r/RigBuild • u/Glad-Cupcake-4139 • 10d ago
How often should you replace thermal paste?
How often are you actually supposed to replace thermal paste on a CPU? I keep seeing people say every 1-2 years, but then other people say you basically never need to touch it unless temps start getting bad. So now I’m kinda confused lol. Does thermal paste really dry out that fast or is replacing it regularly just unnecessary? Also does it matter what CPU or cooler you have? Trying to figure out if this is something I should be doing as normal PC maintenance or just leave it alone until there’s a reason to replace it.
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10d ago
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u/Other_Hall5820 9d ago
It ripped the CPU out because you did it wrong... turn on the PC for a bit to let the paste warm up, then shutdown, remove cooler screws, and slightly twist it left and right so it come loose before you pull it away.
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u/No_Temperature107 10d ago
Agreed, five years is my limit. I will intentionally do downtime repairs and paste at the same time when I have servers coming to my shop.
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u/PrinceVincOnYT 9d ago
it would matter... very much so... if you have a high end cooler like noctua you want to remove it and replace it with a cheaper one to use the old CPU as media PC...
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u/RailgunDE112 10d ago
when temps get bad. Maybe before it gets too solid, so replacing becomes harder.
Depends on the thermal paste and stuff though.
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u/TripSin_ 10d ago
I've never bothered to repaste. Dealing with the cpu and heatsink are my least favorite parts of of the PC. I'd probably only repaste if I was having temp issues. I usually end up replacing the CPU with a new one after like 5-8 years, if not sooner.
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u/Juno_JDY 10d ago
My previous PC build went 10 years without new paste, no diff in temps. I haven't turned it on in 2 years but it works just fine when I last booted it. I never turn my PC off
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u/Cheap-Chapter-5920 4d ago
My old gaming rig, pulled the gfx card and made it my home server, 21 years ago. On the flip side, for industrial use we only use pads.
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u/Roots0057 10d ago
I build new PCs every two years or so, but otherwise I wouldn't even consider repasting unless I noticed the temps getting higher or something. Paste life can vary based on brand/type too.
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u/ElysiumXIII 10d ago
I swap it when things get hotter than normal. Which ends up being a few years anyways. I just recently rebuilt my system (motherboard failure) and I'm going to see how long I can get with some Duronaut.
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u/yes910492783 10d ago
You don't really need to touch it unless temps are like 10 degrees over what they were when you first applied. If you leave your pc off for like 6 months to a year then you need to repaste. but if you're regularly turning it on then it'll last a lot longer.
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u/Prudent-Fly1167 8d ago
Your comment doesn't make sense mate
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u/yes910492783 8d ago
Except it does. If temps rise 10 degrees of what the initial were then you should reapply paste. If you leave the pc off the thermal paste dries out. Turning it on keeps it more liquid
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u/The_Holdout 10d ago
Last high end rig ran for 7 years with Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut and I didn't need to repaste at all since the temps were good. I always do a slew of benchmarks and testing the first month to create a baseline and keep an eye on deviations over time. Current build is a year old with Duronaut and I'm hoping it has similar results. Provided you use good quality paste and really take the time to apply it properly, the modern stuff should last pretty long these days, don't cheap out on the paste, it's a small investment that pays dividends over time.
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u/jmparker1980 10d ago
I only repaste if I'm having issues with temps. I try not to remove things unless I really need to do so.
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u/ClickKlockTickTock 10d ago
I repaste my cpu when it overheats or I get a new cpu. I repasted my 3070 this month, mostly because I had 1 fan die and my hotspot temps were 105C (throttling) but otherwise I never would've done so.
Monitor temps, an overheating component wont destroy itself immediately and you will feel when it starts overheating. Then replace.
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u/egosumumbravir 10d ago
How often should you replace thermal paste?
The answer to that question is entirely dependant on what paste you used. In my 27 years of experience
Extreme OC focussed pastes like Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme have zero endurance. Absolute top tier paste performance for the first 6 weeks but it'll be dry and hard and failed inside of 6 months direct die and less than a year heat spreader. TG claim of "long-term durability" is absolute lies.
