I haven't changed my thermal paste since I first installed

>>58221690
You're meant to do it quarterly anon. When you're paste dries it conducts heat less efficiently.

>>58221707

Shut the fuck up you lying faggot

>>58221690
Depends on the compound, Generally you want to replace it every 2-3 years. Some better quality compounds can go for 5 years without needing replaced.

>>58221690
Run a stress test. Are your temps reasonable? If no, replace paste.

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>>58221741
This is the one I have.
Is there better?

>>58221746

Seriously you don't need to fucking change it like a babies diaper. If your temps are fine, paste is fine.

The only time I apply new paste is when I'm changing CPU, cooler or piecing together a computer. If you do it right the first time you will be fine forever.

Thermal paste is a meme. You might think using expensive stuff makes a difference or that you should change it every so often with some new stuff but in the server industry they apply cheap compound then run them for 5 to 15 years before they sell it to auction and replace it with newer hardware. Even your cool and hip "PC builder" shops just use cheap generic compound.

>>58221762
Should be perfectly fine.

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>>58221707
And when it dries up, it's a bitch to clean up, especially if you're concerned about not scratching what's underneath. I acquired an old Optiplex Gn+, and I wanted to get at the Pentium MMX, but the thermal paste was a battle indeed.. (you can kinda make out where it had to be scraped)

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>>58221849

>>58221784
>You might think using expensive stuff makes a difference or that you should change it every so often with some new stuff
It does make a difference. The difference between good and bad paste can be 10c. Generic paste is somewhere in the middle. Some very expensive paste is actually bad paste. Check the reviews.

Arctic 5 (not Arctic Silver) is the best without going crazy into liquid metal and shit, just get that unless you want a whole project.

>in the server industry they apply cheap compound then run them for 5 to 15 years
Those servers don't as hot as gaming PCs and are almost universally thermally throttled. Depends a bit on whether you mean a render farm or a data centre though, they do things differently.

>>58221690
>Is it about time to refresh my thermal paste?
>How often do you do it?
When I install a new game and it starts crashing in ways that look temperature related, then I do some benchmarking and if the CPU temp is getting too high then I check the cooling and retest and if it's still a problem then I redo the paste.

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you should never have to replace it unless you remove the heatsink at some point while dusting out the PC. Which is not always necessary except on extreme occasions.
Anyone telling you otherwise is a faggot with too much time on their hands who made shit up to make their hobby more engaging

>I change my oil every 3,000 miles or whenever I get bored, whichever comes first, I tell ya hwat.

>>58221849
You realize you're supposed to put the processor under load/ use a heatgun to soften up the paste before you remove it, right? Makes the cooler come right off once you've removed the fasteners.

>>58221906
>The difference between good and bad paste can be 10c
Citation needed.

>>58221922
Most Laptops need their thermal paste replaced like yearly to not become housefires.
And while a computer can certainly work with crap thermal paste, if you start to notice the cpu running hotter than it used to and you're sure dust and fans aren't the issue, it's pretty much always the paste.
Even if the only difference is it runs at 20% fan speed instead of 40% fan speed, it's a small price to pay for a less noisy computer.
Plus you get like a lifetime supply of the stuff for ~$6. You might as well make some use of it.

>>58221938
>Citation needed
Here you go.

You never read some reviews of pastes?

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermal-paste-performance-benchmark,3616-20.html

>>58221690
Literally only when I replace cooler for what ever reason.

>>58221707
And what about the paste under the lid anon? How do you expect us to change that?

I always do it when I feel like my rig gets so dusty.

>>58221690
Holy shit 2013? Do you frequently use the computer? You are meant to replace the paste twice daily, similar to toothpaste.

>>58222570
I bet this was really funny in your head

>>58221690
>>58221762
I'm using it in PC that is on 24/7 since august 2014, temp are basically the same as the day it was applied
even on noctua site it's certified for 3 year use

>>58221690
Don't forget to replace all the capacitors on your motherboard while you're at it!

>>58221849
Sigh. Prebuilts do not use paste. They use a phase-change pad. It was all dried up and crumbly and stuck on because it was *supposed* to be you fucking idiot ninny.

How hard would it be for a clueless fucktard such as myself to replace the thermal paste on my laptop? Is there a huge risk of fucking something up?

>>58222621
hard

>>58222630
I've replaced the keyboard on my laptop before with no issues, is it harder than that? I also work on my bicycle all the time so I'm used to taking things apart, cleaning/lubing them and putting them back together

>>58222650
nah, if you can use screwdriver and will remember where all screws and pins go, you'll be fine.

>>58222650
It all depends on how clueless fucktard you were when buying the laptop
Some pieces of shit are impossible to tear down, you start needing a fucking knife and shit and even then you can be dumbfounded with a million different screws and not that close to changing the paste
Others are easy to replace, basically take out the bottom lid and you can already see the heatsinks and what else you have to remove to take them off

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>>58222708
Here's a picture I took some time ago when I opened it up to clean off the dust. That copper-looking thingie is the heatsink, correct? How hard do you reckon it'll be to get under there? Looks pretty straightforward to me
And yes it's a piece of shit 6 year old laptop pls no bully

>>58222752
Seems ez

>>58222592
Toothpaste


Lol

>>58222006
>tomshardware

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Is delidding worth it?

