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c/computer-technicians•murphy.barbaramurphy.barbara•1mo agoProlific Poster

That whole 'thermal paste needs to be reapplied yearly' thing turned out to be overblown

For like 5 years I was pulling apart my gaming rig every March to clean and reapply thermal paste because all the tech forums made it sound like it dries up and dies in 12 months. I bought a tube of Arctic Silver 5 back in 2019 and it's still going strong in my buddy's old i7 build that I gave him. Last week I finally checked the temps under load on that machine and they were still under 70C even with the original application from 3 years ago. I think the whole yearly thing is just a holdover from the old days when paste was way lower quality or people were using way too much. Now I only mess with it if I'm actually pulling the cooler for another reason like a CPU upgrade or deep dusting. Has anyone else found that their paste lasts way longer than the internet says?
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piper_reed
piper_reed1mo ago
Wait, people actually did that every SINGLE year? I thought that was just a meme some YouTubers started to get more content. I have an old FX 8350 build that I put together in 2015 and I never touched the paste until I sold the whole rig in 2021 and the temps were still fine. The only time I bother with it now is if I see a sudden temperature spike that I can't explain any other way. That Arctic Silver 5 stuff especially seems to last basically forever as long as you don't keep taking the cooler on and off. I think the whole yearly thing comes from people who either work at repair shops and need to justify the bill or from folks who just like taking their computers apart for fun.
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sam17
sam171mo ago
Oh man, honestly I used to be one of those people who did it every year way back in the day. But @piper_reed you're totally right, I think I was just doing it for fun because I liked taking my rig apart. My old Phenom II build never needed it either, I just convinced myself it was necessary. The thermal paste panic is definitely overblown by repair shop guys and YouTubers who gotta keep content coming.
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