Arctic Silver 5 Drying Properties?

I applied a thin layer of Arctic Silver to the cpu in preparation of
installing an Arctic Freezer Pro 64. Now the installation will be
delayed due to a broken part.

If I leave the base of the cooler on the CPU will the thermal compound
remain soft enough to use in a week or two, or should I sc**** it off
now and apply another coat when I'm ready to mount the cooler once the
part arrives?

Thanks.

On Mon, 01 Oct 2007 14:07:44 -0700 'Dave S'
posted stuff on alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt:

>I applied a thin layer of Arctic Silver to the cpu in preparation of
>installing an Arctic Freezer Pro 64. Now the installation will be
>delayed due to a broken part.
>
>If I leave the base of the cooler on the CPU will the thermal compound
>remain soft enough to use in a week or two, or should I sc**** it off
>now and apply another coat when I'm ready to mount the cooler once the
>part arrives?

Better safe than sorry - wipe it off and clean with alcohol.
Re-apply when needed. You *k-n-o-w* it makes sense.

On Mon, 01 Oct 2007 14:07:44 -0700, Dave S
<drsjunk@hotmail.com> wrote:

>I applied a thin layer of Arctic Silver to the cpu in preparation of
>installing an Arctic Freezer Pro 64. Now the installation will be
>delayed due to a broken part.
>
>If I leave the base of the cooler on the CPU will the thermal compound
>remain soft enough to use in a week or two, or should I sc**** it off
>now and apply another coat when I'm ready to mount the cooler once the
>part arrives?
>
>Thanks.

It will not dry out, the liquid synthetic base ester
(assuming AS3 or 5, not 1 or 2) is not so much unlike
synthetic motor oil. If you leave the CPU against the
cooler that is fine. If you were to leave it out in the
open, uncovered and exposed to dusty air then it would
become slightly contaminated (whether that matters much
depends a lot on how dusty the environment).

kony wrote:
> On Mon, 01 Oct 2007 14:07:44 -0700, Dave S
> <drsjunk@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I applied a thin layer of Arctic Silver to the cpu in preparation of
>> installing an Arctic Freezer Pro 64. Now the installation will be
>> delayed due to a broken part.
>>
>> If I leave the base of the cooler on the CPU will the thermal compound
>> remain soft enough to use in a week or two, or should I sc**** it off
>> now and apply another coat when I'm ready to mount the cooler once the
>> part arrives?
>>
>> Thanks.
>
> It will not dry out, the liquid synthetic base ester
> (assuming AS3 or 5, not 1 or 2) is not so much unlike
> synthetic motor oil. If you leave the CPU against the
> cooler that is fine. If you were to leave it out in the
> open, uncovered and exposed to dusty air then it would
> become slightly contaminated (whether that matters much
> depends a lot on how dusty the environment).

You might very well be correct, but for the cost of replacing the
thermal compound (~1/10 of a cent?), I would err on the side of caution.