Sent my wife to buy thermal paste and the best buy employee gave her a long, unsolicited lecture about how she should be changing the thermal paste on her components every 6 months... Really, every 6 months? [Thermal paste questions]
Posted by Leo-J-Covo@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 643 comments
Putting aside that she was talked down to about her purchase. Can we talk about thermal paste for a minute?
I really don't think the claim of every 6 months is accurate or reasonable. I maybe blow out all the dust from my PC 2 times a year, but with that idea my schedule should also include thermal paste.
I'm not anywhere close to knowledgeable regarding PC builds so maybe I'm wrong but how crazy is this?
I try to give people credit though which is why I'm bringing it up.
Obviously heat is something that everyone is trying to get rid of and building efficiencies into your system has a compounding return. But if someone were to actually change the paste every 6 months, what kind of return would that get you?
In my HTPC im running a 13 year old 125W CPU that cranks out the heat vs modern equivalents. It's a "new to me" system and Is the reason I was buying thermal paste as it needed it as part of my complete disassemble and clean. Obviously I can't see how good of a job I on my reapplication but I would have expected that to last a few years at least if I managed my heat in other more traditional ways.
Idk. There's lots of reasons to maybe do this.
I know I'm not going to be changing the paste anywhere near that often.
pleasetowmyshit@reddit
stares back graphite thermal paddingly at the BB employee what’s paste, is that some kind of peasant construction technique?
-UserRemoved-@reddit
It's not
Most people, especially those with prebuilts, will probably never change their thermal paste.
Personally, I haven't changed mine in about 3-4 years, and it's perfectly fine.
WorkingLaw4240@reddit
I got my PC beginning of last year, I had to clue what I was doing, popped my GPU out and cracked it open, cleaned, and proceeded to use like 2 tubes of thermal paste as I kept trying to correctly apply… knowing what I know now I’m far too scared to try again
Leo-J-Covo@reddit (OP)
That's what I thought. I have never heard this claim until the other day which is why I'm here lol.
ChaZcaTriX@reddit
It's the same as car shops that try to trick you into unnecessary repairs. They see someone who's not experienced and latch onto them with scary half-truths.
Germacide@reddit
Yeah, but for what? To sell them an extra $5 tube of past every 6 months? Maybe that guy was really just that stupid.
barkingcat@reddit
Repeat that with every customer that rep has interacted with. It adds up, could net the company thousands of sales and that's significant.
RephRayne@reddit
See, you start small: "replace your thermal paste every 6 months" and then you slowly work your way up to: " you need to change your GPU every time you buy a new game because it wears out."
randylush@reddit
It could be the salesperson trying to bilk, but it could also just be an extremely widespread misconception. I see the same crap on reddit all the time
motoxim@reddit
Yeah people's use case are different but unless you're really hardcore user probably 3-4 years before changing seems reasonable.
RogueCanadia@reddit
Also “take a look at our selection of high quality thermal paste.”
Warcraft_Fan@reddit
Don't forget to rotate your RAM every 500 hours of game time and replace them every year.
googahgee@reddit
It’s not uncommon for men to explain things to women completely unprompted regardless of whether or not the women actually need assistance. Just go look at any video of a woman playing an instrument online and see dozens of comments explaining how her technique isn’t that great and there’s this specific way she should be doing it, or a woman working on her car and getting tons of people telling her she’s doing things wrong. It’s frankly just extremely common, and not being done with the intention of selling more product or anything like that.
ExtensionCap2@reddit
just getting people in the door is a potential to make more sales
ChaZcaTriX@reddit
No. To sell them "I know you're uncomfortable fixing your PC, bring it to us and we'll do it for $500“.
andreasmalersghost@reddit
Yeah it seems more uninformed than malicious. the real advice is to monitor temps and performance. I suppose if you thought they were totally incompetent with regard to tech youd err on the side of replacing paste more often but if they were that oblivious, I wouldnt trust them to take off their cooler and re-paste. catch 22 situation
TheDreamIsDead4686@reddit
Or they want the customer to bring it in for crazy repair fees
haXLock@reddit
Yeah right? These ass hats said I have to change my oil every 3-5k miles... Scam artist! 😂
iDrinkToiletWaterLOL@reddit
Every 10k miles or year is correct advice.
Insanely_Mclean@reddit
I had a shoe store tell me once that I should be changing my insoles every three months. They're expensive esd safe insoles required by my employer.
TheLurkerSpeaks@reddit
I once went into a shoe store, stating that the laces they provided were too short and I needed something longer to make sure the shoes stayed tied.
Dude straight faced told me I didn't need new shoelaces, I needed to learn to tie my shoes properly. Went on to say most people actually don't know how to tie their shoes, then proceeded to lecture me on the super secret hidden scrolls on the art of shoe tying. His colleague beside him was nodding in assent the whole time, like these two just went to a corporate shoe-tying seminar. After that I asked him if he could give me longer shoelaces so I could continue tying my shoes the way I learned in kindergarten and have been successfully practicing my entire 45 years. He grunted and said yes.
-UserRemoved-@reddit
Simply look at temps every once in a while, and if they aren't drastically higher than normal then you don't have an issue, and there is nothing to fix.
audigex@reddit
Even if it's higher than normal, it's fine unless you're hitting thermal throttling
Once the device is thermal throttling then that's the time to re-apply paste
tired-space-weasel@reddit
How do I know it's throttling?
WastingMyLifeToday@reddit
Temps are at the limit, while clock speed gets reduced.
iDrinkToiletWaterLOL@reddit
How do you even test for that
LuluGuardian@reddit
Hey not a tech guru but you will notice your fav games you always play getting less frames and running worse. Also your room will probably get hotter as your PC gets hotter
Kathryn_Cadbury@reddit
Got a 3080ti, I use it instead of a heater in the winter lol
VictoryMotel@reddit
You can see CPU temps in hwinfo or speccy. When you get into the 80s (Celsius) with cpus stressed, it's time to work on cooling.
If you can peg your CPUs at high percentages on every core and not go into the 80s, you're fine.
SenorPeterz@reddit
Hwinfo64 is great! Download it and run in sensors-only mode when you start suspecting that it is thermal throttling.
vinnypotsandpans@reddit
Your CPU will stop working if it gets too hot. Then your screen will freeze. Even that is okay unless it happens every time u boot
BikeSawBrew@reddit
If you have your fan curves set to be loud/fast at CPU max temps you’ll audibly know when it’s hot. I knew it was time for new thermal paste on my 13700k when the fans were getting loud under loads that were traditionally quiet.
WastingMyLifeToday@reddit
Task Manager on itself should be enough to find out if you're throttling.
Launch a heavy game (or two) and open Task Manager to look at your CPU clock speeds.
If it's lower than their advertised speed for longer periods of time, it's likely there's a thermal issue.
Could be fans, thermal paste, badly mounted cooler or cooler needs to be adjusted a bit as it has bad contact over the full surface.
