Thermal Compound Roundup – March 2011
The Curing Myth
Contents
Some people talk about a "curing time", which is the time after installing the cooler (and, obviously, after applying the thermal compound) that the thermal compound takes to reach its best performance.
Well, we performed some tests in order to discover if a thermal compound really performs better after some time. First, we tested the Noctua NT-H1 thermal compound soon after applying it, using the methodology described before, and then we repeated the measurement 24 hours later, and during this time we left our computer running with the CPU fully loaded. Of course, we didn’t remove the cooler between the tests. The results are shown in the table below.
| Curing time | Room Temp. | Core Temp. | Temp. Diff. |
| none | 26 °C | 61 °C | 35 °C |
| 24 h | 26 °C | 61 °C | 35 °C |
We did a similar test with the Spire Bluefrost thermal compound, this time allowing a seven-day curing time, using the same methodology, i.e. with the CPU working at 100% load between measurements. The results are shown below.
| Curing time | Room Temp. | Core Temp. | Temp. Diff. |
| none | 22 °C | 58 °C | 36 °C |
| 7 days | 26 °C | 62 °C | 36 °C |
Our results were very consistent and debunks the myth that "all thermal compound need some curing time to achieve its best performance", at least with the selected thermal compounds. There may be a thermal compound around that actually takes some time to performs at its best, but it seems to be the exception, and not the rule.