Does thermal paste go bad?

[Coolmaster]

I have an unopened tube of kyronaut thermal paste that's been sitting on a shelf for 3 years. Is it still ok to use, or does it go bad after a while?

[Vishera]

It does go bad,you will have to take a look and see whether it's dry or not and how viscous it is.

[Dukesilver27-]

It could also lose the chemical bond, in one of LTT's video, a thermal paste from >10 years ago was very watery and gooey, I think it was the old Gigabyte water cooling video.

I'm not saying that it will be that bad for a 3 year paste, I just think it's worth mentioning.

[Needfuldoer]

34 minutes ago, Dukesilver27- said:

It could also lose the chemical bond, in one of LTT's video, a thermal paste from >10 years ago was very watery and gooey, I think it was the old Gigabyte water cooling video.

I think that was because the chemicals separated in the package over time, not because it degraded into a runny mess. Kind of like the little spurt of water you get from ketchup and mustard if you don't shake the bottle first.

 

I've only ever seen thermal compound harden and dry out after it's been applied, which could make it less effective. (How much less effective, I couldn't tell you.)

[Bombastinator]

2 hours ago, Coolmaster said:

I have an unopened tube of kyronaut thermal paste that's been sitting on a shelf for 3 years. Is it still ok to use, or does it go bad after a while?

I’d say 90%+ chance it’s still good.