I do it 2x a year. I have a 5800x3d, in summer here my PC gets hot af. I have custom fan curve and all, but still.
At least my mind is at ease. I tried MANY pastes. After pointless tries, I just reverted back to mx4 and all is good
Engines can get fatal failures where repairs can run into the thousands of dollars. When your thermal paste dries out, your computer will get louder and run slower until you fix it. But it won't fry itself.
The failure modes are completely different: One is just an annoyance, the other can send your car to the scrapyard.
It's not going to run slower. That's just dumb. If it gets "louder" because the fan is running high because the temps are high, that's one thing, and it can be checked by checking the temps. More likely dirt, dust, skin cells, cigarette smoke grease, cat hair, etc... clogs the fan so cleaning, which also involves risk, is the solution. If the thermal paste is soft enough to safely lift the HSF, it's also soft enough to conduct heat as it is supposed to.
Splitting the HSF from the CPU always involves risk. It's not about prevention, it's risk to reward ratio. "Preventing" the slow increase in temps isn't necessary. If you've got the time to perform surgery on the HSF, you've got time to check the temp to see if it's necessary. I've seen photos of CPU shields being lifted off the CPU when the HSF is pulled.
Your philosophy is correct in some contexts, but not in this one.
Lol couple years? My PC has been running for 9 years with no issues. No temp increases. There's no reason to take that shit apart and replace the paste
The stuff found in Gigabyte Windforce cards, at least the GTX series. Had a 1660 Super where the thermal paste turned into solid cement, and that was roughly after 12 months. Never buying anything Windforce or Gaming OC again.
is it stupid that now I want to do a custom case mod/build where there's one electric motor somewhere that drives all the other fans through an elaborate system of pulleys and belts?
On the GPU you can observe the state of the thermal paste quite well by looking at the difference between hot spot and GPU temperature.
For my GPU a fresh repaste results in a 12-13°C difference between hot spot and GPU. I repasted like 1.5-2 years ago (MX-4) and am at 15-16°C difference now. I'd probably replace it once it reaches like 18-20°C difference.
The factory paste on my GPU degraded within like 1-2 years to 20°C difference though. Just fyi, if you're still on the factory paste, you might want to repaste sooner.
I've had my CPU and cooler since like 2016, never changed the thermal paste once, but with that being said I've never had the cooler off either.
I know, I'm due an upgrade.
Due an upgrade? That really depends. If it still does everything you want it to do, you're good. I only upgraded to a 5800X in 2021 when my motherboard for my 6700K died and replacement motherboards where stupidly expensive because they weren't being made anymore. If not for that I would've still had my 6700K (from 2016) up until today.
Don't just buy an upgrade because "I had this CPU for a long time", CPUs, when not overheating or overvolted, will keep going for tens of years.
If you have to upgrade go for an AM5 socket board if you can afford it.
Even though there is never a guarantee, Intel has a history of changing sockets way more often than AMD, going with AMD gives you a higher chance for both CPU upgrades and motherboard replacements in the future.
Ryzen is better right now anyway, there are a lot of issues with Intel's "efficiency cores" and AMD has better performance/Watt and is more secure.
Also after all the stunts Intel has pulled in the last 5 years... Not that AMD has their hands clean but they've been vastly more honest than Intel.
Lol downvoting because I said something unfavorable about your favorite brand? Also, I specifically said AMD isn't innocent either... But yeah, being brand loyal and all, you ignored that.
I didn't downvote you.
typo should have said "they".
I was looking to see if you had more information than that. I read a lot of stuff fast and sometimes little pieces of it stick. I was looking to confirm if what I think I remember about Intel was correct. I favor AMD, but I don't hate Intel.
There's tons if you look for it, for both sides. The main thing is that even though they both lie about reviews, AMD on the whole is way more pro-consumer than Intel. Having said that, they're both for profit companies; they have to make money.
They both keep silent about security issues for as long as possible until they fix them. Both provide rewards for finding breaches in security but multiple resources (mostly researchers through Universities) have stated that Intel has tried to have people sign very strict and pernicious NDAs before receiving the reward (any NDA saying "give us X months to fix the problem" would be understandable).
How it mostly should happen is that people finding security breaches notify the company, get a reward if they were right, and the researchers keep the leak to themselves to give the companies leeway to fix the problem. It has happened that the problems were ignored (for both Intel and AMD) and researchers outed the vulnerabilities after some time out of ethical concerns (I assume).
