How long do I have to wait for AS5 to cure before I can start overclocking?

[yliu]

I often switch CPUs which means redoing the thermal grease and heatsink/fan often. I've noticed sometimes that the performance of my heatsink (XP-90) drops a whole lot after reseating, especially when I overclock. Is it because I need to wait for AS5 to cure before overclocking? Or is it more likely that I didn't do the reseating properly and should just do it over?

If it is because of AS5's curing period, would using arctic ceramique or some other grease allow me to start pushing the CPU earlier? I'd like to get thru testing my CPUs quickly.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Do the usual stability testing and when you are certain there aren't any problems start overclocking. Any improvement in heat dissipation as the result of T.I.M. "curing" will be minimal and shouldn't impact the overclock perceptably. You shouldn't experience any big temp change just because you reseated unless something was indeed amiss. Loss of proper contact with the core, if you are cleaning out dust during the removal and reinstallation, old T.I.M. that has pumped or started to dry up, that sort of thing will factor in to temp differences. I have never personally had a T.I.M. drop temps significantly because the silver particles settled into better aligment over the course of a few weeks or whatever AS claims they do.

 

[yliu]

Thanks.. that's what kinda what I suspected as well. I will redo the HSF and hopefully will get similar temps to what I used to get.

 

[thriemus]

It was about 3 days before i started pushing this machine on. Same with my previous 25+ applications.

I believe it takes that long as if you remove the HSF after that amount of time the paste will be (even) thicker than what it was and i also noticed a few degrees temperature drop at stock speeds after 3 days.

 

[Soulkeeper]

i say 20 to 40 seconds

just overclock all you want, then try to push the limits again in a few days if you wish
I've never noticed a measureable difference for cured vs. fresh AS but sometimes you get lucky with a few extra mhz

have fun

 

[Mrvile]

AS5 "curing" isn't really that big a deal. It might give you 1 or 2 extra degrees, thats it. Apply it, plug everything in, run the usual P95 (and memtest if you want) and start pushing that voltage as soon as you want.

 

[lenjack]

It doesn't cure, which would imply setting or hardening...it may adapt and conform better to the mating surfaces with time. I noticed no temp change after the initial pacement of AS5.