Question about thermal paste

[souvik200]

My friend has an i5 8600k with Cooler Master Masterair MA610p cooler. The temps were slightly higher and the thermal paste was applied 2 years ago so I thought I would change it to improve the temps. 

The cooler came with MasterGel pro which was opened and used before and was kept in the box for two years in its tube with the cap on. After reapplying the paste (twice) the temps have increased by about 10C. I am seeing conflicting info on forums that thermal paste can last for 10-15 years or can go bad too.

Can thermal paste go bad in 2 years? Or there is some other problem? (It shouldn't be a mounting issue as I have mounted it twice (re-pasted twice too) and same result.)

[aDoomGuy]

I have run computers for 10 years without changing thermal paste and not noticed any higher temps (when I removed dust from the coolers obviously). Maybe you didn't use enough paste and there isn't proper contact?

 

What method did you use when you applied the paste? I prefer the "X-method" and use a q-tip to wipe off the excess that comes out through the sides. Then I know it will be enough.

[souvik200]

23 minutes ago, aDoomGuy said:

What method did you use when you applied the paste? I prefer the "X-method" and use a q-tip to wipe off the excess that comes out through the sides. Then I know it will be enough.

I put a pea sized drop in the center and put the cooler on top to spread the paste. When I removed the cooler for the second time (to be double sure), I saw that the spread was nice and even but there was no spillage from the sides. I applied a slightly smaller sized pea as I suspected my initial application was too much but same higher temps after remounting.

[RejZoR]

Just don't be lazy ppl and spread it across entire IHS.

[akio123008]

23 minutes ago, aDoomGuy said:

I have run computers for 10 years without changing thermal paste and not noticed any higher temps (when I removed dust from the coolers obviously). Maybe you didn't use enough paste and there isn't proper contact?

 

What method did you use when you applied the paste? I prefer the "X-method" and use a q-tip to wipe off the excess that comes out through the sides. Then I know it will be enough.

I'd agree with that. The whole "thermal paste dried out so it stopped working properly" argument seems invalid most of the time; sure it can dry out when sitting for very long, however, as long as it's dried up filling all the surface inperfections it still does it's job just fine.

 

Only when you start moving the heatsink or even taking it off and putting it back old thermal paste can become an issue.

 

[souvik200]

1 hour ago, RejZoR said:

Just don't be lazy ppl and spread it across entire IHS.

I will try that tomorrow then.

[aDoomGuy]

1 hour ago, souvik200 said:

I put a pea sized drop in the center and put the cooler on top to spread the paste. When I removed the cooler for the second time (to be double sure), I saw that the spread was nice and even but there was no spillage from the sides. I applied a slightly smaller sized pea as I suspected my initial application was too much but same higher temps after remounting.

Too much paste do not result in higher temps, applying too little does. All excess paste will be forced out through the sides so there is no "too much". Make sure it covers the entire surface area.

[souvik200]

On 5/19/2020 at 8:04 PM, RejZoR said:

Just don't be lazy ppl and spread it across entire IHS.

I tried spreading the paste, it didn't help much, just shaved 3 degrees at idle (ambient also dropped so that might be the cause of the change), no change during load.

 

I also saw that the thermal paste didn't have a uniform color, some places it was dark some places light, so I am guessing its the thermal paste that is the problem