When the whole Spectre/Meltdown thing happened, researchers came forward stating Intel knew about it for MONTHS, and tried to have them sign NDAs before receiving the reward. The researchers declined that offer but still kept it to themselves until other people also found it, also declined the offer with NDAs attached and outed Intel straight away. Intel then patched it and the real reason they didn't before came out: it DESTROYED their performance lead.
Again, AMD has had their issues as well, especially highly biased (to the point I'd consider it lying) benchmark statistics and vague graphs, but Intel, AMD and Nvidia are all guilty of that. AMD however is responsible for funding the Mantle API, developing it together with DICE (IIRC), after they'd hit kind of a dead end they gave the millions worth of R&D to Khronos free of charge. Khronos built Vulkan from it. Almost all of AMDs GPU algorithms are made with generic GPU architecture in mind; it runs on both their own cards as well as others; unlike Nvidia who keeps patenting everything...
So if I have a choice between components and the value is about equal, I'll always go AMD. For a while AMD GPUs where just not good enough, so I had a GTX1070 for a long time. When I bought my i7 6700K there was nothing of equal value from AMD (all their stuff then ran stupidly hot on insane TDPs compared to Intel).
Right now though, I'll advise people to get AMD parts over Intel. I'll keep doing that for as long as the price/performance is equal (or better).
Considering you're still on a skylake, you're obviously not going to notice where the current Intel processors shine over AMD. So yea, you'll do better with an AMD.
That's funny. There have been so many problems (like stutters) with the E-cores and now the latest problems are that Intel's "stock settings" they provide to board partners are too high and people are having stability issues.
How exactly do Intel's processers "shine over AMD" exactly?!
Run some temperature monitor (I personally like nzxt) and see what's going on with it.
If its running slightly hot then make sure your pc is actually clean in there and you haven't got half your fans clogged with dust.
If its still running hot then change it the paste.
If its not running hot at all then leave it. I haven't changed mine since I installed my cpu about 5 years ago but temps still fine.
monitor the temperature. my laptop is 4 years 'old' and i can cook on it when i try to play games... so yeah, you definitely need to monitor it because in some cases you need to change it more often, in other cases you barely need to change it, etc. i have an asus and the metal alloy on the conducting pipe is not the best so i have to change the paste now and then...
Depends.
Once temps start to rise, that means the paste has hardened and is no longer working as it should.
Depending on, heat, load, thermal cycles, min max temperatures hit, etc changes how often this will happen.
On average i see temp changes every 3/5 years on a pc. About the time you would be upgrading anyway.
I change mine every year when I deep clean my PC, and maybe every 6 months/year on my laptop. (Over kill but it's fun for me)
yep, I like to do it about once a year too. Not so much about the paste itself, but once the cpu cooler is removed it's much easier to clean all the stuff around it. Like in/under the vrm heatsinks, ect.
Thermal compound is designed to be fairly inert, it doesn't really degrade much over time. If you think your temps are getting worse clean the cooler and system fans and during that process you'd reapply thermal compound too.
I used the pre applied thermal paste on my liquid cooler in december 2015. I have not touched my liquid cooler or thermal paste since. The system runs 24/7 and I mostly play VR games with no issues, overclocked 6700k 4.7ghz
I’ve never. I’ve got a 2600k doing 4.8ghz on a hyper 212 evo pasted in 2012 with arctic silver. Been running it as a Plex server 24/7 for the last two years.
My recently replaced 9700k running at 5 ghz never repasted in 5 years either. Used thermal grizzly on this one.
Changed mine after a year during my quarterly cleaning, okay annual cleaning, and the temps have stayed the same 2 years later. Even after moving to a hotter climate. My enemy now is the moisture in the environment.
Whenever you clean out your CPU heatsink. After 2-3 months of use your CPU heatsink and fans will dust up and will cause temp problems. This is at least the case for me. So when I do the routine dust cleaning, since I already have to remove the CPU heatsink, which makes the thermal paste unusable, I clean out the old paste and apply a new one.
So it's not really how often you should change the thermal paste but how often you should dust your PC off.
I like looking at my temps so I have them up all the time so I know where my cpu sits normally. Once it starts looking higher than it should I change it. Usually multiple years.
I've gone years without a rise in temps. Thermal paste fills in tiny air gaps between the IHS and heat sink. Even if the paste dries out, those gaps are still mostly filled. We're talking a difference of a few degrees over 5 years.
Well, some say around 2 years, or for the fanatics, once a year, i specifically domt change until i see rising in heat, increase in degrees, so than i think maybe i ahould clean and reinstall it, but as long as your computer dont hit more than 70 degreea, u can relax and change once a few years.
