Showerthought: why does everyone treat thermal paste like gold dust?

I've watched three separate threads where people freak out if a tube is older than a year, but I just used a 2016 syringe on a Pentium 4 build and it idles at 44C. The stuff is just silicone and zinc oxide, it doesn't rot like milk. Has anyone actually measured a real temp drop with fresh paste on a machine that was running fine before?

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1 Comment

anthony_fox901mo ago

Honestly, people just love a panic. I've got tubes older than some of my coworkers' kids and they work fine. Unless you're running a sub-ambient loop or chasing benchmark points, the difference is like 2 degrees. Your Pentium idling at 44 just proves the whole thing is overblown.