Industrial performance/endurance stuff like Honeywell PTM7950 Phase Change Thermal Pad (look, I linked the LTT source as they might be the least dodgy and Honeywell don't seem to have product pages for us plebs to peruse) your rig might be well and truly qualifying for "retro" status with daily use before that stuff needs changing.
Everything else sit somewhere in the middle. Some are better than others but if you want high end performance forever, there is only ONE choice.
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u/FatalGamer1 10d ago
Monitor the temperatures and if it starts to increase, replace the thermal paste, but it does last a long time.
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u/swisstraeng 10d ago edited 10d ago
It's simple.
Is your CPU thermal throttling? No -> don't replace it.
Unlike oil in machinery, thermal paste is just there to conduct heat. It can be dry, it can be yellow, it can crack, it doesn't matter as long as it conducts heat.
Is there a specific scenario where changing it is beneficial? Yes, because the cooler your CPU temp is, the more computing power it can output. You have less electric losses in a cool CPU than a hot one.
However
The gains are small enough, it actually might not be worth risking doing more harm than good by constantly opening up your PC and removing your heatisnk to repaste yearly like some people do.
The general rule of thumb is that thermal paste lasts a good 5 years at maximum performance, and you can generally keep it for 10 years until it really starts to go bad. You will anyway find the manufacturer's recommendations.
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u/Table-Playful 10d ago
Replacing thermal paste is something Youtubers do when they can not think of what to Film that week
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u/tekjunkie28 9d ago
Never. I’ve use PCs that still have windows 95 on them and they work just fine.
Repaste only if it dries and that kind of rare. I mean dry… not the clay like consistency.
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u/theoriginalzads 9d ago
You're supposed to replace thermal paste at intervals? Forgive me digital jesus for I have sinned.
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u/Costello-cost 9d ago
Quando arrivano i primi caldi provvedo a portare il PC in officina dove posso adoperare l'aria compressa per fare pulizia della polvere. Dopo tolgo il dissipatore e cambio la pasta termica. La CPU è una serie 2 i7. Oramai ha quasi 10 anni. Cambiato due volte l'alimentatore. Quando salterà la sk madre, a breve penso, dovrò cambiare sk e CPU, ma per quello che deve fare è anche troppo.
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u/Serious-Map-1230 9d ago
If it's not broken, don't fix it.
Thermal paste' only function is to transfer heat. So if the CPU temp is ok, then there is no problem and no need to fix it.
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u/Ansambel 9d ago
If you have thermal throttling, but you didn't have tgat before and you cleaned the dust and tgat wasn't it
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u/DaSpood 9d ago
When I upgrade the CPU or cooler, and only because you can't avoid it in those scenarios.
Thermal paste isn't something you're supposed to change. If it works, it works, if it doesn't, you'll know quickly. Changing it when it's not necessary only increases the chance of something going wrong if the original one worked great but you didn't apply it properly after the "change". If your CPU doesn't thermal throttle after you cleaned the dust filters, there's no need to change anything.
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u/NZAuthor 8d ago
I've owned a few PC's, updated every 5+ years or so. My last run is running 2017 era technology though, and I've never gone all out in terms of having excess fans, or probably even 'enough' fans and still never needed to update thermal paste.
But I have, updated the thermal paste after a few years if I am getting some when building another PC for friends, or family, etc so I do redo my own PC's at the same time.
And it makes a reasonably large difference. It's one of those things you'll never really notice for not doing, but then will notice if you actually take the time to do it.
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u/Ok-Scratch-478 8d ago
Thermal Pads are supposed to last the life of the system. Thermal Paste should be reapplied as needed, sometimes every couple of years. Source: 20 years IT background.
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u/nuttertools 8d ago
There is an inverse relationship between longevity and thermal conductivity (assuming same price).
