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Reapplying thermal paste?

Longbow1
By Longbow1
in Cooling
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Ok so i have been building rigs since 2008, back in the Artica silver days.  I never used to reapply thermal paste.  I built a 12600k rig in jan 2022 and used Kryonaut.  Does this paste require re-application often?  I know liquid metal is the best heat transfer, but its conductive.  what is the best overall paste for longevity?

 

Thanks

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7 minutes ago, Longbow1 said:

Ok so i have been building rigs since 2008, back in the Artica silver days.  I never used to reapply thermal paste.  I built a 12600k rig in jan 2022 and used Kryonaut.  Does this paste require re-application often?  I know liquid metal is the best heat transfer, but its conductive.  what is the best overall paste for longevity?

 

Thanks

With a grain of salt...

 

https://www.xda-developers.com/best-thermal-paste-amd-ryzen-7-7800x3d/

 

They say longevity is this one..

 

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I have an RX480 that didn't NEED a reapply until about 6 years in. It was heavily crusted and resembled more cement than paste, but still ran okay.

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3-5 years is about when I'd start paying attention to thermals to see if it needs a repaste, though you can usually get by for longer. I've seen some cards that were 10 years old without a repaste still doing OK, though at that point a repaste does help. 

 

Granted, that's mainly for GPUs. I don't think I've ever gone longer than 6 months without repasting my CPU, though that's more because every 6 months I tend to do something with the system that requires I remove the CPU block (most recently it was to swap the radiator fans, there wasn't enough slack for me to slide the radiator out without removing the CPU block, and after about a month I won't reuse paste for any permanent application). 

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Ehh once every 5 years or so. Arctic silver is a bit dated but fine usually mx4 or.mx5 is used now as its plain better and similar price

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22 minutes ago, BiotechBen said:

I have an RX480 that didn't NEED a reapply until about 6 years in. It was heavily crusted and resembled more cement than paste, but still ran okay.

I've seen at least one person suggest that crusty paste/pads may be less effective, but until you break the seal its still doing its job filling the gaps so not necessarily worth worrying about.  I mean there used be a thing where some pastes had a curing period, they were supposed to go solid and it would make sense to use that on a GPU where they aren't really intended to be re-pasted.  Not that I trust manufacturers to use parts which last a long time, particularly when it comes to thermal pads rather than pastes.

 

Certainly my 2080 I had since launch the pads are well cooked, they still work but the hot spot temperature under heavy load is slightly alarming, though likely the VRM MOSFET temperature so probably still well within the maximum operating temperature.

 

I've never once re-pasted a GPU myself and with CPUs I only do so when changing something.  I've never seen an improvement that was obvious from re-applying paste.

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I have used noctua, kryonaut, mx-4, silver-5, ceramique, and a few others. I was hunting for the best at my price point. (Budget). They were all good / great.

 

Used to reapply paste to my rx-580 and it was easy. The 6770-xt however, was not so easy. Very complicated. Though xfx allows changes to be made to it so they can adjust warranty on the account. I still had problems getting the backplate off. I had people tell me they never did it to their graphics cards and thus I should leave mine alone before I make things worse. That's what I decided.

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As long as you properly applied your AS5, you should be good for 10-15 years, if not more. That is on a stock CPU.

 

AS5 is actually very good, the performance comes down to application, and many do not apply it properly.

 

It will never be the best performer in terms of absolute temps, but it can stand the test of time.

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6 hours ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

I've seen at least one person suggest that crusty paste/pads may be less effective, but until you break the seal its still doing its job filling the gaps so not necessarily worth worrying about.  I mean there used be a thing where some pastes had a curing period, they were supposed to go solid and it would make sense to use that on a GPU where they aren't really intended to be re-pasted.  Not that I trust manufacturers to use parts which last a long time, particularly when it comes to thermal pads rather than pastes.

 

Certainly my 2080 I had since launch the pads are well cooked, they still work but the hot spot temperature under heavy load is slightly alarming, though likely the VRM MOSFET temperature so probably still well within the maximum operating temperature.

 

I've never once re-pasted a GPU myself and with CPUs I only do so when changing something.  I've never seen an improvement that was obvious from re-applying paste.

I can tell ya that replacing with new paste (xtm50) was an 8°C difference.  :). That card is now getting a new lease on life as a third-hamd card to get my roommate into PC gaming.

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On 12/6/2023 at 2:07 PM, jaslion said:

or.mx5

I think you mean MX6. MX5 was discontinued because of issues like separation, iirc.

 

On 12/6/2023 at 1:28 PM, Longbow1 said:

Ok so i have been building rigs since 2008, back in the Artica silver days.  I never used to reapply thermal paste.  I built a 12600k rig in jan 2022 and used Kryonaut.  Does this paste require re-application often?  I know liquid metal is the best heat transfer, but its conductive.  what is the best overall paste for longevity?

 

Thanks

I'm not sure anyone actually answered your question...?

 

I saw somewhere that stuff like Honeywell PTM7950 and other phase-change materials (PCM) last a really long time. 

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48 minutes ago, RevGAM said:

I think you mean MX6. MX5 was discontinued because of issues like separation, iirc.

Thanks! Force of habit

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50 minutes ago, RevGAM said:

I saw somewhere that stuff like Honeywell PTM7950 and other phase-change materials (PCM) last a really long time. 

Correct basically works as long as the material stays in 1 piece. Some conflicting information but seems to be between 5-15 years rated depending on application

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Well, there's Kryosheet.

Conductive, but at least no chance of splatter like liquid metal.

There is approximately 99% chance I edited my post

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On 12/10/2023 at 10:41 AM, jaslion said:

Correct basically works as long as the material stays in 1 piece. Some conflicting information but seems to be between 5-15 years rated depending on application

It’s tested to 1000 heating cycles, and the performance at 1000 is better than when freshly applied. It becomes liquid at about 50c so it essentially repastes itself every time the cpu heats up.

 

Supposed to last as long as the electronics do - developed for industrial one and done application.

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