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how often do you re-apply your thermal paste?

How often do you re-apply thermal paste?

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polonyc2

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I just installed a new CPU and it got me thinking...how often do people change the thermal paste on their CPU's?...is it best to change it on a semi-regular basis to get the best thermal cooling transfer or can you go for years without changing it without any issues...vote
 
How about another option: never. I don't see the purpose unless you are overclocking.
 
this thread is in a wrong forum, should be here
And no, no reason to change thermal paste unless you messed up something the first time.
 
I don't change my thermal paste unless I suspect a problem or I'm removing the heat-sink for some other reason.
 
I'd only re-apply if installing new CPU or replacing HSF, or cooling aspect.

I had bought a Xigmatek HDT-S1283 months back for my Phenom II. It was mounted Horizontally with stock mounting. I found another user that made custom bracket so I could install the HS Vertically and also added some Slipstream 1900RPM for Push/Pull config. This required pulling the HS off so I re-applied some new IC7 Diamond again. Got some nice temps now! w00t!
 
Never. I only do it if I change heatsinks, or CPU but that never happens. I don't see a point of doing it frequently either.
 
Never.

I would venture to say that even if someone was using a supremely crappy heatsink paste, the processor would be upgraded before the paste dried out.
 
& lmao @ once a day
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Agreed, I almost fell off my chair (laughing so hard) on that one after someone voted for it. I really hope that no one does this. Well I guess unless they are using LN2 or something. But then it would be way too much work to remove the rigging..
 
hmz said:
Never. Why isn't this included in poll?
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because only 4 options were allowed in the poll...I guess you could consider 1.5+ years to be never :)

I'm surprised at the amount of 'never' choices...this being [H] I thought more members would change it out at least once a year
 
Added a poll option, and moved to the correct forum at polonyc2's request.

Personally I only change it when upgrading something. I rarely go more than a year without needing to remount for some kind of upgrade anyway.
 
polonyc2 said:
because only 4 options were allowed in the poll...I guess you could consider 1.5+ years to be never :)

I'm surprised at the amount of 'never' choices...this being [H] I thought more members would change it out at least once a year
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There really isn't much reason to. All you get for refreshing the thermal paste is another chance to go through a burn-in cycle :p
 
Well paste can "dry" so I can see doing it if your rig is several years old, but other than that it's just a chance to break something for no benefit.
 
Neb said:
There really isn't much reason to. All you get for refreshing the thermal paste is another chance to go through a burn-in cycle :p
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I recently changed my CPU and heatsink after almost 2 years and when taking off the CPU the paste looked very dry, thin, cracking and wasn't covering the entire base of the CPU...I was happy to re-apply another drop of MX-3...I know there won't be a huge difference in temps but there could be a slight improvement

as far as burn in cycle, a lot of the higher end pastes nowadays have very little to no burn in time
 
Oldie said:
Well paste can "dry" so I can see doing it if your rig is several years old, but other than that it's just a chance to break something for no benefit.
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True, but like you said I would guess that most premium paste takes longer to dry out than it does for the usual upgrade cycle of cpu/motherboard.

polonyc2 said:
I recently changed my CPU and heatsink after 1.5 years and when taking off the CPU the paste looked very dry, thin and wasn't covering the entire base of the CPU...I was happy to re-apply another coat...I'm know there won't be a huge difference in temps but there could be a slight improvement
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What heatsink paste did you use? If your paste is hardening and cracking after 2 years, I would say it's time to switch to a different brand/model :p I've worked with speaker amps that use cheap heatsink paste that's still good after 5+ years (Big class-A amps, so we're not talking about cool running amps...).

As for burn-in time, that's why I put "chance" in there. I know that not many have long burn-in times.
 
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I've only ever used the old standby, AS5, and nearly never reapply the paste. I just recently sold a 7900gt w/zalman vf900 that had as5 on it from several years ago. Still runs cool.
 
Only when I take off the heatsink for whatever that reason maybe, and after a year that has been never.

Megamilkz said:
does thermal paste stop working after a wile or something?
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no it just goes from pliable to pretty solid after a while of getting heated up and cooled down.

Still using one of my original tubes of Arctic Ciramique
 
Megamilkz said:
does thermal paste stop working after a while or something?
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Poorly made thermal paste will dry out and simply not transfer heat very well after a period of time. How long and how dried up it will be depends on just how crappy a thermal paste you've managed to find :)
 
polonyc2 said:
I'm surprised at the amount of 'never' choices...this being [H] I thought more members would change it out at least once a year
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There is no point. Thermal Paste does not go bad like produce does. So a freshly applied paste os not better or worse than one that has been set for a long while.

Remember paste is only used as a membrane to fill in holes in the metal, or level any unlevel pieces of metal to provide a smooth level and thus max contact between the top of the chip and the bottom of the heatsink. It has good thermal properties of heat transfer but that is so the heatsink can do its job of soaking up and spreading out the heat across a max area that is in turn cooled.
 
to me never would mean your HSF are going commando as it were with no TIM
so is that the case or really are you replace it when you install a new cpu and or HSF as i think you really are
this includes any stock TIM pre-applied
 
I think most of the people who are saying 'never' don't really mean it literally but prefer to change it when doing a system or CPU/HSF upgrade...and most people here probably do that every 1-2 years...so the 'never' answer becomes 'when I change my hardware', which becomes every year or 2...so the bottom line answer is that most people change it out semi-regularly :D
 
Just for the hell of it? Never. Why would I?

I only change it out when I upgrade or mod something and have to pull my hs/f. Which probably works out to a couple of times a year. :p
 
Interesting that the oil (and usually it is an oil) drying out is considered a bad thing. I was under the impression it was just a carrier so the tiny particles of the metallic "dust" could migrate to fill the tiny voids. Volumes where written about this years ago.

Now there are a few speciality compounds that I am not up on, but if you read the description of how AS5 works (I picked it because it is likely the most widely used) it requires no "changing" and drying out which they refer to as "phase change" is by design.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm

The oil/carrier is not part of the thermal solution long term. It is designed to dry out. At least for AS products.

It is because of this that AS5 needs to "cure" a bit for optimal performance.

MX2 another very popular compound says this.

Durability
With MX-2 no curing and no bleeding of the compound are possible. In contrast to other products, this compound does not show decreasing performance over time, does not need to be reapplied and has a durability of at least 8 years.
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http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=39_&mID=127


Can anyone find a compound that does recommend "refreshing" on a reqular basis ?

I didnt vote for obvious reasons.
 
Since it`s not in the poll, I clean and change mine every 2 months.
All 5 of my PC`s are on at all times and I am near a 8 dryer size laundry vent in mt APT., the lint gets in my PC room very fast over time.
I am moving soon to a plce that this does not happen. When I do, it will be every 4 months. I am like O.C.D. when it comes to pc hygene haha.
 
With MX-2 no curing and no bleeding of the compound are possible. In contrast to other products, this compound does not show decreasing performance over time, does not need to be reapplied and has a durability of at least 8 years
Click to expand...

good info...I never read those details on the MX-2 website...8 years is nice

but I also wonder if most people apply it properly...too much/too little and if that has an effect on the durability and effectiveness...I used to be paranoid about putting too much and probably put too little in my first few builds
 
Last time I reapplied As5 on aurora was when I built it nearly 2 years ago. Its been nearly 4 years since I redid the As5 on my amd mobile system 'detriot'. Both are still cooling as good as the day I put it on.
 
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