Question about thermal paste.

Probenja · May 4, 2014

So, I have had my PC for now a year and some months, it is still running on the stock cooler and stock thermal paste that came with it, is it time to replace it even though I never had a problem with overheating??

Also I found some old tube of thermaltake paste, it is still liquid but it is probably a couple of years old, should I use it or get new one?

And a final question, is it worth opening my netbook and replace the thermal paste on it considering it is even older than my PC and it does heat up quite a lot?

Freaky_spider · May 4, 2014

thermal paste lasts 3 years, no need to worry

Enderman · May 4, 2014

1) If its fine, leave it. Change it when you see temps go up by a bit. Thermal paste should be replaced about every 5 years.

2) No, it has probably expired. Best is to get a new tube that you know works 100%

3) Not really unless you have opened it up before and have experience doing so. You can use compressed air to remove all the dust from the heatsink, and you will see a huge temp improvement.

Probenja · May 4, 2014

Thanks for the replies, yeah I guess I am going to leave my PC for now, although I am getting a new case that has even better airflow than my old one.

I have seen videos of people opening the same netbook i have and it is not that hard but I guess I am just going to dust it out, I don't really use it that much so it doesn't worry me.