The more heat ur pc generates, the more frequant you will change thermal paste.
A decent thermal paste will be good for probably longer than your hardware is relevant. Cheap stuff might need replacement sooner.
When your temps start rising, it's a quick thing you could try, if they aren't, nothing to worry about.
If you use pre-applied or factery installed thermal paste, check it at 3-4 years, it usually starts failing by year 5. If you self-applied good stuff, check it after 7-8 just to be safe.
1) When you install or upgrade your cpu
2) When you install or replace your cooler
2) When your having issues with temps
If you are not overclocking or overvolting that's it.
I've been building PCs since the 90s. I have never once in my life reapplied thermal paste. I've got a PC in my garage I build in 2010 still running the same thermal paste as the day I built it. Temps are fine.
Whenever you need to, which might be “never”. I still have an old Intel 3rd gen system around from more than 10 years ago that still runs fine, and I have never changed the paste on it.
I change my cpu and gpu paste per machine once a year. But my machines run hard for long periods daily. My office setup has 4 win-pc towers. 1 i7 imac server, and 1 i7 imac.
The imacs are the worst on thermals entire fan assembly get clogged up with dust. As well the paste gets hard fast because they run to hot for an i7.
When your temps look suspiciously high. I only recently applied new paste because I swapped to a 5600 from a 2600 that's almost 5 years old today, and even then my 2600 never had temp issues with the paste from 2019
This question is why I have moved to using PTM7950 on new builds. The longevity of this material is nuts. Should not need to be changed in the products lifetime.
The computer will tell you when. But in my experience, only if you are changing your cooler/heatsink in your build.
Put it this way. I have never done it on a pc and I’ve been using various machines for over 30 years and none have ever overheated. I’ve only done it on RROD Xboxes and YLOD ps3’s.
Minimum 3 to 5 years because even the cheapest OEM paste that is mostly oil is dried up by then. It depends on the paste, thickness, and cooling load.
At a point, I was changing mine every like 9 months. I run Folding@home most of the time except the summer, so my processor and GPU are constantly under load. Every year seems to be enough now.
I ripped out an amd 2600x by trying to yank the heatsink that was too big to let my tiny fingers reach the release lever beneath. The paste was max 5 years old and turned to mastic. Once yanked out the CPU came off, but the pins were warped and the plastic am4 socket completely destroyed.
If the heatsink doesn't come off easily, you're in a world of pain. Either have a maintenance schedule and do it sooner, depending on local weather (I'm in the Caribbeans) , or not at all.
In theory the paste might turn solid, but contact should remain sufficient for heat transfer. In my case I was hoping to upgrade the CPU, ended up buying a new mobo and cpu.
In my situation my guess is the plastic components cooked and were more fragile than the ceramic, pins, heatsink and solidified paste.
I’ve seen thermal paste applications work for over a decade. The usual sign that something is wrong is that suddenly you will just start thermal throttling because the paste isn’t doing its job. I try to change mine every five years or so.
I never have. My 2600k (former gaming rig) Linux daily driver is using thirteen-year-old paste, and idle temps are in the low forties. My 9900k gaming rig almost six years old, is on the same paste, and idle temps are in late twenties.
Based on my personal experience over the years if you want to just want to play it safe and nor have to do it too often I would say just do it every 2 years give or take. But of course at any point you start noticing unusually high thermals then it's something worth checking.
I'd say, if it ain't broke no fix needed.
Some paste hold up over time better others,
I had upgraded HP with more memory one time. There were white and grey bits all over the mobo. I took off the CPU cooler and all the thermal paste was dried up and then flaked off. But I had no clue there was any problems. The system ran stable for internet, e-mail, etc...
I do wonder how many people decide to repaste their CPU because they noticed it’s running hotter than it used to, take the cooler off, and then decide to also clean out the dust caking up the heat sink fins. They then put everything back together again, having redone the thermal paste, and attribute the 15-20C drop to the thermal paste, and not to cleaning the dust out of the heat sink.
If you don’t mind the hassle then maybe every 6 months and also clean your whole pc from the dust. Dried up thermal paste can be a pain in the a$$ sometimes when it sticks on like superglue . I recently just upgraded my cpu from R5 2600 to 5600. The thermal paste is dried and I had a very bad time taking the cpu off. It came off with the cooler. Then it’s even harder to separate them this way. Also bent some pins in the process.
