Thermal Paste Break In

How do you know when your thermal paste is "broken in". do your temps go down or what? it said like 50-200hrs... oh its artic silver 5 btw.

 

your comp HAS to be on for 50-200 hours... I just put some AC5 on and im still waiting for it to break in....

 

like 50 to 200 hrs straight or what cuz ive had it for about 2 months... and use it everyday

 

Here's from manufacture:
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.
http://www.articsilver.com/as5.htm

FYI Artic Ceramic has shorter breakin 25hrs, I prefer Ceramic, clean up easier, Safer doesnt conduct electricity, differance in temps from AS5 Slight to none.
http://www.articsilver.com/ceramique.htm#crev