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I recently applied some new thermal paste to my main server, and am wondering if it is safe to immediately resume high-performance computing applications, or if I need to wait for the paste to "settle" before using the CPU at 100% (I don't overclock it though). I am using an Intel i7 CPU.
bbosak
Posted 2011-12-14T21:26:02.417
Reputation: 360
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Yes it is. If you notice that the CPU is overheating though, you may want to redo the paste.
soandos
Posted 2011-12-14T21:26:02.417
Reputation: 22 744
1TECHNICALLY this depends on the paste, but practically everything on the market should be fine even without waiting for it to set. – Shinrai – 2011-12-14T21:31:15.423
1So it should be fine if I start the HPC application, go away from the computer for a few hours, and it shouldn't degrade the paste? – bbosak – 2011-12-14T21:31:56.883
1Yup, that's how it works. – soandos – 2011-12-14T21:32:51.517
I would not think twice about it, no (beyond the usual caveat that you should always keep an eye on your temperatures right after remounting a heatsink just in case it's not on correctly) – Shinrai – 2011-12-14T21:36:37.793
HPC apps have been running for about 5 minutes now (I will accept answer in a minute), and it's so far keeping a steady temperature at 105F. – bbosak – 2011-12-14T21:41:43.870
1Do read the manual or website of the thermal paste if available. While most pastes will work fine out of the box, some may need a certain amount of time to settle and some may require the computer to cool down and heat up in that period of time. – AndrejaKo – 2011-12-14T23:12:05.577
The old wax based paste required a few thermal cycles to work at 100%, newer pastes no longer require this break in. – Moab – 2011-12-15T02:09:46.050