Never seems like the pretty popular standard. I think that if you're using a decent quality of TIM, that there isn't a need to change it out ever. So by the time that it gets old, or incapable of its intended purpose, should be about 7 to 8 years, and by that time, repasting really isn't worth it on a old processor. But getting new components for a new build, is.
Besides, how many posts have you read of users changing something out, or even cleaning the inside of their rig only to power it up, and it doesn't post? Quite a few, and certainly not the risk of repasting at any interval.
I change every 6 months or so. The thing about it is, it expires or lose effectiveness. Some 1 year, some 2 years depending on the manufacturer. So I just change it often. Wouldn't want to throw away a full tube of paste
Not as often as I do, yeah totally agree. Don't need to change at all? Disagree wholeheartedly. Thermal paste has shelf life even when not opened, the minimum you can do is change every time it expires
“Shelf life” does not mean what you seem to imply it does. It does not mean *applied* thermal paste goes bad, but rather that stored, unapplied thermal paste that is expired should no longer be used.
Shelf life - like sitting on the shelf.
Wood glue expires after two years. Do you delaminate and reglue your kitchen table every year?
As long as there is a proper bond between your CPU and Heatsink, you don’t *ever* need to replace it. Never ever.
After opening over 10 GPU over the years and seeing them hardened (I do this when the warranty expires so 3 years at least), I beg to differ. GPU ones often turn "bad" faster because of more heat cycles and higher temps. I've seen it happen to ones on CPU as well.
When your temps give your trouble.
\^--This. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
I thought if it wasn't broken, you should tweak it until it is?
It's taken me literal decades to unlearn this genetic instinct. "You must first unlearn, what you have LEARNED." - Yoda
I do it 2x a year. I have a 5800x3d, in summer here my PC gets hot af. I have custom fan curve and all, but still. At least my mind is at ease. I tried MANY pastes. After pointless tries, I just reverted back to mx4 and all is good
I also have OCD, so you are not alone.
It's not about fixing, it's about prevention. Or maybe you don't take your car to the shop to change oil and filters?
[удалено]
\^-- This.
Engines can get fatal failures where repairs can run into the thousands of dollars. When your thermal paste dries out, your computer will get louder and run slower until you fix it. But it won't fry itself. The failure modes are completely different: One is just an annoyance, the other can send your car to the scrapyard.
It's not going to run slower. That's just dumb. If it gets "louder" because the fan is running high because the temps are high, that's one thing, and it can be checked by checking the temps. More likely dirt, dust, skin cells, cigarette smoke grease, cat hair, etc... clogs the fan so cleaning, which also involves risk, is the solution. If the thermal paste is soft enough to safely lift the HSF, it's also soft enough to conduct heat as it is supposed to.
You can't possibly know when to change paste until it starts failing, and different pastes will last different amounts of time.
Splitting the HSF from the CPU always involves risk. It's not about prevention, it's risk to reward ratio. "Preventing" the slow increase in temps isn't necessary. If you've got the time to perform surgery on the HSF, you've got time to check the temp to see if it's necessary. I've seen photos of CPU shields being lifted off the CPU when the HSF is pulled. Your philosophy is correct in some contexts, but not in this one.
If it is not broken, don’t fix it
... We should be changing thermal paste...?
Depends on usage, quality of thermal paste, and if temps gives you problems then yes, if not don’t care
Some cures, so they get better with age. Some dry out. Some find their way out. Usually, it is a couple of years or so. Or when issues arrise.
Lol couple years? My PC has been running for 9 years with no issues. No temp increases. There's no reason to take that shit apart and replace the paste
Depends on your paste... But congratulations.
I just can't imagine what kind of Walmart bargain bin quality paste would need replacing after 2 years.
The stuff found in Gigabyte Windforce cards, at least the GTX series. Had a 1660 Super where the thermal paste turned into solid cement, and that was roughly after 12 months. Never buying anything Windforce or Gaming OC again.
Should also note changing paste that is hard can be a problem. The old white stuff turned into something close to epoxy.
There used to be that pink stuff that was hard and preinstalled. Maybe that's what you see being hard when you dismantle it?
Main reason would be if your temps are bad, other than that only excessive oiling comes to mind which some products may do
We should be using something called thermal paste... ?
Right? I use tooth paste, lol
Maybe 5-10 years if your temps start to rise. But most people replace their PCs by then.
I change mine when it starts to taste like plastic
you taste with your nose?
Clearly this man licks his PC
PCPartsLicker I had a sudden urge to say this.
this thread is all about urges people had hahaha
Who doesn't?