I have a 3570k and thanks to Intel Housefire™ technology, the milisecond I run a stress test like Prime95 temps jump from 50C to 100C immediately. It does this regardless of if or not I have all fans at 0% or 100%.

The cooler is a fuckhuge Phanteks unit so it should have no problem cooling it, I guess it's just because of the retarded TIM Shittel use between the die and the heat spreader. I have some of that liquid metal shit, is it worth doing or will I fuck my shit up?

>>58221690
I have not changed thermal paste on anything since 1992.

>>58223032
love how you get a source and then bitch about the source... you think they are bought by big termal paste, or that they are to incompetent to do a simple test?

>>58222752
Don't bother, it'll have thermal pads too which will most likely rip in half. Also its not recommended to reuse them even if they don't rip.

>>58222615
>phase-change pad
What's the difference? Is it bad to put normal thermal paste in a laptop?

Every year. I forgot to do it this year and my CPU started to over heat to 100 degrees Celsius. Not good to burn your CPU.

>>58223130
worst case scenario is that cpu is 4 and a half years old. not sure what intel uses for its thermal compound but its never been described as good quality. If this was the cpu line where they stopped soldering the dies to the lids, then that may be a good thing to do, you just have a higher risk of fucking everything to hell then normal

>>58221784
Not everyone buys a new computer each cycle, and sense sandybridge, no one has really needed to.

generic paste lasts about a 1-3 years, meh pasts lasts about 3 years, good paste can last up to 5

When the shit dries out, it cracks and shrinks, breaking any good bond it had with the surface, sure even dried, it CAN work, but it will work like shit.

generally, get something 10$~ and replace it every 2 years, arctic silver 5 and gelid gc extreme are good examples, that grizzly shit is a bad example as its 30$ for maybe 1 degree cooler. anything liquid metal or solder will get about an extra 3-6 degrees further then the grizzly, but are not recommended due to how fucking hard they are to use.

>>58221690
I never changed it because I only found out that you should replace it a couple of years ago, and I didn't give a shit since I knew I was gonna replace my processor itself soon. I assume I will after 6 years and that's only if I see larger temperatures.

Where to get phase change materiel? thermal paste likes to pump out and thermal pads are for filling larger gaps.

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>>58221690
bout once every 12 months when I do my big clean

>>58222351
You'll need to de-lid the IHS.
Clean with the chip with brasso and reapply thermal paste and glue the IHS back with red thread lock.

>>58222752

Looks pretty easy at that point. Pop it off, clean it with alcohol and cotton swabs. Apply a tiny amount of new compound.

>>58221690
>How often do you do it?

Daily. It dries VERY fast.

not since i got it in '11
im scared to take it off since the bolts are ON the fucking motherboard traces.
thats what you get for letting others build your computer

>>58221690
technically you dont even need thermal paste, it just assists with the head transfer but as long as you have a good heatsink you should get reasonable temps.

>>58224228

VERY poor advice, regularly refreshed paste is essential to good PC health.

>>58224277
so they say. i've been running a delidded 6700k with 0 thermal paste for the paste year. works fine.

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>tfw thinkpad t420
>tfw it had bad thermal paste and shut down due to heat on youtube
>replace paste
>works for the things I normally do
>but still 40 C idle
>crashes when playing games

Maybe I should try again?

>>58221690

You should paste twice a day OP.

>>58221690

You never change your paste unless you run into thermal problems which you shouldn't for years.

>>58224100

Yes, do this and post results : ^ )

>>58221690
you're not supposed to bother with that unless something is actually wrong.

>>58224332
T420 should have hardware decoding for youtube, right?

>>58221690
I change it when I am reinstalling gentoo

I used an IC Diamond back in 2014

My 4770k temps went from 12C-16C to 27C-30C in just two years and I usually leave it on 24/7, shall I reapply pasta?

>le paste meme
Just use whatever came with your fucking cooler and replace when temps suddenly jump up, which is probably never.

>>58225562

This.

Le paste memers should stop the placebo hunting and leave it to rest.

>>58224228
I imagine the real issue is in pits that act like a little chamber for heat. This is a common issue in engines on the surface of pistons, in the chambers and sometimes ports of the heads, and on te walls if the cylinder sleeves.
In really high performance applications it can lead to cracked parts, and in extreme cases with forced induction cause pistons to basically explode.
Obviously that's an order of magnitude beyone what a cpu would experience, but I could see it leading to premature failure of nearby transistors, of which there are several billion in a modern processor. So a teeny tiny hot spot may be just enough to burn up a couple of those transistors.

Why not just pump helium over the heat sink? You've gone to the trouble of a water cap. Gas it.

>>58225571
dem mayo temps

>>58221922
Are you telling me I shouldn't have replaced the paste in an old system that had baked solid and was idling at 70°

>>58222004
I work for a major computer corporation, in the Support / Services division...