AIO coolers could have a dead water pump, but air coolers rarely break (the fans can break though)
But with both water and air cooling, check if the fans are spinning and there's no build up of dust on the fins.
isotope123@reddit
Every component has a maximum temperature it can safely hit, and/or a target temperature after which it down clocks to cool down (by lowering voltage). You can easily Google "'your component' thermal throttling" and get your answer. If you're below that temperature, you're good to go.
i_give_you_gum@reddit
A detailed helpful comment, a tip of the fedora to you, you're awesome!
isotope123@reddit
Thanks for the gum.
grand305@reddit
Happy cake day today
NixNightOwl@reddit
For most Ryzen chips, 95°C is the thermal limit.
For most Intel chips, 100°C.
I have an old i7-8700k overclocked to 5.0ghz and it could stay at 99° for a while (while doing a purposefully extreme stress test) and be 'alright', but once it hit 100 it would throttle. Delidded it and applied liquid metal to the die and can't get the thing to go over 75 now lol.
Holiday_Bug9988@reddit
Even then it’s fine on the components, just losing performance.
I bought an Alienware Aurora R10 air cooled (worst prebuilt thermals ever) and used it for 4 years without ever knowing anything about thermals. I had checked temps before but didn’t know what was normal. I finally started educating myself on pc’s and found out both my CPU and GPU had been thermal throttling for 4 years straight.
I then case swapped it and added an AIO, and they are both still running perfectly 7 years later.
HailingCasuals@reddit
Higher temps will still shorten the lifetime of your components without thermal throttling. In that case (I’m talking like 10–20°C above the original temps), it should still be changed.
AShamAndALie@reddit
That's pretty terrible advice. Modern CPUs thermal throttle between 95c and 115c. If you don't change your thermal paste at 90c, I'm bitchslapping you.
audigex@reddit
If it thermal throttles at 95C then 90C is just an arbitrary number you're applying
Once it thermal throttles, I'll give the heatsink/radiator an extra good cleaning. If it still throttles, I'll replace the thermal paste
AShamAndALie@reddit
Of course it's an arbitrary number I'm applying, it means "a high enough number that you SHOULDN'T be comfortable seeing".
Thermal throttling isn't the yellow alert, it's the red alert. But by all means, you do you.
monroezabaleta@reddit
You're literally just wrong. 95C (or whatever it's set at) is not causing damage at all. Thermal throttling means the set up isn't ideal, but it's not causing damage. In the modern day when it's relatively easy to cool most CPUs/GPUs, there's no reason to allow it to happen, but those of us who owned old AMD GPUs remember the times when the performance limitation was your GPU hitting the throttle because they ran hot as hell. I had a 295x that ran amazing for 5+ years, had a fan die, and still ran (with lower performance) for a while. I replaced the fan and it worked fine for another year.
The throttling temp would be set lower if it was causing damage.
AShamAndALie@reddit
Aw, cute. I had 2x HD4890 Crossfire and HD5970 back then. But I also burned a Athlon X2 7750 Black Edition that never thermal throttled lmao.
audigex@reddit
Nah sorry but that's just nonsense
If I wasn't meant to let it get to 90C, then it would throttle at 89C to avoid the unsafe temperature
It throttles at 95C because 90C is perfectly safe
0K4M1@reddit
Exactly. If ain't broken, don't fix it
_Nonexistant_@reddit
You’ve just solved the question of why my CPU temps are high and now I need to figure out where I can get thermal paste cheap. Thanks
Monotask_Servitor@reddit
Where is thermal paste not cheap? It’s like $10 a tube
_Nonexistant_@reddit
I’m in the UK and live off of £317/m. It’s not that it’s not cheap, it’s that it’s still out of my price range unless I want to sacrifice a weeks worth of food
Monotask_Servitor@reddit
Just buy the cheapest stuff your local parts store sells then. Should be like £5. The difference between that and the enthusiast grade paste is only a couple of degrees.
_Nonexistant_@reddit
“Local parts store” 😭 oh, london you mean?
Nah, that was a joke, I might be able to get it from B&Q or the local PC repair shop, otherwise I’d have to go out of town. We don’t really have ‘parts stores’ like y’all have, if we need PC parts we get them off amazon.
Monotask_Servitor@reddit
I’m in Australia fyi. But yeah Amazon is probably going to be cheaper anyway. Arctic MX-4 is AUD $9.40 (£5.07) with free shipping here.
_Nonexistant_@reddit
Yeah I don’t have prime. BBC are saying you need to pay your TV license for a prime subscription (because they have content on prime video) and I don’t even have the £10/m for the prime subscription on it’s own, let alone what they’re changing it to (couple hundred pound a month)
MyStationIsAbandoned@reddit
yeah. i have a small monitor in my PC to glance at my temps all the time. I haven't changed mine since I build this workstation in 2024. probably wont ever change until i notice temp changes. or maybe in like 2028 or when i have to open my case to put in the RTX 6090 assuming i can even get one.
rohit275@reddit
I'm already bracing for the fact that a 6090 is going to have an MSRP of like $4k and an actual street price of like $6k lol
O-o--O---o----O@reddit
Think about those massive Cloud Providers or AI datacenters with multiple CPUs and GPUs per server, dozens of servers in a rack, dozens of racks in a row, dozens of rows in a building segment, multiple segments per building, multiple buildings per location and dozens or more locations per provider.
And now imagine little apprentice Timmy having to repaste these hundreds of thousand to millions of chips every 6 months.
Now that's a fun though.
lichtspieler@reddit
My 2700K with a 5.2 GHz OC (\~240 W all-core) lasted \~9 years on the same paste (D14 + MX-4), and my 10900K (D15 + Kryonaut) is still close to day-one temperatures after 6 years.
My current 9800X3D and GPU use PTM7950, so I do not expect them to need servicing either.
edgywhitedude@reddit
Theres caveats to eveyr piece of advice. I think every 6 months is reasonable if you are pushing temperatures high and often (workstation use or gaming). Thermal paste can dry out or pump out reducing the thermal transfer, of course not changing your thermal paste is fine but it would definitely degrade your components faster if you run them hotter.
Tl:dr For most normal people who don't push temps, once every 1-2 years is optimal. 6 months is the optimal cycle for performance and longevity. 1-2 years is balanced. 3-4 years is still acceptable if you can manage thermals
Vi7155@reddit
It took me 7 years of my PC running nearly constantly for it to need a change of thermal paste.
PretendChallenge7840@reddit
It really depends on a lot. how hot it gets, what type of paste or thermal transfer system it is, what your cooling system is. I.E. if you use PTM7950 it's a pain to apply, but then almost never needs to be changed, liquid metal is REALLYREALLY good at thermal transfer, but is also...liquid metal. it's conductive and corrosive so it's superbad if you spill any. regular thermal paste is just annoying to deal with, sticky, greasy, hard to clean without high ABV alcohol. if using air vs water cooling vs peltier systems. It can get crazy complicated real fast and I think that *might* have been what the BB skojen was attempting to communicate...but...IT nerds never have been people people.
hardolaf@reddit
If you buy vacuum rated heatsink grease, you can get away with reusing it for the next couple of decades.
Fingerdrip@reddit
I have a computer that is going on 10 years old and I have never changed the paste. It was my primary gaming pc and now it is on server duty.
