Overheard a guy at Micro Center last week say he's been using thermal paste for 8 years straight without reapplying

I told him that paste can dry out after 3-5 years depending on the compound and your temps, and he just shrugged and said 'it still boots fine' - anyone else run into people who ignore basic thermal maintenance until something actually dies?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_john23d ago

11 years on the same Arctic Silver?

the_barbara23d ago

My 2012 Phenom II build had the same glob of Arctic Silver on it for almost 11 years before I finally swapped cases last summer. Temps stayed within 5 degrees of original readings the whole time, I checked with HWMonitor maybe twice a year. The idea that paste absolutely needs replacement every 3-5 years is mostly marketing from people who want you to buy $20 thermal compound and $15 alcohol wipes on a schedule. If your CPU isn't thermal throttling and your idle temps are reasonable which most people don't even monitor anyway then why create unnecessary work? I've pulled heatsinks off 10 year old Dell office PCs that still had wet paste underneath, it really depends on your specific environment and how much dust you let build up in the case.