Cooling paste [Amateur Question]

[mafal54]

Hey Guys,

I just want to know if you think I should replace the cooling paste of my Grafikscard after 2-3 Years or if its meaningless and wich paste do you recommend and why? (are there even difrences)

[Brian]

Unless you're removing the heatsink for some reason, there is no reason to change the thermal compound.

[nilsepils]

If your temperatures are still as low as they were (or changed but within reason) I see no use for it.

[mafal54]

I thought so too... but the temps of my Card are like 10°C-15°C higher than they were at the time i bought it. It was just cleaned perfectly so I don't really know why the temps are that high.

[nilsepils]

If the heatsink is entirely clean and you know what you're doing go for it! Thermal compound is not that expensive anyways, it just takes a little time :)

[Dim]

Unless you're removing the heatsink for some reason' date=' there is no reason to change the thermal compound.[/quote']

If you have a five year old computer and not the budget for a new one, using a mate's thermal paste is a good idea.

[Brian]

Unless you're removing the heatsink for some reason' date=' there is no reason to change the thermal compound.[/quote']

If you have a five year old computer and not the budget for a new one, using a mate's thermal paste is a good idea.

I've never seen it end well when people try to do this. A friend trid this and it ended with a DEAD $350 graphics card. Even when you have tons of experience and do everything by the book, things can go wrong. I think it's just best not to mess about with something that's not broken.

However, if you want to take the risk though, then yes by all means go for it. :)

[Brian]

I thought so too... but the temps of my Card are like 10°C-15°C higher than they were at the time i bought it. It was just cleaned perfectly so I don't really know why the temps are that high.

Have you changed anything else in the system? Is it your idle temp that is higher? Perhaps the fan bearing is wearing out and actually physically slowing the fan, thus reducing performance?

There are a lot of factors relating to temperature, can you think of anything that might be causing the change?

[Brian]

I thought so too... but the temps of my Card are like 10°C-15°C higher than they were at the time i bought it. It was just cleaned perfectly so I don't really know why the temps are that high.

Have you updated your drivers recently? They may have changed something (Not likely though).

If nothing else in the system has changed, and you are using the same test scenario and temperature monitoring software, then something in the card must be going wrong. But if it's not giving you any problems with performance in games or noise I would say just to leave it alone. If you have the money to replace it in the event something goes wrong while changing the thermal paste, then you could always try.

Also, the bearing in most fans cannot be cleaned, not unless the blades detach and give you access to the motor. And fan bearings do wear out pretty quickly in hot things like graphics cards. I've seen some 3-4 year old fans seize completely, and you can be sure they were not spinning full speed before they finally did stop for good.