If you don't see higher temps, no reason to mess with it imo.
fizzy88@reddit
I've got one that's 11 years old and I changed the paste only once. The temps had crept up over the years, but changing the paste actually didn't even help much.
vendeep@reddit
I am still running a 2011 i7 2600k and have yet to replace thermal paste on it. 15 years. In last few years I see a temp spike, but nothing crazy.
JayJay_90@reddit
Yeah I had an i5 2500k also from 2011 run flawlessly with the original paste until late 2024 when I finally got rid of it because other components stopped working and there was no reason for me to keep it around or repair the pc.
deepcommander@reddit
that employee was just trying to upsell, most people go years without touching theirs and temps stay fine.
Noobphobia@reddit
Ive never. Ever.
Its just not nessisary. In majority of cases your paste will last until you are build a new pc.
sakawae@reddit
I went 13 years on the same die and paste. This is silly.
withoutapaddle@reddit
I usually do it when I give away my previous build to a friend or family member. About half the time it makes a significant difference. One time it took CPU temp from 88 to 74. That one was a "quiet" case with terrible airflow that had probably been cooking that thermal paste for 6-7 years.
randylush@reddit
once in awhile someone will post a picture on Reddit of some processor where the thermal paste degraded. And everyone in the comments will be like "CHANGE YOUR THERMAL PASTE PEOPLE!" As if your computer will turn back into sand if it goes above 85C...
Hunk_Hogan@reddit
Going on six years with my current setup and over ten years with my last setup and I never changed the thermal paste once.
NixNightOwl@reddit
If your temps are fine, nothin wrong with that. But the paste does breakdown over time and becomes less thermally conductive. All depends on your typical sustained workloads.
tdames@reddit
I did it once. My CPU was overheating. But it could have been the cooler came loose and i just needed to tighten it a bit. Not sure which but it was well over 5+ years.
ReadyAimTranspire@reddit
I did it once just cuz, I was recabling and putting some fans in and fuck it why not
Kasoivc@reddit
It’s pretty common info that people echo in the face of reality. Do I change my thermal paste every 6mo? No, I don’t. I don’t use the cheapest quality thermal paste neither.
You might see like 1-5•C difference but most of us common folk are better off figuring out how to control the ambient temp in the room the PC lives in before chasing thermal paste min maxing.
My first PC in 2008, lived until like 2014 or such never changed the thermal paste. The AMD laptop lived its entire life without a thermal paste change.
My current PC, I have done it maybe once since Dec 2023. My AiO pump is more likely to fail than the need to repaste.
crooney35@reddit
I have an AIO and I just change the paste if I start seeing parts running hotter than normal. Once I’m up an average 1 degree I change it. I try to keep some on hand, so if it’s been sitting and looking thick or goopy or strange I replace them t with a new syringe, same if it’s over 6-9months old depending upon manufacturer and specs of the paste.
weggaan_weggaat@reddit
Shocking that the people selling things try to sell something.
ImLagging@reddit
I built a computer back in the early to mid 2010’s and I’ve yet to change the paste beyond the day I put it on the first time. Some months I leave it on 24/7. Others it’s off for days/weeks at a time. Not once have I had an issue.
TobysGrundlee@reddit
They're not working at BestBuy because of their technical or educational achievements lol.
pmgoldenretrievers@reddit
Last time I was at Best Buy, I asked the guy working the software section if they sold Linux distributions. He directed me over to the music person.
s29@reddit
I had some kind of manager at Best Buy try to convince me that buying a soundbar would be better than me upgrading from my existing 2.1 to 3.1.
Yeah no dude. I'm not getting a soundbar.
ReadyAimTranspire@reddit
I have a Sony soundbar on my TV that's great but yeah, a good 2.1 or 3.1 system obviously shouldn't be replaced by a soundbar lol
s29@reddit
my L and R speakers are like 10 feet apart. No soundbar is that long.
Also I may want to eventually switch to a 5.1. Shift those LR speaker to the rear and replace them with towers in the front or something. Can't do any kind of shifting things around when you have a soundbar. You're just stuck with it where it is.
SpaceGhost777666@reddit
You should check out Sennheiser - AMBEO Soundbar | Plus 7.1.4 Channel Soundbar. They are expensive but damn they are 1000% better then any other sound bar I have heard to date. including the 2.1 system that used to set in its place.
TobysGrundlee@reddit
BestBuy really makes me miss Fry's and RadioShack.
Warcraft_Fan@reddit
Radio Shack started sucking by the end of 90s. "You got question, we got answers!" became "You got question, we got blank looks" They know where to find a blue LED but they wouldn't know how to compute proper resistor for any specified voltage. And if you asked for a CMOS 4017, they'd ask if it was a Sony or Magnavox product. (4017 is an IC used in electronic experimentation)
sollord@reddit
Geeksquad would love it if you brought your pc in every 6months to change your thermal paste
messy_likeness@reddit
that Best Buy guy was just trying to sell you more paste - most people go years without touching theirs and temps stay fine.
MAMack@reddit
Sales people gonna say whatever they think they need to in order to make a sale. I had a motorcycle salesman tell my sister the bike she was looking at was an automatic. It wasn't. Had a car dealership salesman try to tell me their sedans came in AWD, although the manufactures brocuhure explicitly stated fwd was the only option for those models.
Always do your research when someone who is incentivized to sell you something describes why you need their product or how it will meet your requirements.
comps2@reddit
Definitely not. I change CPU thermal paste every 3ish years and GPU every 4 or so.
mattmaster68@reddit
Best Buy employees are fucking mental.
My wife and I were shopping for laptops. I step away for 2 fucking minutes and a Best Buy employee came over and shot down her confidence.
So we left and bought one somewhere else.
Charkletini@reddit
Please go back to that employee and show him this thread and then tell him to do one lol
ToastyVoltage@reddit
Yeah I went 5 years on my last pc before I reapplied more, and that was only cause a buddy gave me a cpu upgrade. Temps were never an issue
STL4jsp@reddit
I have a Ryzen 7 9800X3D and a thermalright phantom spirit cpu cooler, and I used Grizzly Kryonaut as my thermal paste. I haven't repasted in over a year. That being said, changing it every 6 months is probably the best way to go if you're worried about a few degrees difference.
PrintShinji@reddit
The only time I've done it was when upgrading my CPU cooler (because I was bored, not even due to a temp issue) and with my 18 year old ps3. That last one improved temps by a few degrees.
Reynholmindustries@reddit
As long as you have a good mating of both surfaces, temps drop a little after first few days, you’re good. Years should be typical lifespan
Vegeta-the-vegetable@reddit
My 4 year old build starting having issues with the cpu over heating and shutting the sys down during demanding games. I thought maybe my paste dried out but it was still wet when i pulled the pump block.....it was the pump that failed the paste would have been good for years to come lol
THSprang@reddit
Thanks to this I just doubted how long ago I built my PC. I'm probably gonna need some thermal paste.
woutersikkema@reddit
My niece has my old pc where I haven't changed it on, and it's been running for 14 years now. Overclocked and all attached to a giant cooler 😂
NetQvist@reddit
I7 920, oc'ed from 2,66GHz to 4GHz. In use full time 8h+ per day for around 8 years and then sporadically for another 5 years several times a month.
