Conductonaut age and lifespan?

C6ckneyGeezer · 27 Feb 2021 at 20:47

Hey all!

I delidded my 8700k a few years back with Conductonaut between the die and IHS and Kyronaught between the IHS and my NH-D15.

I seem to strip the system down every 12 months or a bit longer and reapply everything, give it all a good clean. Under small FFT's over Prime9 26.6 (Non AVX) I alway got around mid 80*c at 5Ghz 1.360v. Even after a big deep clean and re apply. The last time I done this was around 6 months ago, so not long at all.

Anyways, the last few weeks I see that temps were rising a little bit. I done a small dust clean and no change. Temps in Prime9 26.6 (Non AVX) were creeping upto mid 90's!! :eek:

Today I stripped the system and removed the cooler and IHS. The Conductonaut had seemed to of completely dried out! No liquid metal type residue at all... :eek:

I reapplied but this time added quite a norminal amount of Conductonaut both on the IHS and CPU die. Creating a pool effect on both surfaces. Boxed the system back up and.....

Max temp with Prime9 26.6 (Non AVX) 76*c!!

My question:

I always applied the Conductonaut very thin and done so every 12 months plus. But now I have applied for sure more than I usally do, temps have dropped dramaticly!?

Not enough Conductonaut all this time? Or is the lifespan of application around 6-12 months max?

Cyber-Mav · 4 Mar 2021 at 10:51

its used for benchers who do benchies for a week or so and keep changing configs.
i dont touch the stuff since its dodgey for long term use.
iv got arctic mx3 and mx4 paste systems that were applied 10 years ago and never needed to be redone.

tyler_jrb · 4 Mar 2021 at 13:51

I've applied it to a few chips especially my 9900k a few times in a year-year and half period before i sold it. So more than likely it just soaks into the die slightly/dries up over time.

One reason i stopped delidding, fun to play around with. Didn't seem worth it for the amount of faffing around re-applying every so often for a few degrees. Although they tend to need more applied than you think, keeping the same/similar sized rectangle also on the IHS as the die.

However did it to my old 1080Ti, gave it to my brother about 2 years ago. He hasn't complained about temps...yet XD.

JohnG7 · 5 Mar 2021 at 17:14

It will last indefinably, you can see reviews going back to it after 1-2 years of use and it preforms/looks the same as day it was applied, if you read the FAQ's and follow them it is fine unlike the n00b in the big thread here about a similar product (do not get near Aluminium).

Dropping 10-30C of a CPU and 7-10C of a GPU is not to be sneezed at.

sieze2 · 7 Mar 2021 at 20:52

It does go bad over time. I've had exactly the same problem. Took 2-3 yrs though.

JohnG7 · 7 Mar 2021 at 20:58

Aftermarket TIM (not the dry cement/pink bubble-gum crap that is made to last not perform) will have suffered from the "pump out effect" by then so no matter.