Arctic Silver thermal compound

[Meteor_of_War]

I recently (about 3 days ago) bought a syringe of Arctic Silver 3 to put on my CPU core and i was wondering how long it takes to achieve thermal conduction and maximum conductivity...basically how long it's supposed to take before i notice a drop in my CPU's temperature. I have an AthlonXP 3000+ with a Volcano 10 HSF and i use the newest version of Asus probe to monitor hardware temps. Before i applied the compound my CPU temps were at about 40 degrees celcius while idling and 45 during load (playing UT2k3). Since i've applied the compound i have yet to see any decrease in temps. I followed the instructions exactly on how to use the compound so i know that's not where the problem lies. But i am now thinking it takes some time before the compound starts working. Can anyone give any input on this?

 

[Shuzer]

It's generally noticable after a few minutes on first boot.
However, I've seen it suggested you run a burn-in test for awhile (I've read anywhere from 6 to 24 hours) to "bake" the compound in to achieve maximum conductivity.

 

[Meteor_of_War]

Well i didnt notice much difference after a few minutes on the first boot, but i'll try leaving my computer on for a while to "bake" the compound. Also i cant help wondering if maybe i put too much. I tried hard to spread it as thin as i could while still covering the entire CPU core, hopefully i did it right.:-\

 

[Asus]

You have an Athlon XP?
If you have a heatspreader (P4/A64) don't cover it entirely.

 

[RandomPING]

Personally i just use taffy, it works just fine for me.

 

[Meteor_of_War]

You have an Athlon XP?
If you have a heatspreader (P4/A64) don't cover it entirely.

A heatspreader?
No i dont think i have one of those, just the HSF on top of the CPU.