Thermal paste change count.... 0
Sure temps maybe went up 5 degrees over the years but who cares it was well within tolerances.
I have never changed thermal paste on a working component, it's pointless unless you had pushed too far or had inadequate cooling from the start.
paulct91@reddit
Never changing is equally bad in PC hardware paste as it is in life. As depending on circumstances things change just depends on what its be put through, just like life...
JEveryman@reddit
I have only ever changed my thermal paste when I swapped out a processor. That has happened in almost two decades since I stopped trying to upgrade every 12-18 months. My last computer had the same thermal paste for over then years. None of the games I built it for saw any noticeable slowness.
TakticalTrout@reddit
Exactly. I go about 3-5 years usually, and I just watch my temps/hotspots really... Sometimes If Im in there doing certain things and I have time Ill just do a quick clean and re-apply because Im in there, but tts not needed.
Overlord_of_Linux@reddit
I'd say 3-4 years sounds like a while, personally I'd change mine every 2 years, but I'd recommend changing it at least every 3-years (or so) if you game, but past that I'd recommend people just changing it when they notice it slowing.
ConjugalVisitor234@reddit
This is why I would say, 3-5 years
TheWaspinator@reddit
This. Old paste usually holds together unless you move parts around.
Trekkie200@reddit
I just replaced my CPU after 10 years. I never changed the thermal paste in those 10 years...
skeptic11@reddit
As a counter point: I repasted both my current CPU and GPU at roughly the 6 year point, both due to stability issues. Both have been great since.
So like, don't never reapply thermal paste. Just have some clear metric you're trying improve, eg: performance/stability/heat (all of which track back to heat).
MrPresident2020@reddit
I've had PCs I've kept for 8 years without changing the paste.
Sales people need stuff to sell.
nigelnebrida@reddit
What would be the service interval then? Would it depend on the time since last done or the type of paste used or would it simply be your CPU is running hotter than it should be?
jhenryscott@reddit
He gets paid by the tube lol
HSR47@reddit
Depends on the conditions.
I ran my last PC 24/7, with much of that at full 100% load, for about 11 years.
The performance of the paste would degrade predictably as it dried out, with my load temps starting around 65C with fresh paste, and ending up around 80-85C with dry paste (depending on how long I waited).
It usually took about 6-9 months to get to that higher figure, and if I waited that long the paste would be drier than a popcorn fart.
In practice, “dryout” tends to accelerate significantly over ~75C, so as long as you’re not running your CPU as long or as hard as I did, and as long as your temps stay below that, then you can likely get 1-3 years out of your paste.
No_Hetero@reddit
I haven't changed mine in 5 years. Temps are stable, games are running, why worry
frAgileIT@reddit
I think if it’s done right and the system isn’t constantly run near overheating that it’s fine for the life of the computer. If you see temps increasing slowly over time that might be cause for redoing thermal paste.
Sounds like the BestBuy employee doesn’t know how to apply thermal paste properly and has to keep redoing it.
xtc091157@reddit
The whole concept of “changing” the thermal paste is insane. I’ve got machines that have run with no problem for years.
Beefmytaco@reddit
The only time 6 months would be applicable is with 'special applications' thermal pastes like the Thermal Grizzly Kryonaught extreme where you actually get like 6 months of real use out of it before thermal pump-out hits, but that paste is meant for short term benchmarks and testing, and it's way to expensive to be re-applying every 6 months. It's why I moved away from the stuff once I discovered pumpout was so damn bad with it.
Pretty much any application of that stuff where the component will go over 80 degrees often will have a very short life before pump-out kicks in, so laptops and small gadgets like the Steam Deck are a no-go.
amine250@reddit
I haven’t in 5 years now
No-Engineering-1449@reddit
I change mine once I notice my CPU temps are consistently higher then usual. I have a program pinned to my tray that tells me the temp at all times.
barntobebad@reddit
Yup, if anything an amateur is more likely to cause a problem by pulling components out of a working pc. Some of those plastic levers and feet can get brittle over time, and damaging that and not being able to secure it without replacement parts is far worse than a couple degrees of heat from slightly less efficient paste
Defiant-Youth-4193@reddit
I'm ashamed to admit I have a i7-4770k that I'm pretty sure I haven't change the thermal paste on in a decade. It still running fine, though it has been relegated to a NAS at this point.
Satellite_bk@reddit
my friends been using his 2020 legion frequently. sometimes leaving it on for months on end without a restart. no sleep or hibernate. just idle. and it’s still going strong. i think 6 months, even with heavy use is nuts. only time that’s legit is if it has a bad factory job.
CrustyBatchOfNature@reddit
Until I see heat rising higher than expected, I assume it is still working fine.
Deep90@reddit
Literally drives me up a wall that people even on this very sub will give all sorts of PC cooling advice without asking if the OP is even seeing higher temps or throttling.
brbphone@reddit
The only time I've ever done it that frequently is when I had a shitty HP laptop. Every 3 or 4 months I'd disassemble and clean the heat sinks and redo the thermal paste otherwise it'd shut down if you had more than 3 chrome tabs open
ryencool@reddit
I work for a major video game dev, and our tier 1 desktops are like 9000$ threadripper cpus, 5090s, really nice kit...ive been here 4 years and we haven't once pulled out thermal paste unless we were hand building some min/rec spec machines to test on.
Ritz527@reddit
10 years on mine. Haven't changed the thermal paste since I put in the CPU. It still runs at well below concerning temperatures.
SugarReyPalpatine@reddit
I’m at 6 1/2 years and have never changed it
SnakeMichael@reddit
Yep, only time I ever changed paste in my prebuilt was because I had a problem with the CPU and needed to replace that. And even then, it wasn’t so much changing the paste as it was just putting fresh paste on the new CPU.
thelingletingle@reddit
Thanks for reminding me I actually built my computer seven years ago not three like I originally thought. I should probably open it up tonight to clean it.
NagoGmo@reddit
Yeah, I haven't repasted mine in like 4 years as well
themcsame@reddit
Yup...
Even on my last built one... I'm pretty sure that 4690k sat with the same paste on for about 8 years.
I'd stop short of saying there was no difference, but it certainly never got to a point where it seemed unreasonable temp wise, and that shit was as gooey as the day it went on when that cooler came off as opposed to the glue-like solid people seem to think it'll be.
I do wonder if there might be a bit more logic to it with shit thermal paste, which is probably the same shit that dries out and 'glues' the cooler to the CPU. Anything to save buck I guess
Turbulent_Grape_2686@reddit
I agree, 6 months is excessive. Maybe that made sense two decades ago when everyone who had custom builds were pushing components 200% or more of stock and air cooled was only choice. Personally, when I re did my loop, I had a temp problem. Sucked up my pride, drained it all, tore it all down for inspection, realized a q-tip was not the correct way to apply thermal paste, once it got heated up and worn in, I had dead spots. Used a plastic squeegee thing to make a thin even layer, put it all back, no more issues. Going strong 2.5 years now. Might do a tear down this winter for maintenance and come up with a new loop design and add some bells & whistles.