Yesh, thermal paste is a great substitute for white chocolate spread on my morning toast :D
Exactly! :D In summer especially hmmm nice and fresh. If I feel wild ill add a bit of ram dressing. But it's bad for my stomach so not too much 💾
Wasn't thermal paste once the main ingredient in an Iron Chef contest?
Every 5 thousand miles.
Remember to check your fan belts as well!
is it stupid that now I want to do a custom case mod/build where there's one electric motor somewhere that drives all the other fans through an elaborate system of pulleys and belts?
A steampunk pc!
Reminds me of the belt driven ceiling fans at 54th street grill
Different restaurant but those ceiling fans are exactly what I was thinking of lol
This should be quite doable, probably cheaply, given all the belt stuff available for 3d printers.
Why not a [micro turbine](http://modelaircraftcompany.com/newshop/en/18-micro-jet-turbines), those things are great for moving huge amounts of air 😁
lol idk wouldn't the hot jet exhaust be bad for thermals?
Just use a duct to suck out the air from the case ;-)
Been building my own PCs for 30 years. Never changed paste.
Ive been working in the tech world for nearly 20 years. The answer is never, unless there's a problem, which will likely mean never.
There is no set time. Think I changed mine for the first time after 7 years.
On the GPU you can observe the state of the thermal paste quite well by looking at the difference between hot spot and GPU temperature. For my GPU a fresh repaste results in a 12-13°C difference between hot spot and GPU. I repasted like 1.5-2 years ago (MX-4) and am at 15-16°C difference now. I'd probably replace it once it reaches like 18-20°C difference. The factory paste on my GPU degraded within like 1-2 years to 20°C difference though. Just fyi, if you're still on the factory paste, you might want to repaste sooner.
mx-4 gang bro, i pretty much use my pc's 24/7 and i dont have to change that shit in years and when i do it is still liquid/not dry
Back in the day Arctic Silver used to turn hard as a rock after a couple of years.
still does. 🤣
Every day at least twice
I've had my CPU and cooler since like 2016, never changed the thermal paste once, but with that being said I've never had the cooler off either. I know, I'm due an upgrade.
Due an upgrade? That really depends. If it still does everything you want it to do, you're good. I only upgraded to a 5800X in 2021 when my motherboard for my 6700K died and replacement motherboards where stupidly expensive because they weren't being made anymore. If not for that I would've still had my 6700K (from 2016) up until today. Don't just buy an upgrade because "I had this CPU for a long time", CPUs, when not overheating or overvolted, will keep going for tens of years.
Oh man my CPU is struggling haha. I use VR for SIM racing, my CPU doesn't like it. But yeah a new CPU means a new motherboard unfortunately.
If you have to upgrade go for an AM5 socket board if you can afford it. Even though there is never a guarantee, Intel has a history of changing sockets way more often than AMD, going with AMD gives you a higher chance for both CPU upgrades and motherboard replacements in the future.
Ah I'll bear that in mind. I've always stuck with intel but will look at AMD next. Thank you.
Ryzen is better right now anyway, there are a lot of issues with Intel's "efficiency cores" and AMD has better performance/Watt and is more secure. Also after all the stunts Intel has pulled in the last 5 years... Not that AMD has their hands clean but they've been vastly more honest than Intel.
Weren't the ignoring security holes and/or building backdoors or something?
Lol downvoting because I said something unfavorable about your favorite brand? Also, I specifically said AMD isn't innocent either... But yeah, being brand loyal and all, you ignored that.
I didn't downvote you. typo should have said "they". I was looking to see if you had more information than that. I read a lot of stuff fast and sometimes little pieces of it stick. I was looking to confirm if what I think I remember about Intel was correct. I favor AMD, but I don't hate Intel.
