Plane Travel Effects

[DSD27]

Quick question.. Does air plane travel altitude affect the condition of the thermal paste of the GPU? If so, does it make a difference if we take it as hand luggage or hold luggage? I know that on hold luggage things are subject to very low/freezing temperatures.

[kb5zue]

The altitude will only have an effect on people if a window or door blows out.  It's called rapid decompression.  First RD that I went thru was the altitude chamber at Barksdale Air Force Base back in 1974.

 

Temperatures inside the cabin will have no effect on thermal paste but having thermal paste in the hold baggage area could be affected by the temperatures there.  Airlines do not heat the hold baggage areas of most aircraft.  As the temp goes down, the thermal paste will solidify but that problem can be erased upon arrival at your destination after holding the container of thermal paste under a warm water faucet.  Shouldn't take too long to do.

[NumLock21]

No one has ever test bench their desktop on a plane before. Why not just change the thermal paste once you land on the ground.

[DSD27]

9 minutes ago, kb5zue said:

The altitude will only have an effect on people if a window or door blows out.  It's called rapid decompression.  First RD that I went thru was the altitude chamber at Barksdale Air Force Base back in 1974.

 

Temperatures inside the cabin will have no effect on thermal paste but having thermal paste in the hold baggage area could be affected by the temperatures there.  Airlines do not heat the hold baggage areas of most aircraft.  As the temp goes down, the thermal paste will solidify but that problem can be erased upon arrival at your destination after holding the container of thermal paste under a warm water faucet.  Shouldn't take too long to do.

Hm, so hold laggage is bad but it returns to normal, after that process will it be exactly as before or is there any risk of the paste to become poorly distributed or something?

[DSD27]

11 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

No one has ever test bench their desktop on a plane before. Why not just change the thermal paste once you land on the ground.

I will buy a new GPU and I don't want to take the cooler off. Since I'm going to travel I'm debating between buying it and bringing it myself on the plane as hand laggage, or order it and pay shipment. When you order something it will come in hold laggage.

My previous GPU died so I don't want to take any risks. https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/876013-gpu-controller-causes-computer-to-crash/

[NumLock21]

Just now, davidsd1990 said:

I will buy a new GPU and I don't one to take the cooler off. Since I'm going to travel I'll debating between buying it and bringing it myself on the plane or order it and pay shipment. When you order something it will come in hold laggage.

You do realized that when you order something and it's shipping from a far away place, it has to go on a plane. Once you got it, you just install it, there was no need worry about the thermal paste.

[kb5zue]

7 minutes ago, davidsd1990 said:

Hm, so hold laggage is bad but it returns to normal, after that process will it be exactly as before or is there any risk of the paste to become poorly distributed or something?

Thermal paste that has been in the hold of an aircraft during high flight (anything above 14,000 feet) could get a little hard from being so cold and of course another contributing factor would be how long it was there.  If the thermal paste is in a tube, simply hold it in some warm water or under the faucet to allow it to warm up.  Squeeze the tube like you would (back and forth) as if you were squeezing a tube of tooth paste.

 

If the thermal paste is in a small jar or something similar, you can hold it under the warm water as well or just put it in a pot with warm water.  Once the jar is warmed up, you can open the jar and stir it around some to mix things back up to a reasonable consistency with something like a toothpick.  As long as you keep it clean without allowing any dirt or dust type materials to get inside the jar, everything will work out great.

 

There is no reason to remove and replace your thermal paste just because you had it on an aircraft.  Since I spent 15 out of my 20 years with the Air Force all overseas, I received a all of my mail and belongings via aircraft.  Most of them were C-130 or KC-10 aircraft and I don't think any part of those aircraft are heated in any way.

[DSD27]

7 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

You do realized that when you order something and it's shipping from a far away place, it has to go on a plane. Once you got it, you just install it, there was no need worry about the thermal paste.

of course, but in case of it being a problem, doing it 3 or 4 times would always be worse than 1 or times 

[NumLock21]

4 minutes ago, davidsd1990 said:

of course, but doing it 2 or 3 times would always be worse than 1 time 

I RMA my parent's gpu like twice so going back and forth is about 5 times and thermal paste is still good. ?

[kb5zue]

3 minutes ago, davidsd1990 said:

of course, but doing it 2 or 3 times would always be worse than 1 time 

I see your location listed as the Azores.  Any place near Lajes Field?  I have been there a couple times.

[DSD27]

4 minutes ago, kb5zue said:

I see your location listed as the Azores.  Any place near Lajes Field?  I have been there a couple times.

Yes, Faial island, it's near. Lajes Field is at Terceira island, both islands belong to Azores's central group. 

[kb5zue]

1 minute ago, davidsd1990 said:

Yes, Faial island, it's near. Lajes Field is at Terceira island, both islands belong to Azores's central group. 

It's a small world, isn't it....  Hope you had a good Christmas and hope you have a Good New Year.

[DSD27]

6 minutes ago, kb5zue said:

It's a small world, isn't it....  Hope you had a good Christmas and hope you have a Good New Year.

It looks like it. Thank you, I wish the same for you.

 

And thank you both for the clarifications.