_Mayhem_@reddit
I've been building PCs since the 90s and have never had a desire or need to replace it. But I also don't OC so..
Icy_Giraffe_21@reddit
Most would argue to never change it unless you are running into heat/performance issues.
Steel_Bolt@reddit
I've had the same crusty paste on my 7700k for 10 years now. Still runs cool.
my5cworth@reddit
Havent touched my rig with a 960gtx from 2016 & it still runs fine.
BusinessDragon@reddit
I’m approaching a bit over two years and might change mine soon. It’s been holding up fine but I was going to clean and maintain the case anyways so I thought I’d go ahead.
positronicbrainowner@reddit
Utter bullcrap
positronicbrainowner@reddit
Never changed the thermal paste on any PC I ever owned. One of them has been running for more than 10 years
Fun_Impression_2578@reddit
Hahaha, yeah, no you don't need to. I have a ryzen 5 2600x and i didn't change paste after building my pc which is about 7 years and it's still run as cool as first day. You don't need to change your thermal paste if your cpu isn't getting hot
ethanb12345@reddit
I've never changed my thermal paste unless I upgrade my CPU lmao
LASERDICKMCCOOL@reddit
Mine has been on 8 years on a near daily used desktop. Temps are still exactly the same as when I first applied it.
barkingcat@reddit
I change paste whenever I change jobs. Whether that's 6 months or 10 years, that's how it's done.
TheWhiteRabbitY2K@reddit
The fuck.
Im going on 9 years...
No-Flight5639@reddit
How often depends on 2 main factors.
First off: The paste used has a huge impact on longevity. Some brands dry out much faster than other ones. Usually the faster is draws heat away from the cpu, the faster it will dry out.
Secondly: how hard is the processor pushed. Heavy gaming or workload is going to shorten the lifespan of the thermal paste much faster than just surfing the web.
katzengoldgott@reddit
Oh this dude was definitely mansplaining bullshit to her because he was talking to a woman 🙄
I changed the thermal paste my CPU after 5 years of use. Every 6 months is crazy lol
No_Dragonfruit_9656@reddit
I can't believe I had to go this far down to see this comment.
OP said wife and I said there we go 🤣
King_Fuzz@reddit
I looked for this comment too, right away. Home boy thought he was going to impress her with his made up bullshit lol. I wonder how many girls he's picked up talking about thermal paste 😂
Fluffysquishia@reddit
Not everything negative that happens to you happens because you're a woman.
katzengoldgott@reddit
You’d be surprised that misogyny is something men experience plenty as well.
lntelinside@reddit
Yeah I’m surprised it took this long to see that comment too. First thing I thought of…
NineToFiveTrap@reddit
Replace your thermal paste every time you buy a new cpu or heat sink
VastEmergency1000@reddit
I build a PC, apply thermal paste, and literally never touch it again unless I'm replacing a CPU cooler which I never do. Never had a problem.
I have a build from 2020 and never reapplied the paste.
SkirMernet@reddit
5 years is honestly where I draw the line. Beyond that it frequently becomes dry and brittle and lose conductivity.
I honestly do it every couple of years but 5 years is really where it’s at according to most manufacturers
dank_imagemacro@reddit
Dry and brittle does not mean it has lost thermal conductivity. If it is still making contact, it is probably still good. Dry and brittle just means you need to replace it IF you remove the components.
SkirMernet@reddit
In fact it does, and can make up to 10-15°c difference depending on how advanced the process is.
Mr_Citation@reddit
Maybe if its one 24/7 and max performance all the time.
Leo-J-Covo@reddit (OP)
All my protein folding simulations really do put a strain on my system /s
MysticSushiTV@reddit
Dude I rock my shit for YEARS. Hell, there have been some builds I've kept for 7+ years and haven't changed the paste.
In fact, I think the only time I have changed was when there were some obvious thermal issues and it was a troubleshooting step I took to eliminate some factors.
"Every 6 months" seems like propaganda from big thermal paste lol.
No_Appointment5039@reddit
So, let’s think about this: if it’s recommended that thermal paste get changed and reapplied every 6 months what does that mean for laptops? That Best Buy employee is trying to tell me that the manufacturer recommends users to open up their laptop and reapply thermal paste every 6 months??? Yeah…. No they don’t.
tl:dr Best Buy is generally just completely full of crap. I personally do not recommend them for anything what-so-ever unless they are literally your only option.
demonicbullet@reddit
I work at best buy so I'll give y'all a peek behind the curtain
Minimal product or knowledge training
Employees including most of geek squad don't know how to get to bios and think it's a "hacker menu"
Opening task manager with a shortcut is magic to all sales floor employees and most geek squad employees.
Unless you get someone who actually enjoys the category you're trying to buy in you're better off doing your research before walking in. The people who enjoy certain categories and have good knowledge usually get burnt out pretty fast and rotate to the warehouse or out of the store.
GreatAlbatross@reddit
I once saw someone in a black clip-on tie upgrade the ram on a running machine.
Knifey_Hands@reddit
I also work at BBY and I highly agree with most of what you’ve said.
Whoever this guy was probably took The Verges pc building video guide to heart.
For my case, if I didn’t know anything a customer asks me, I’m not ashamed to say I don’t know the answer or I’m not particularly an expert on car electronics (example), and I tell them I’ll go look for someone with more experience/ more knowledgeable.
I’ve even told people not to buy certain things bc it’ll be a waste of money for them. ie “this laptop is shit, don’t waste your money on it, there’s a high chance you’ll return it in a few days.”
But that’s just me and my numbers are not the best. LOL I’m older than most of the peeps I work with and frankly do not give a crap about the KPIs I need to meet
Salisen@reddit
Wait... Ctrl + Shift + Esc opens task manager?!?
I've been right clicking the taskbar and clicking task manager for years...
demonicbullet@reddit
I'm glad someone learned this before locking up their computer in a fullscreen program and needing it because they can't get task manager up otherwise.
Another fun tip for you that I often use in tandem when I do manage to freeze an application in full screen and need task manager, windows+shift+left/right arrow will move the active program to the left or right monitor, so when you use your new task manager shortcut and end up with task manager trapped behind your frozen full screen program now just with the windows bar covering the bottom, use windows+shift+left/right to get it to the monitor that doesn't have a full screen application, move your cursor over there and kill that pesky program.
Another good one a lot of people don't know but is extremely helpful if you start actively using it, windows+v opens up your clipboard, everything you've copied and pasted recently (I believe it's for the computers uptime but I could be wrong there) will be available to instantly repaste there. Super helpful when you need to copy 30 things from one document and put them in a certain order on another, copy em all, then paste em all, it's faster and less buttons.
There's probably more good ones I'm forgetting but those 3 alone put you light years ahead of most people in windows. If you use/should use a symbol alot that's not standard on the keyboard instead of grabbing it from the icon menu or the Internet if you look up the windows number shortcut for it you can just use alt+(numpad number combination) to insert it, I only have the Minecraft special sign text memorize which it 0167 but im sure it's a good send for international accountants (on bedrock it lets you change colors and font and shit by adding a letter/number infront of that symbol)
Salisen@reddit
I've always ended up using Ctrl + Alt + Delete then clicked task manager. Possibly because I originally started with Windows 98 as a child or so and that always worked.