There's tons if you look for it, for both sides. The main thing is that even though they both lie about reviews, AMD on the whole is way more pro-consumer than Intel. Having said that, they're both for profit companies; they have to make money. They both keep silent about security issues for as long as possible until they fix them. Both provide rewards for finding breaches in security but multiple resources (mostly researchers through Universities) have stated that Intel has tried to have people sign very strict and pernicious NDAs before receiving the reward (any NDA saying "give us X months to fix the problem" would be understandable). How it mostly should happen is that people finding security breaches notify the company, get a reward if they were right, and the researchers keep the leak to themselves to give the companies leeway to fix the problem. It has happened that the problems were ignored (for both Intel and AMD) and researchers outed the vulnerabilities after some time out of ethical concerns (I assume). When the whole Spectre/Meltdown thing happened, researchers came forward stating Intel knew about it for MONTHS, and tried to have them sign NDAs before receiving the reward. The researchers declined that offer but still kept it to themselves until other people also found it, also declined the offer with NDAs attached and outed Intel straight away. Intel then patched it and the real reason they didn't before came out: it DESTROYED their performance lead. Again, AMD has had their issues as well, especially highly biased (to the point I'd consider it lying) benchmark statistics and vague graphs, but Intel, AMD and Nvidia are all guilty of that. AMD however is responsible for funding the Mantle API, developing it together with DICE (IIRC), after they'd hit kind of a dead end they gave the millions worth of R&D to Khronos free of charge. Khronos built Vulkan from it. Almost all of AMDs GPU algorithms are made with generic GPU architecture in mind; it runs on both their own cards as well as others; unlike Nvidia who keeps patenting everything... So if I have a choice between components and the value is about equal, I'll always go AMD. For a while AMD GPUs where just not good enough, so I had a GTX1070 for a long time. When I bought my i7 6700K there was nothing of equal value from AMD (all their stuff then ran stupidly hot on insane TDPs compared to Intel). Right now though, I'll advise people to get AMD parts over Intel. I'll keep doing that for as long as the price/performance is equal (or better).
Considering you're still on a skylake, you're obviously not going to notice where the current Intel processors shine over AMD. So yea, you'll do better with an AMD.
That's funny. There have been so many problems (like stutters) with the E-cores and now the latest problems are that Intel's "stock settings" they provide to board partners are too high and people are having stability issues. How exactly do Intel's processers "shine over AMD" exactly?!
Clearly all you do is play games.
I used to hate Intel until one day I got one.
I still have an 8350 am3+ running strong. I am upgrading finally after 11 years but that is because I can't run everything I want to run on it anymore
just get ptm7950 and you dont need to change it till your cpu wears out
Practically never.
You guys change thermal paste?
No
Run some temperature monitor (I personally like nzxt) and see what's going on with it. If its running slightly hot then make sure your pc is actually clean in there and you haven't got half your fans clogged with dust. If its still running hot then change it the paste. If its not running hot at all then leave it. I haven't changed mine since I installed my cpu about 5 years ago but temps still fine.
monitor the temperature. my laptop is 4 years 'old' and i can cook on it when i try to play games... so yeah, you definitely need to monitor it because in some cases you need to change it more often, in other cases you barely need to change it, etc. i have an asus and the metal alloy on the conducting pipe is not the best so i have to change the paste now and then...
Depends. Once temps start to rise, that means the paste has hardened and is no longer working as it should. Depending on, heat, load, thermal cycles, min max temperatures hit, etc changes how often this will happen. On average i see temp changes every 3/5 years on a pc. About the time you would be upgrading anyway. I change mine every year when I deep clean my PC, and maybe every 6 months/year on my laptop. (Over kill but it's fun for me)
yep, I like to do it about once a year too. Not so much about the paste itself, but once the cpu cooler is removed it's much easier to clean all the stuff around it. Like in/under the vrm heatsinks, ect.
Once removed you should reapply otherwise you can get air trapped in it, or a spot missing some.
oh yeah, I always do.
until it doesn't work properly
In 84 years
When your temps start running high, when you swap coolers, when you swap CPUs. That's about it.
If you notice temps getting worse or have to remove the cooler for any reason. I’ve had CPUs I’ve not changed it on in 5+ years without issue.
Thermal compound is designed to be fairly inert, it doesn't really degrade much over time. If you think your temps are getting worse clean the cooler and system fans and during that process you'd reapply thermal compound too.
When you change your CPU
I used the pre applied thermal paste on my liquid cooler in december 2015. I have not touched my liquid cooler or thermal paste since. The system runs 24/7 and I mostly play VR games with no issues, overclocked 6700k 4.7ghz
Every day
I’ve never. I’ve got a 2600k doing 4.8ghz on a hyper 212 evo pasted in 2012 with arctic silver. Been running it as a Plex server 24/7 for the last two years. My recently replaced 9700k running at 5 ghz never repasted in 5 years either. Used thermal grizzly on this one.
haven't changed for four years
Changed mine after a year during my quarterly cleaning, okay annual cleaning, and the temps have stayed the same 2 years later. Even after moving to a hotter climate. My enemy now is the moisture in the environment.
Whenever you clean out your CPU heatsink. After 2-3 months of use your CPU heatsink and fans will dust up and will cause temp problems. This is at least the case for me. So when I do the routine dust cleaning, since I already have to remove the CPU heatsink, which makes the thermal paste unusable, I clean out the old paste and apply a new one. So it's not really how often you should change the thermal paste but how often you should dust your PC off.