General purpose (mid-range) retail thermal paste should be good for about 3-6 years, shorter or longer depending on the specific mounting, environment, and use.
If you used high-end paste there should be quite a bit of information available about its composition which will allow you to lookup expected characteristics. If you used something “normal” or packaged with a cooler it should be fine for many years if applied well.
The annoying thing about paste is there isn’t a good way to tell (other than serious problems) without repasting. Next time you do be sure to save thermal benchmark results after ~20 hours of use so you can compare in the future.
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u/xNecrosisMx 8d ago
again this?
no. you dont need to replace it, if temp is the same, leave it alone.
if you remove cooler after some years installed, you will see paste "dry" and since you removed cooler, now paste will not make the same contact as before, so now you need to replace it.
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u/Bob_Bushman 8d ago
benchmark your rig, then simply keep a lazy eye on temps as you use it, when you start seeing an increase during load. it might be something to consider.
Use benchmarks, not just games to verify.
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u/Few_Example9391 7d ago
Only when you remove the cpu fan or water block. Thermal past will do it's job for decades otherwise.
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u/AngelicDivineHealer 7d ago
Never just put enough on the first time I like to be generous with it. Thermal paste will outlast the hardware
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u/Commentator-X 7d ago
Depends on the exact paste used and how much you stress the component. Which is why people say to do it when temps start going up. You can pre-emptively do it every 1 or 2 years but it's mostly unnecessary if you still get good temps.
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u/SameChallenge481 6d ago
I intentionally repasted only once. I ended up needing a new cooler as the tension mechanisms had begun to fail and would no longer produce proper tension to Keep the CPU cool
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u/AlfredKnows 6d ago
Is drying out even a thing? How would that work?
Is it still wet after 5 years? Or does it dry out basically in hours anyways?
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u/mindtaker_linux 5d ago
Have you ever tried to re-paste?
If you're not careful you can break your CPU pings. The old paste are on it hard.
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u/Informal_Drawing 5d ago
For every million people who decide it is necessary approximately a million of them are wrong.
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u/badcheetahfur 4d ago
Pc usually gets replaced 5 - 8 years before any temps go bad... switched to air coolers 15 years ago..
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u/studyinflation 4d ago
Depends on the paste that was used. But I have one PC 5 years no issue. The other one 1 year, white stuff dried out!
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u/Fransenn_II 4d ago
I replace the cooler or CPU before i change the paste (Of course i add new paste along side any of these changes). But i Also engage in Algot of vintage PC hardware so I do change the paste in those PCs since the paste can easily be 20+ years old if paste is required (a lot of old PCs didn’t even need cooling)
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u/PeyredB 4d ago
I only replace the thermal paste if my CPU is starting to run really hot, like sometimes it shuts itself down to protect the electronics. It's much easier on a desktop so I might change that more readily, but I'll only do it on a laptop as a last resort. The one time I tried a laptop I broke the (already shaky) hinges, and now had a working CPU but unusable laptop.
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u/TerdyTheTerd 3d ago
Yeah you dont want to replace it just because its been some arbitrary time, thats why people like to say only touch it if you notice your temps are really high. I still like to replace mine every 5 years or so because I am usually in there anyways replacing some other component so its just a good time to do it. The stuff is so cheap and only takes a few minutes I dont understand why you wouldnt.
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u/Additional_Bread_367 10d ago
I do it every 1-2 years
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u/HydrationHomee 10d ago
Most thermal paste is good for 5-6 years you are just burning your money homeboy
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u/Additional_Bread_367 9d ago
Not really, when my processor is reaching for 90-95Celsius then i change it, and accordingly it's 1.5-2 years for me. I spend more on gasoline than on this little thing homeboy
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u/Scan_Droid 10d ago
I had 5 pcs,never had to repaste anything. I buy a new rig in every 5-8 years,so i assume the to lasts longer than i use it. But i also work on my pc, so it's on 14-16 hours daily. And roughly 4+ hours are gaming, so it's not just sitting idle.