Win + V sounds super useful as well. I remember coming across that but completely forgot about it.
This has just reminded me... PowerToys has a shortcut guide which has a few big ones that are tied to the Win key - good for learning them. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/
I know some slightly obscure ones... e.g. Win + Alt + B turns HDR on and off... very useful if your monitor's DisplayPort cable is a bit dodgy.
demonicbullet@reddit
I'm going to use that hdr shortcut, my display cable is fine, some random 10 year old games (or for some reason Minecraft bedrock, I guess it's 10 but still active support) break hdr even after exiting regardless of auto hdr off or on.
And I got lucky enough to experience a bit of every windows generation in the last 30 years, the last 25 years I got a lot more experience with though I did start on 95 though, albeit I didn't understand how a computers worked and was just doing a basic math game until I got bored and went to settings and enlarged the screen until my teacher noticed, I did start there, strangely I wasn't allowed on the windows 95 PC again. Windows vista was where I'd say most of my real learning came in, windows 7 and 8 is when I started to care to learn about computers
Interestingly enough my first computer and "Mac os" (I believe it was actually called a sophisticated operating system or SOS by Apple) was on the apple 3, granted it was to play an off brand pacman game it was on the apple 3, cool ass piece of tech, could not imagine working on that piece of shit, even in my childhood memories it wasn't a fast machine it was just impressive it existed and worked.
Im unfortunately probably the last generation to have that wide a berth of tech experience.
Advanced_Couple_3488@reddit
May I add to your perfectly valid point?
Do you reapply the thermal paste to the output stage transistors of your power amplifiers? To the components thermally connected to the heatsink of the graphics card? To the other, permanently attached heatsinks on the motherboard including the PCH and the Voltage Regulator Modules?
Why does only that of the CPU need replacing periodically? I have audio amplifiers 45 years old that are working fine with their original thermal paste.
Dua_Leo_9564@reddit
The only reason i can think of is because how horrible some laptop's design are, which the thermal paste will got pump out and leave behind cavity of nothing and will affect performance. Or they cheap out and glue the fan to the heatsink so if you want to clean the fan, you will have to take the whole thing apart which is my case
LiliaBlossom@reddit
it got pumped out on my XMG Fusion. It was barely any paste where it should be, also it was dried out after 6 years. Ofc every 6 months is bullshit, but Laptops I do every 3 years after that, and desktop every 3-4 years as well.
pm_me_ur_side8008@reddit
They are my only option as mircocenter is 4 hour away one way from me and inam not making that trip.
No_Appointment5039@reddit
Yeah, I don’t have a MicroCenter in my area either but I make do. Best Buy is NOT my second choice. I’ll order off the internet and wait a day or two before I go to Best Buy.
pm_me_ur_side8008@reddit
Wwll best ut fornmenis closee snd cheaper and i can usually find what i need form there.
Trogdor1597@reddit
I once overheard a Best Buy employee overselling the importance of needing a "best buy employee" to set up a customers TV at their home and offering them the service for $175. Overpriced garbage all around.
warp_core0007@reddit
If he's not just ignorant, and is happy to mislead customers, he might suggest that users should bring their laptops to Best Buy for twice annual repastings.
cBEiN@reddit
If they did, I guarantee they would just do nothing and say they reapplied it.
dank_imagemacro@reddit
For most people, the strong advice is never change it. This is not just saying it isn't needed, but you are much more likely to damage something trying to change it than you are to make your system work better. If you do change it, the best time is probably to change it once as soon as you get the system to make sure it was factory applied correctly. If you need to change the cooler, replace thermal paste then. If you don't change the cooler, it is probably best to leave it alone.
That being said, if you are someone who builds your own computer, and has built a couple for friends, the odds of you personally damaging the computer changing the thermal paste goes way down. If you are still using the same computer after 6-8 years you MIGHT get some performance gain by changing it.
TheMrNeffels@reddit
Bro must get a commission on thermal paste
DeadOnArival@reddit
Without knowing and only betting I'll say I have computers with thermal paste that are older than that Bust Buy Employee.
brutchev@reddit
Just put the paste in the bag bro
TOReclamant@reddit
Now we know why “6 month guy” works at Best Buy and not Intel.
Emergency_Present_83@reddit
components are usually ewaste before properly applied thermal compound needs replaced
Primus_is_OK_I_guess@reddit
I wouldn't go that far. Cooling performance really starts to degrade after 2-3 years.
Emergency_Present_83@reddit
can you quantify "degrade"? because I and I would assume most people are not going to bother opening their case because their chip runs 5 degrees hotter than it did 2 years ago.
Primus_is_OK_I_guess@reddit
It's more like 10-15 degrees at that point and continues to degrade from there. I have never seen a thermal paste that is adequately effective to prevent performance loss 4 years in. Some of the more recent products will probably get there though.
MasterDiiscord@reddit
i built my pc 6 years ago and never changed the thermal paste. it doesn't run any hotter now than it did back then and its well within the good range of temperatures
Primus_is_OK_I_guess@reddit
What CPU and what's your hotspot temp?
CkWuScB53lNrhMwh@reddit
Not the same guy but I got myself a 6700k ~10 years ago, it has been used for multiple hours daily. I am still on the first thermal paste application and feel like it is running very similar to the start (temp wise). Gotta fire up sth like Prime95 when I get back home.
I will be upgrading my pc very shortly anyways and am curious how the paste looks now after all this time, it never seemed to be a problem so I never bothered to refresh it.
Emergency_Present_83@reddit
We are talking 10-15 centipedes right? I actually want to dig up an old build and stress test before and after repasting cpu and gpu, im not really expecting that kind of difference tbh
Bakugo_Dies@reddit
Please do, that's content. I'm also doubting but it's so easy to test
Richard_Thickens@reddit
At least that many centipedes, a couple of spiders, and an earwig, I'd say.
TheGoldenMonkey@reddit
Dang 10-15 centipedes is a lot of centipedes to have in your computer.
Primus_is_OK_I_guess@reddit
You'll be surprised.
TheGoldenMonkey@reddit
I've been building computers since 2007 and have always used good paste. Never seen paste deteriorate that fast on an enthusiast build with good paste like arctic silver.
I did a full new build in 2012 and changed the paste in 2016ish when I had to replace the GPU that died. CPU temps decreased maybe 1-3C after applying new paste under similar loads.
Primus_is_OK_I_guess@reddit
I've been building them even longer and probably build more in an average year than you have done in all that time.
My bet is you didn't run a stress test and only looked at the package temperature rather than the hottest point.
TheGoldenMonkey@reddit
I'm going to go ahead and say that I find it hard to believe you're telling the truth.
I've used Open Hardware Monitor, HWinfo64, MSI Afterburner, and CPU-Z for years. I've run stress tests. I've monitored CPU die temps and CPU hotspot temps. I've never seen paste deteriorate the way you're describing in enthusiast builds.
