes and no ill effects were observed. OTOH in one instance with a prolimatech, user was thinking "Hot Air rises" and installed cooler blowing up ... then when looking to see how his temps stood up, he found out the prolimatech recommended a "to rear" orientation stating a 2-3C improvement. He reinstalled w/o changing TIM .. after 3-4 days of usage and his temps went up 2C. Hard to say what contributed how much to what but after the reinstallation "to rear", cleaning and application of with Shin Etsu... he was down 6-7C
3. Is the CPU overclocked ?
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