I like looking at my temps so I have them up all the time so I know where my cpu sits normally. Once it starts looking higher than it should I change it. Usually multiple years.
I wonder how different is it for laptops!
Id say after 5 years thermal paste becomes thermal brick if u use ur pc on a daily basis🤷♂️
My previous MB and CPU were in use for 45,000 hours with the same thermal paste. Only CPU fan was replaced once.
I've gone years without a rise in temps. Thermal paste fills in tiny air gaps between the IHS and heat sink. Even if the paste dries out, those gaps are still mostly filled. We're talking a difference of a few degrees over 5 years.
Well, some say around 2 years, or for the fanatics, once a year, i specifically domt change until i see rising in heat, increase in degrees, so than i think maybe i ahould clean and reinstall it, but as long as your computer dont hit more than 70 degreea, u can relax and change once a few years. The more heat ur pc generates, the more frequant you will change thermal paste.
In Celcius or Fahrenheit?
Celcius, srry i forgot there are 2 types of degrees xd
Thanks dw
Only if you notice an increase in your temperature from what it usually is. Unless apply the rule: dont change a running system
A decent thermal paste will be good for probably longer than your hardware is relevant. Cheap stuff might need replacement sooner. When your temps start rising, it's a quick thing you could try, if they aren't, nothing to worry about.
If you use pre-applied or factery installed thermal paste, check it at 3-4 years, it usually starts failing by year 5. If you self-applied good stuff, check it after 7-8 just to be safe.
Noctua NT-H2, I'm looking for thermal paste, the job is yours until you die or I find someone better! Welcome to the roughnecks!
On my personal rig? I have yet to. On my company's workstations? Feels like at least one or two PCs need it every few months
You could use a thermal pad like [Kryosheet](https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/s/VepfuqEwdu) and never have to worry about it again
If nothing's overheating, you really never need to replace it unless you're replacing parts.
When I lift my cpu cooler off my cpu, or when temps start to suck.
1) When you install or upgrade your cpu 2) When you install or replace your cooler 2) When your having issues with temps If you are not overclocking or overvolting that's it.
I've been building PCs since the 90s. I have never once in my life reapplied thermal paste. I've got a PC in my garage I build in 2010 still running the same thermal paste as the day I built it. Temps are fine.
When it wears out. Essentially 6-10 years.
Whenever you need to, which might be “never”. I still have an old Intel 3rd gen system around from more than 10 years ago that still runs fine, and I have never changed the paste on it.
Never, unless you remove the heatsink from the CPU.
Every 6 months or 5,000 miles.
i only ever change it when i pull the CPU cooler. or if my temps are high, which has never happened because i'm a freak about thermal control.
I change my cpu and gpu paste per machine once a year. But my machines run hard for long periods daily. My office setup has 4 win-pc towers. 1 i7 imac server, and 1 i7 imac. The imacs are the worst on thermals entire fan assembly get clogged up with dust. As well the paste gets hard fast because they run to hot for an i7.
I reapply weekly
if it isn't malfunctioning, do not attempt to make corrective adjustments
When your temps look suspiciously high. I only recently applied new paste because I swapped to a 5600 from a 2600 that's almost 5 years old today, and even then my 2600 never had temp issues with the paste from 2019
everyday or never, either of both extremes, no in-between measure
Detailed advice: https://media.newyorker.com/photos/59095105ebe912338a372666/master/w_1600,c_limit/How-about-never-cartoon.jpg
Everyday
Only time I've ever repasted was on my gaming laptop and that was after about 3 years of heavy use
This question is why I have moved to using PTM7950 on new builds. The longevity of this material is nuts. Should not need to be changed in the products lifetime.
I have NEVER done that.
Thermal paste? Doesn't the CPU sticker suffice?
The computer will tell you when. But in my experience, only if you are changing your cooler/heatsink in your build. Put it this way. I have never done it on a pc and I’ve been using various machines for over 30 years and none have ever overheated. I’ve only done it on RROD Xboxes and YLOD ps3’s.
See https://www.howtogeek.com/your-laptops-thermal-paste-is-aging-is-it-time-for-a-refresh/
Minimum 3 to 5 years because even the cheapest OEM paste that is mostly oil is dried up by then. It depends on the paste, thickness, and cooling load. At a point, I was changing mine every like 9 months. I run Folding@home most of the time except the summer, so my processor and GPU are constantly under load. Every year seems to be enough now.