Enterprise builds? Sure. They use shit paste to save money.
Primus_is_OK_I_guess@reddit
Whether you believe it or not, it's the truth. I've built and sold 7 PCs so far this year, and I have 6 more in progress. As we speak, I am running an OCCT stress test on a 6700xt that I just finished repasting. I'm selling it to someone through r/hardwareswap, since I have too many GPUs at the moment. It was running hot because it's 4-5 years old and needed a repaste. Now it's doing great.
I just repasted my friend's 7700x because it was starting to run hot after 3 years. Degregation over time is the whole reason I almost exclusively use graphene sheets for CPUs and PTM7950 for GPUs.
TheGoldenMonkey@reddit
Ah so you're doing this as a business. Avoiding liability is smart and changing paste is an easy way to say you did what you could to protect the merchandise so the consumer has only themself to blame.
That makes more sense.
dragonblade_94@reddit
Yeah, I'm seeing a lot of weird hyperbole here about the lifetime of thermal compound.
It will last a while, but the people saying it will outlast the chip it's sitting on are bonkers. I've serviced enough enterprise systems through work to know what 5-10 year old compound looks like.
randylush@reddit
the 5-10 year old compound looks different, but how often does that actually impact the performance of the system in a way that end users would actually notice?
Bakugo_Dies@reddit
Not as much as the update iPhone users get at the 3 year mark to make their battery obsolete
JayJay_90@reddit
My first self built was using an i5 2500k from 2011. I used it heavily for 10 years, including lots of gaming, some video editing and the occasional stress test and never noticed any temperature problem. I eventually replaced it as my main pc but my gf was still gaming on it occasionally until late 2024, when I got rid of it because other components failed. 13 years and the thermal paste was apparently still fine.
Kociolinho@reddit
Unless you have unrestricted 14900k, then there’s possibility that thermal compound will outlive it
Primus_is_OK_I_guess@reddit
It comes off like "I haven't changed my oil in 2 years and my car still runs fine."
TheGoldenMonkey@reddit
Really depends on the brand, how you apply it, and how you treat the comp honestly. I built a new comp last year and gave my old one (built in 2020 added a 3080 later) to my wife to use for some newer games like KC II.
I played the hell out of it but always kept it in a cool, well-ventilated spot and cleaned the case out 2 times a year. When she started using it I swapped from air cooling to water cooling because she wanted it to be more quiet. The thermal paste was still in excellent shape and the temps were still just about the same they were when I first applied it in 2020. Yeah the temps were maybe 1-3C higher but that's still perfectly acceptable for 5 year old paste.
Man0fGreenGables@reddit
Spittin bars.
err404@reddit
Properly applied…
MrJohnnySpot@reddit
I've definitely had to reapply thermal paste because the original applier messed it up. The cleanup of the excessive amount of paste they applied took a while, couldn't help but shake my head at their initial application.
It's me, I'm the initial applier.
ekristoffe@reddit
Cross or dot ?
BoldFortune216@reddit
The brand I bought came with a nice little template and card to smooth out a thin sheet of thermal paste and after using it I went "that's definitely not enough" and added more.
It was definitely enough... 🤦
RabbitSlayre@reddit
We've gotta do something about that guy...
i-hear-banjos@reddit
That bastard!
capybooya@reddit
Yep. I'm a hopeless tinkerer, but this I can't be arsed with.
pineapple6969@reddit
Imagine getting a lecture about something when the person giving the lecture actually has no idea what they’re talking about.
Thermal paste is good for YEARS. YEARS I tell you. Who tf is taking their system apart every 6 months? Nobody lol
autobulb@reddit
I always overhear terrible "advice" when I go to a big box store just to look at a model of something in person (that I will likely later buy online.) The last one in recent memory was a mom and daughter looking for a laptop for the daughter's schooling and the the salesperson tried to summarize the difference between Intel and AMD as: "AMD is less compatible so it's cheaper but you might have some difficulties running some software. Intel is compatible with everything so you'd want to go with that if you want to make sure you can run any kind of software." I don't remember what he said about Qualcom's Snapdragon but he made it seem like a good alternative because it runs cooler and quieter (somewhat true generally) but didn't mention anything about compatibility problems which actually applies to their processor, not AMD. Guh.
MissingGhost@reddit
What he said is want people said in the 1980s when talking about Intel vs other brands like AMD.
syk900@reddit
Was it true then?
NetSage@reddit
x86 is literally an instruction standard. It's why OP was upset they didn't mention anything about compatibility for the snapdragons as they use ARM. So programs need to be compiled differently to actually work at all or efficiently (windows does have a comparability layer for x86 to ARM but it's not like running a native program).
MissingGhost@reddit
No.
IbanezCharlie@reddit
I had someone come up to me at Walmart and try and tell me to get a much cheaper CPU when I was looking for a 9800x3d. Dude had absolutely no information about the rest of my system or why I would want the fastest CPU I could get. (I have a 4090)
He also tried to steer me towards a low end GPU until I told him I already have a PC but my CPU is 8 years old and I'm getting the 9800x3d to last me an equally long amount of time. He just told me it was a waste of money.
cornmacabre@reddit
That's funny! I had a similar experience where I went into Best Buy knowing the specific PC I wanted.
I say I needed x,y,z specs in the model I had chosen, and he seemed genuinely confused on how to upsell me when I'm already pointing to their highest priced SKU.
Amusingly, the sales associate tried multiple times to suggest a lower specc'd model, and variations of different configs I wasn't looking for. It was so strange! It's like hi, take my money plz!
IbanezCharlie@reddit
I needed to jump onto the am5 platform at the beginning of the year as prices started skyrocketing.
There was a prebuilt that had a 9800x3d, 5070 ti, 32gb ram and 2tb SSD there. I priced out the parts I needed individually and it was $900-$1000 more to buy individual components so that was my plan
The employee told me I was wasting my money. I already knew I wanted all of those specs and planned to either sell the 5070 ti or hold onto it for another PC. I got so annoyed that I left and went to a different store and got what I was after. All I did was get my GPU into it, new PSU and nvme and have been good to go.
I just don't understand what the guy was trying to save me from when I already knew what I wanted. Very weird.
Darkchamber292@reddit
This is why I buy all my shit online.
If someone pulled that on me, I'd speak to their Manager and tell them "This associate just lost you a sale. I'm leaving"
IbanezCharlie@reddit
Yeah I left that store and spent $1800 elsewhere
I_like_boxes@reddit
I worked at best buy for a handful of years, and the people hired in PCs were often the least competent of all my coworkers with technology. They prioritized selling skills over knowledge when hiring. While it's certainly true that knowledge can be acquired after the fact, the company didn't do nearly enough to actually ensure that happens, which led to new hires learning bad info from their more "experienced" coworkers.
I'm no real expert on things, but I knew to keep my mouth shut or look up things that I wasn't certain about, which is why none of the actually knowledgeable people in that department ever minded when I helped out if they were all busy. Sometimes I hated passing a customer back to a PCs employee because it would be one of the clueless ones (who also usually stole my sale, but I didn't care as much about that).