I can tell you from almost a decade of industry experience... that you are a gigantic fucking faggot spewing faggotry.

Seriously... shut the fuck up with this nonsense.

This anon:
>>58221922
speaks the truth.

I replace paste on stuff I buy. Video cards, and stuff. Never really noticed a difference, but its good to know that I put it on, and cleaned up the goop the trained monkeys in Twain slop down.

you don't need to replace the thermal paste you morons, don't fall for the meme.

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Truth be told there is no exact time to replace thermal paste.

It is heavily dependent on the Thermal paste you use.


I work on heavy duty server infrastructure and we mostly remove the paste from each server every 6 months (keep in mind these machines work 24/7 and maintenance is required).

As for home machines just clean out the whole PC once, take the temperatures when its idle and when its in load and if there is a major difference(ie: 10-20 ºC) replace it otherwise it should be fine.

>>58223140
What computers from 1992 even used thermal paste?

>>58228858
Not sure... Never did anything to the CPU of my 286. I still have it somewhere, but never did anything other than de-dust it.

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>>58221690

>>58228896
I've got a clip-on heatsink for an old Pentuim or something, no paste on it.

>>58228309
'working' 24/7 doesnt mean shit

i have about over 100 hosts in our datacenter and we sure as shit dont change the thermal paste, that is a waste of fucking time

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>>58221849
>Bitching about cleaning dry thermal paste
>Not using pic related

>>58229275
When we're talking about over 500 machines and keeping at least 75% of them active adding thermal paste isn't a waste of time besides it's has a I said

>Truth be told there is no exact time to replace thermal paste.

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>>58221690
>How often do you do it?
Only when changing heatsinks or when you notice temperatures skyrocketing above normal daily average.

>>58221762
That came with my DH15, shit is bretty gud.

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>>58224332
>Maybe I should try again?
Check your fans and check your room temperature.

>>58221690
Who cares about changing thermal paste unless it's overheating? Don't fix what isn't broken.

I've had the same thermal paste for 8 years before without issue.

Best bang for Buck paste?

>>58229786
right, mine has been running for 6 years and idle at 25 C

>>58229358
I drip that shit in my vape

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>>58222006
you post an article about misused paste being tested on a completley different product not working as expected.

did you even read the article you posted?
or did you just google thermal paste temps?

>>58224332
You cleaned the old paste with isopropyl alcohol right?

>>58221690
rofl

>>58221906
>the difference between good and bad paste can be 10°
The difference between good paste and no paste isn't even that high, ketchup and toothpaste puts you within 3° of noctua or Arctic silver

>>58225715
The "hot spot" is a one square centimeter area in the middle of the heat spreader, crocks, ruts or demormities in the heat spreader won't ever lead to cracking or thermal failure unlike a piston or cylinder wall that is exploding under hundreds of pounds of pressure and then reversing both inertia and pressure thousands of times a second
Don't make retarded analogies

>>58232298
You don't know what you're talking about
http://overclocking.guide/thermal-paste-roundup-2015-47-products-tested-with-air-cooling-and-liquid-nitrogen-ln2/6/

>>58232391
Oh sorry, 8° difference between brands and switching from TIM to paste in emerald might do that for ya
And don't forget a polished heatsink contact with no paste at all is tested as only 9° warmer than with noctua paste
And also this
>>58225571

>>58232456
>20 degree difference between no paste and toothpaste

>>58232298

I'm not saying that meme brands are worth it but you're just an idiot on damage control

>>58225571
Absolutely lost it at the mayonnaise temps.

Fucking never, I buy liquid ultra and its set in stone once applied.

>>58221762
That's decent but I tend to buy IC Diamond. Pretty much never have to replace that stuff.

Twice a day, three if i drink a lot of coffee

Yearly.
You payed for it so make use of it and if you don't clean out your PC you have an excuse to do so while swapping out pastes.

>>58229358
I use denatured alcohol to remove old thermal paste. Works like a champ

>>58221690
every time you install a new game, installing a new game generates a lot of heat and melts paste

>>58221690
One and done.

>>58222004
I send my MacBook in to Apple every 2 months to get the thermal paste reapplied and the chakras realigned.

Have to stop them turning into housefires.

how many grams of thermal paste should I buy to reapply it assuming I've never done it before?

Redid my Tegra K1's heatsink to get rid of dust today. First time since buying it in 2014. 30c across all sensors. The next time I'm just putting in a passive heatsink because all the dust it collects is a bitch.

>>58223562
>What's the difference? Is it bad to put normal thermal paste in a laptop?
phase change pad just makes assembly easier. No reason not to use paste, but also no reason to replace the original phase change compound (unless you disturb the heatsink for some other reason, then you really have to).

>>58223130
How high are your Volts? Mine never goes over 68C while under full load

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>>58232103

n-n-no senpai~**~

>>58221690
you should change your paste once a week, every friday at 5 PM sharp

>>58234329
1mL could easily cover a dozen IHS.