**Is there an expiry date for Arctic Silver**

[Voltaire]

I've bought a tube of Arctic Silver II almost 3 years ago for my old PIII600. I've used it recently for my P4 2.4c. The compound appeared to have a little liquid together with the silver goop, but I used it anyway. I'm wondering if this tube has expired or the silver might have been oxidized over such a long period, rendering it useless.
I'm asking this because my CPU runs a little too warm... it idles between 43 to 47 and at full load it could reach up to 64'C. That's pretty hot, but at the same time I understand that Abit boards report temps inaccurately. I am running the 2.4c @ 3.06 on stock cooler. AT stock speeds, idle temps are the same and fully loaded temps are around 60'C. Are these temps typical on a stock cooler?
Any comments?

 

[KF]

The AS is OK It doesn't oxidize. You may have got too much liquid in the part you used, which happened to me one time. The solid part seemed to have mostly washed out and gone to the side when I took the HS off, leaving a liquid with silvery dots in it. Redo it anyway, just in case. If you get liquid on the chip, don't mix it in. Wipe it off and start over. Make sure the dab you use is just the thick stuff.

 

[bacillus]

I still use the original AS on some of my stuff!

 

[BigBadBob]

Found this on the Arctic silver web site.
Storage
Like any mix of particles that are many times heavier than the suspension fluid, there will be some separation in the compound over time when stored in the original syringe. (All thermal compounds eventually experience some separation in storage.) This does not affect the performance of the unseparated or remixed compound.

To keep the compound fresh for future applications, always replace the cap on the syringe after each use. The syringe should be stored tip down so that any separation that occurs will be at the back end of the syringe with fully suspended particles below that. Storing in a cool place like a refrigerator will also lessen the separation over time.

Hope this helps, Bob

 

[Voltaire]

Thanks a million guys... you've been very helpful!