Does Thermal Paste ever Expire?

[mamamia88]

Long story short I have 20g so of mx-4 from a year or two maybe more ago. The cap is on so tight I need pliers to remove it every time I use it. Does it go bad?

[MattyHeal]

4 minutes ago, mamamia88 said:

Long story short I have 20g so of mx-4 from a year or two maybe more ago. The cap is on so tight I need pliers to remove it every time I use it. Does it go bad?

It's usually a case of how it was stored and handled in the past, generally I'd recommend getting some more if you're not sure just because it's going on your processor after all, a few quid and a quick trip beats burning out components. That being said you can usually tell when you squeeze some out, if the bond is broken you might have some watery-like substance come out with the thermal paste which you can usually wipe off and re-apply some more, I'd hate to say you'd be fine just use your best judgement, it's not like food and will expire and has no best before date.

 

[Majestic]

Yeah it does deteriorate. Can't tell you how much though, depends on the storage conditions.

[mamamia88]

3 minutes ago, MattyHeal said:

It's usually a case of how it was stored and handled in the past, generally I'd recommend getting some more if you're not sure just because it's going on your processor after all, a few quid and a quick trip beats burning out components. That being said you can usually tell when you squeeze some out, if the bond is broken you might have some watery-like substance come out with the thermal paste which you can usually wipe off and re-apply some more, I'd hate to say you'd be fine just use your best judgement, it's not like food and will expire and has no best before date.

 

Sitting in a drawer full of screwdrivers

[MattyHeal]

2 minutes ago, mamamia88 said:

Sitting in a drawer full of screwdrivers

should be fine lol just squirt a little on a paper towel and see if any watery substance comes out, usually a little might build up closer to exit of the tube / syringe  but you should be fine  Like I said if your worried about it just apply some for now and order a new tube

[Rolling Potatoe]

Should still be fine. I had a tube of mx2 that was 5+ years old, it was a bit stickier than usual, but fine all the same.

[MeDownYou]

1 hour ago, mamamia88 said:

Long story short I have 20g so of mx-4 from a year or two maybe more ago. The cap is on so tight I need pliers to remove it every time I use it. Does it go bad?

So, for something like that if it is well sealed and stored room temp climate controlled you can keep it 5 years and apply it without problem, it may last 4 years on the chip being good instead of the ideal 5 by the end of that time though. If you don't have it stored well it can go bad within a year.

 

That being said I'm also saying here that you SHOULD replace thermal paste on cpu's every 5 years due to deterioration during use load cases.

[mamamia88]

41 minutes ago, Rolling Potatoe said:

Should still be fine. I had a tube of mx2 that was 5+ years old, it was a bit stickier than usual, but fine all the same.

Need to see if I can dig up receipt on Newegg no idea when I actually bought it. Just been using it on systems I don't really care much about. In fact I used it yesterday while my hear was still dripping wet from shower in old 775 build. Not a good idea btw but the water seems to have missed the case. I hope I don't have to replace thermal paste on new build for along time because it's a pain in the ass to clean