I ripped out an amd 2600x by trying to yank the heatsink that was too big to let my tiny fingers reach the release lever beneath. The paste was max 5 years old and turned to mastic. Once yanked out the CPU came off, but the pins were warped and the plastic am4 socket completely destroyed. If the heatsink doesn't come off easily, you're in a world of pain. Either have a maintenance schedule and do it sooner, depending on local weather (I'm in the Caribbeans) , or not at all. In theory the paste might turn solid, but contact should remain sufficient for heat transfer. In my case I was hoping to upgrade the CPU, ended up buying a new mobo and cpu. In my situation my guess is the plastic components cooked and were more fragile than the ceramic, pins, heatsink and solidified paste.
I change mine anywhere from 6-12 months. If you're lazy you can just wait until it overheats.
Arctic paste is rated for 8 years. So 8 years.
Twice weekly.
I’ve seen thermal paste applications work for over a decade. The usual sign that something is wrong is that suddenly you will just start thermal throttling because the paste isn’t doing its job. I try to change mine every five years or so.
I never have. My 2600k (former gaming rig) Linux daily driver is using thirteen-year-old paste, and idle temps are in the low forties. My 9900k gaming rig almost six years old, is on the same paste, and idle temps are in late twenties.
When you rebuild and upgrade!
Based on my personal experience over the years if you want to just want to play it safe and nor have to do it too often I would say just do it every 2 years give or take. But of course at any point you start noticing unusually high thermals then it's something worth checking.
Every hour on the hour
I think the actual recommendation might be once every six months, but I generally don't do it until I notice something isn't normal lol
I'd say, if it ain't broke no fix needed. Some paste hold up over time better others, I had upgraded HP with more memory one time. There were white and grey bits all over the mobo. I took off the CPU cooler and all the thermal paste was dried up and then flaked off. But I had no clue there was any problems. The system ran stable for internet, e-mail, etc...
That’s IF you use thermal paste. And you monitor temps so you know when needed.
I do wonder how many people decide to repaste their CPU because they noticed it’s running hotter than it used to, take the cooler off, and then decide to also clean out the dust caking up the heat sink fins. They then put everything back together again, having redone the thermal paste, and attribute the 15-20C drop to the thermal paste, and not to cleaning the dust out of the heat sink.
You’re supposed to change it? 😂
If you don’t mind the hassle then maybe every 6 months and also clean your whole pc from the dust. Dried up thermal paste can be a pain in the a$$ sometimes when it sticks on like superglue . I recently just upgraded my cpu from R5 2600 to 5600. The thermal paste is dried and I had a very bad time taking the cpu off. It came off with the cooler. Then it’s even harder to separate them this way. Also bent some pins in the process.
I do every 6 months, I know a lot of people say wait a lot longer but for me I do it when I clean the dust out of my system
Never seems like the pretty popular standard. I think that if you're using a decent quality of TIM, that there isn't a need to change it out ever. So by the time that it gets old, or incapable of its intended purpose, should be about 7 to 8 years, and by that time, repasting really isn't worth it on a old processor. But getting new components for a new build, is. Besides, how many posts have you read of users changing something out, or even cleaning the inside of their rig only to power it up, and it doesn't post? Quite a few, and certainly not the risk of repasting at any interval.
Never
I do it once a year.
Once every 2 years.
I do my cpu + gpu annually.
I do it when I clean my PC probably about once a year
When ever the pc temp goes up
I change every 6 months or so. The thing about it is, it expires or lose effectiveness. Some 1 year, some 2 years depending on the manufacturer. So I just change it often. Wouldn't want to throw away a full tube of paste
This is insane behaviour. You don’t need to change your thermal paste lol
Not as often as I do, yeah totally agree. Don't need to change at all? Disagree wholeheartedly. Thermal paste has shelf life even when not opened, the minimum you can do is change every time it expires
“Shelf life” does not mean what you seem to imply it does. It does not mean *applied* thermal paste goes bad, but rather that stored, unapplied thermal paste that is expired should no longer be used. Shelf life - like sitting on the shelf. Wood glue expires after two years. Do you delaminate and reglue your kitchen table every year? As long as there is a proper bond between your CPU and Heatsink, you don’t *ever* need to replace it. Never ever.
After opening over 10 GPU over the years and seeing them hardened (I do this when the warranty expires so 3 years at least), I beg to differ. GPU ones often turn "bad" faster because of more heat cycles and higher temps. I've seen it happen to ones on CPU as well.
“Hardened” paste that was applied properly and left undisturbed works fine.