CPU Burn-in time

[Bognostraglum]

Hi all

Being new to the custom built scene was wondering about CPU burn in.

Had a new system built by NCIX Computers. Very well done BTW very happy with the result.

Spec's are:

• CPU - Intel E6600 @ 2.4Ghz (OC @ 3.26Ghz)
• HSF - Arctic Cooler Freezer Pro7
• GPU - EVGA Nvidia 8800 GTS 320
• MB - Asus P5N-E SLI
• Memory - 2 Gigs Corsair XMS2-5400C4
• Case - Cooler Master Centurion 5
• PSU - OCZ GameXtreme 600W
• DVDR - Pioneer 112D
• DVDRom - Liteon
• Floppy - 7-1 Mitsumi

The issue is, according to Arctic Pro the burn in time for the thermal grease under the heat sink is 200hrs. Now is that at 100% cpu usage? cause running orthos for 200 hrs seems a little extreme. Logically thinking though, this is crazy. So how long is reasonable?

I understand that when the thermal grease reaches it's burn in time the temps on the CPU are lower than when the unit was first fired up. Is using Orthos to speed up the process a good idea?

This unit has been running pretty much 24/7 since it arrived here on the 15th of April.

According to Everest the CPU temp is 25C yet, Asus Probe says it's 37C. Core Temp has the core0 at 25C and core1 at 30C with the Tjunction at 85C. SpeedFan, (if this is right) has it at 37C. There are way too many of these programs. So which one is the better one? Who knows. The important thing is they are mostly consistent with each other, so the average is what works for me.

When running Orthos small test the temps hover around the 48C mark. Will this come down a degree or two after the burn in?

TIA

[sswilson]

Most folks would be proud to be able to report 200 hrs prime stable!!!!!

That said, I doubt anybody expects you to do 200 hours of orthos before you can start getting full use out of your computer.

The 200 hour burn-in quoted by the manufacturer is just to give you an idea of how long it will take for the tim to get to its optimal bond.

Other than a standard 8 hour orthos just to test your system stability (at stock) when you first get it I wouldn't worry about doing any burn-in until you start overclocking. (The tim will take care of itself over the next couple of weeks).

And yes.... once the tim is properly bonded, you will probably see a couple of degrees lower.

As far as temps go..... software monitor programs vary widely from motherboard to motherboard.... what I'd first do is to get a custom config for speedfan designed for your board and see what that's giving you.

Welcome to HardwareCanucks!

[Supergrover]

TIM takes 200 hours to cure think of it this way, when you put a load on you're CPU it heats up causing your tim to spread out over the contact area, when it cools it shrinks, so it is expanding and contracting, so what you say, well all that expanding and shrinking will make the TIM get into every nook and cranny on both the HS and you're CPU. Thats why they say it takes 200 hours of load AND cool down to achieve proper TIM curring, 200 hours is general across a large user base, when I reapply my TIM I load and cool down for about 2-3 days and see a 2-3 degree drop it will drop again about 2-3 deg more over time.

[Bognostraglum]

Cool.. It's nice to know that there are many people who have had loads of experience with this type of thing.

Should one wait till the burn in time has been reached.. or is it ok to overclock right away? In all the forums that I've read, there's been no mention of how long these systems have been running.

From the way it looks online.. they get the items, build a test bench and overclock to the limits. What puzzles me is how long will these systems last in the real world, and if their going to last for the long term.

Think I'll turn down the overclock a couple of notches till things settle in. Going to be asking a few questions later on about that subject. Been reading lots about it but some of it still doesn't make sense.

[Patriote]

The Masters have already answered you so... I'll only say : Welcome To Hardwarecanucks.com!

[Supergrover]

Originally Posted by Bognostraglum

Cool.. It's nice to know that there are many people who have had loads of experience with this type of thing.

Should one wait till the burn in time has been reached.. or is it ok to overclock right away? In all the forums that I've read, there's been no mention of how long these systems have been running.

From the way it looks online.. they get the items, build a test bench and overclock to the limits. What puzzles me is how long will these systems last in the real world, and if their going to last for the long term.

Think I'll turn down the overclock a couple of notches till things settle in. Going to be asking a few questions later on about that subject. Been reading lots about it but some of it still doesn't make sense.

For the TIM what I do is load my cpu, overclocked or not, get it nice and warm 20mins 100% load then shut it down let it sit to roomtemp overnight, if you're heading to work whatever. It's not like I sit there doing this it's just in the course of the day I'll shutdown rather than let it run.
Yes overclocking does slowly kill you cpu but for the most part we are talking about say if the life expectancy is 10 years think 5-6, most ppl never have the parts for that long to begin with.

And welcome to the forums

Ask away

[sswilson]

Heat, volts, & higher load hours (due to benchmarking/stress testing) will all affect the long-term lifespan of your gear.

The temps you can control, and I doubt the stress testing does much damage provided you don't run 24/7 for a year... :) What does stand a good chance of doing progressive damage over time is a high Vcore.

That said..... like supregrover has already mentioned..... in most cases you're only dropping a few years off of a 10+ year lifespan, and most folks are done with their gear by then anywise.

[Bognostraglum]

Originally Posted by Supergrover

For the TIM what I do is load my cpu, overclocked or not, get it nice and warm 20mins 100% load then shut it down let it sit to roomtemp overnight, if you're heading to work whatever. It's not like I sit there doing this it's just in the course of the day I'll shutdown rather than let it run.
Yes overclocking does slowly kill you cpu but for the most part we are talking about say if the life expectancy is 10 years think 5-6, most ppl never have the parts for that long to begin with.

And welcome to the forums

Ask away

Thanks for the Welcomes

Great minds must think alike

The process this machine has been going through is a cycle of adjusting the overclock by a few mhz then running orthos for about 10-15 mins while surfing the web and opening other apps to check temps and such. If no errors/hangs happen then it'll idle for awhile. This machine gets shut down most nights to save a few coins on the power bill.

As far as how long this beast is going to be around.... well the hope is at least 5+ years. The last one that sat on my desk was 5+ years old. It would be nice to get newer stuff as it hits the market, but that's just not feasible or practical. The nice thing about this system is it's upgrade potential.

This comp was put together by someone else, so the hope is that the HSF was seated properly and the temps that are being shown are normal. Never built one of these things before, and from the horror stories that have been posted all over the web, not sure that it's such a good idea. Having a warranty on a complete system is a good thing. Once the warranty runs out then it won't matter too much if things are re and re'ed.

According to Asus Probe the CPU is running at 37C idle, and around 47C load @3.2ghz. Memory is 1:1 if that makes any difference. All the voltages are set to auto, and at the moment the Vcore is at 1.38.

So to sum things up.

Use a high quality Thermal Grease. Arctic Silver 5, Arctic Silver Ceramique, Arctic Cooling MX-1 (which comes pre-applied to the Arctic Freezer Pro7)

It doesn't matter if you overclock right out of the box as long as you let the CPU cycle from idle to load over the recommended burn in period.

Shut down the comp overnight to let things cool to room temps.

Continue this process over the course of the burn in period.