Does CPU paste degrade over time?

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soulesschild

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I have an old 4770k, no OC or anything that I've had since the release. I've had a H80i on it as well. Today when I was rebuilding my current build into a new case I booted it up and saw that idle I was around like 50C, load I hit 100C. It was NOT like this before. Could the CPU paste have degraded since then? I'm pretty sure it was just whatever was on the H80i when you buy it.

And if I need to re-do it, what's the current go to? Was always using Arctic Silver before.
 
Could be the paste, you can also check if the pump is still pumping?
I like Noctua's NT-H1, but whatever you have around should be fine.
 
soulesschild said:
I have an old 4770k, no OC or anything that I've had since the release. I've had a H80i on it as well. Today when I was rebuilding my current build into a new case I booted it up and saw that idle I was around like 50C, load I hit 100C. It was NOT like this before. Could the CPU paste have degraded since then? I'm pretty sure it was just whatever was on the H80i when you buy it.

And if I need to re-do it, what's the current go to? Was always using Arctic Silver before.
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If you removed H80 from CPU and didn't clean and apply new TIM that is most likely the problem.
If you did not remove H80 from CPU and it has been mounted for more than a year or two the TIM could be the problem.
But if H80 is more than a couple years old it could easily be the problem .. either pump failing or air entrapment. Water does 'leak' out of these sealed CLC systems just like a car's tires will get low just setting in the drive for 6 months or a year. With no way to add coolant the CLC becomes a piece of trash.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys! Pump still working so I'll just upgrade my CPU cooler :)
 
If you move the radiator around you should be able to hear the liquid move around, it could just be that you have some air stuck in the heatsink.
 
That's way too hot for a stock CPU even if there is absolutely no paste on it. Unless it was some gue that turned into insulation rather than being conductive.
 
Did you remove the cooler from the CPU when you moved everything? I am assuming you did, and you said you kept the OEM paste, so you put in lots of air pockets and voids into the paste, I would also assume with 100C load it's not making full contact, remove the cooler, clean off the paste and reapply some fresh paste then remount the cooler making sure it makes good contact. Paste is cheap, far cheaper than a new cooler when one might not be needed.
 
I've seen this with Corsair H-series before. The stock TIM can dry completely over a couple years time, which results in really poor performance. Last time I saw this was on a friends computer, 2 years after I built it the CPU would hit 100C under normal use and start throttling. Removed the cooler, repasted and mounted it back. Also cleaned the radiator and fans. That's all it took to get it back down to the same temps as when it was built the first time.
 
When I moved it I didn't unmount anything. Took everything off yesterday and noticed the paste had sort of indeed "dried" out. Haven't decided if I'll jump to a 280mm cooler like the H115i or the Kraken X62 since my new case can finally support larger rads (Phantek Evolv mATX TG)
 
soulesschild said:
When I moved it I didn't unmount anything. Took everything off yesterday and noticed the paste had sort of indeed "dried" out. Haven't decided if I'll jump to a 280mm cooler like the H115i or the Kraken X62 since my new case can finally support larger rads (Phantek Evolv mATX TG)
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Try new paste. If that doesn't work out the H80 could be toast.
 
Its actually just our CPU's they run hot.

I have an 4670k on a H100i liquid cooler and I have heat issues under a load. and thats in a case with plenty of cool air flowing through

I thought the same thing after I built mine so about 6 months later did new paste and re seated everything and it hasnt gotten better
 
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ChRoNo16 said:
Its actually just our CPU's they run hot.

I have an 4670k on a H100i liquid cooler and I have heat issues under a load. and thats in a case with plenty of cool air flowing through

I thought the same thing after I built mine so about 6 months later did new paste and re seated everything and it hasnt gotten better
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Are you at stock? I run my 4670k at 4.6 with a Arctic Cooling 240 and barely hit 70c at load. I didn't delid either.
 
Riccochet said:
Are you at stock? I run my 4670k at 4.6 with a Arctic Cooling 240 and barely hit 70c at load. I didn't delid either.
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Yeah in no circumstances should a 4670K at stock or near stock would hit those temps with an H100i. Either the cooler is malfunctioning or the mobo is throwing too much voltage at the CPU.
 
Does CPU paste degrade over time?

Short answer, yes.
 
Riccochet said:
In your experienced opinion what contributes to TIM degradation more? Constant 24/7/365 heat (always on) or heat cycles (periods of on and off operation)?
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I would suggest both, with an educated guess telling you that constant heat is the main culprit. But I have ZERO data to back that up.
 
Yep, it dries out.
I try to repaste on a schedule.

I will say, I used a xigmatek cooler with arctic silver on my opteron 160 @ 2.5ghz. it didn't start getting hot until after about 6 years lol.
Re pasted with gc extreme and it was a whole new chip.
Wish the motherboard hadn't started giving up.
 
I just took 2 Dell Laptops from a pal apart, 1st gen i7's, after they had hit 90°C on the CPU while updating firefox..LoL. The paste was soooo dry & hardened.

At least every 5 years one should redo the TIM imho. Those laptops were long overdue and I am happy those Radeon chips survived that were also cooled with the same Heatpipe setup.

My next laptop to be re-TIMmed is my own old Asus G73-JW, but that is 10x worse to take apart compared to those 2 Dell Laptops. I just hate it to work on that G73 but temps are 90ish !C as well and I have no other option :(
 
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