How can i know if thermal paste has gone bad with overkill cooling?

[Vishera]

Long story short - I built my daily driver in 2019 with overkill cooling as the theme of the build (Mesh front panel,overkill CPU cooler,overkill GPU cooler,Phanteks PH-F140SP fans,etc)

3 years have passed since so i wonder how can i know if the paste has gone bad?

CPU never goes above 55C,and GPU never goes above 65C and that's with both overclocked and despite the aging paste.

And one hour of Prime95 Small FFTs is below 70C...

 

It's probably a stupid question but i don't see any way to know without removing the cooler and looking at the paste.

 

Here is a screenshot from a game with the MSI Afterburner overlay:

[Lorca]

Good question. I think the only way to know is to remove the heatskink. I noticed after about 6 years, my thermal paste residue is quite powdery.

[WoodenMarker]

Those are normal operating temps. Temps shouldn't be a problem for thermal paste unless you're going sub-ambient. For example, the recommended operating temperature for NT-H1 is -50c to 110c. https://noctua.at/en/nt-h1-3-5g/specification

Replace thermal paste when temps are no longer acceptable. 

 

Moved to Cooling. 

[Vishera]

5 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

Replace thermal paste when temps are no longer acceptable. 

Thanks for the help