They were also so damn worried about those sales numbers that they ignored customers that they didn't think would spend a lot of money or would take too long to close the sale. I helped a lot of older folks that had clearly been ignored in favor of customers looking at more expensive stuff. If it wasn't obvious from the tone of my comment, I only really liked a few people in that department.
Zolofteu@reddit
The shop I bought my custom PC from said I need to change the thermal paste every 6 months...damn so it was a lie?
TerdyTheTerd@reddit
A lot of people are actually, but yeah for regular thermal paste on normal everyday use rigs its usually fine for years, if not the entire lifespan of the device. Liquid metal needs to be re-applied every 6 months or so, and if you are doing extreme overclocking then you may need to replace the paste more frequently (but most people doing extemee overclocking arent using nornal thermal paste).
Hollowsong@reddit
Absolute bullshit.
I've been building PCs for 30 years.
The thermals don't change much over a 4 year span, never once changed thermal paste unless upgrading a PC with a new CPU.
Stop pretending to know what you're talking about.
TerdyTheTerd@reddit
Tell me what part of my statement was incorrect because everything I said is factually correct.
When I said "a lot of people actually are" it was referring to the above comment where they said "who tf is taking their system apart every 6 months". A lot of people take their system partially apart to clean it out, its not uncommon especially for those living with multiple pets. Liquid metal DOES have to be changed frequently, thats just how liquid metal works. Maybe not 6 months on the dot, but every 6-12 months is the recommended. Regular paste last for years, if not the entire lifespan, which is exactly what I stated and you even stated the same thing. Extreme overclocking, which means higher temps sustained for longer, will reduce the lifespan of the thermal paste, thats just how it works. I've taken apart countless laptops, desktops and consoles that had thermal paste that was dried out and needed replacing, and have also been building and repairing PCs for 15 years. The thermals of most PCs, assuming they were correctly built and are cleaned frequently enough, will have stable thermals. If the cooler/paste wasn't applied correctly it can have drastic changes in temps over 4 years. If its not cleaned and the radiators/case grills get covered in hair or dust then the thermals can drastically increase over 4 years. For someone claiming to be building PCs for 30 year, you sure seem clueless to the nuances and different circumstances that can effect PCs.
Hollowsong@reddit
Start with: "liquid metal needs to be re-applied every 6 months or so"
no it absolutely does not.
TerdyTheTerd@reddit
Depends entirely on the material you are applying it on, but yes I will concede my time frame was too low, and its usually within 1-3 years. Bare copper interfaces will absorb the liquid metal unless coated or pre-treated. Gravity will sink the liquid metal down on vertical oriented configurations which is basically every single PC. Its literally a well known tradeoff of liquid metal thermal paste. While it offers significant decreases in temperature, its more difficult to apply and requires more frequent re-application over traditional thermal paste. You can sit there and argue with me over the exact frequency of replacement but the fact is it does require more frequent application, that you cannot argue against.
Hollowsong@reddit
NO. Stop talking. Absolutely wrong.
Holy fucking shit dude, just stop. I built PCs for a living. Just go find something else to do and stop misleading people.
Even at 3 full years, the compound will be absolutely FINE at conducting thermals. It only needs to be changed if you UNSEAT THE COOLER in which case, yes, replace it if you do that after a year or more.
You should NEVER take your PC apart to replace thermal paste for any reason unless you're having heat issues.
IT WILL LAST FOR YEARS
TerdyTheTerd@reddit
Calm down grandpa before you blow a blood vessel. Its ok for you to think you are the only person on the planet who knows anything. Im guessing all the old dried up thermal paste I've replaced over the years that brought back "dead" electronics was just my imagination, because according to you its just something that happens, ever, like in the history of the universe so just never ever replace it even though it takes less than minutes and cost $3.
Neravius@reddit
Insane way to agree with someone.
Hollowsong@reddit
The comment I was replying to said it needed to be re-applied every 6 months. Which it does not. Hence my disagreement.
Learn to read?
Neravius@reddit
They literally said that it's usually fine for years, if not the entire lifespan of the device. They also said some irrelevant bullshit about liquid metal.
Hollowsong@reddit
Go back and read?
MURDoctrine@reddit
I have been building for just as long and the older pastes COULD deteriorate over many years. I had Artic Silver 5 do it on a p4 build decades ago. We also have the pump out effect with some modern TIM's depending on their viscosity, the temps of the component, and the clamping force of the cooler on the component.
Hollowsong@reddit
I'm with you, once you unseat the heat sink, it's best to re-apply because it does degrade over many years.
man_vs_fauna@reddit
Never been to a best buy I take it?
So many times over the years, the king nerd of the store tried to sell something by trying to sound like he knows more than me.
My favorite was when I was buying a new tv years ago.
"To go with this new tv, you should get a hold HDMI cable to truely get the best signal*
"No, I'm good"
"Okay but you absolutely need a proper power bar"
"I have a surge protector "
"Hahaha, no... You really need a power conditioner "
Pause as I stand Ina first world country, Ina major city with a robust power grid
"Uh, if I have to worry about dirty power, we have bigger problems "
BatushkaTabushka@reddit
Imagine if thermal paste on the cpu needed to be changed every 6 months… that would mean thermal paste on your gpu should be changed at that interval too, since it also has paste. Who would take off their heatsink on the cpu and then also take their gpu apart every 6 months? That would be crazy lol
Stildawn@reddit
I've brushed of many an employee in my time, usually politely, but once or twice I've had to pull out the Ron Swanson "I know more than you" to super aggressive sale people.
Global-Page-7091@reddit
I love taking my system apart twice a year. It’s a great opportunity to drop, scuff, and wear the contacts down on all my components. I even blow the pcie slots out like an old Nintendo cartridge.
cBEiN@reddit
This is the way. Especially blowing out the pcie slots. Sometimes, I even blow out the cpu slot just to make sure it runs at peak performance. It takes a while to get to the chips on my GPU though.
OGREtheTroll@reddit
Use a vacuum cleaner to really suck up all the dust and get everything real clean.
MuffinMunchies@reddit
The idea of using a vacuum cleaner on my PC components terrifies me lol
I'll just stick to my air blower
OGREtheTroll@reddit
It should terrify you. The static it can create can fry everything.
pizzamage@reddit
Definition of mansplaining.
randylush@reddit
Mansplaining is when men explain things to women with the assumption that they are less informed about a subject.
MissingGhost@reddit
Imagine the amount of service that would be for laptops. Dismantle every 6 months?
PunchBeard@reddit
This is why I don't go to Best Buy. OP could've ordered thermal paste from Amazon for $5.
SoSheGoesSimply@reddit
That's usually the female experience unfortunately
hyperform2@reddit
Best Buy employee is approaching life with the unearned confidence of a mediocre white man
bschulte1978@reddit
What does race have to do with it? There are morons too stupid to know they are morons of every single, race, religion, etc. on Earth.
Mechaotaku@reddit
Best Buy must be trying to get people to take their computers in for recurring thermal reapplication. I’ve been building pc’s since the 90’s. Thermal paste gets refreshed when the CPU is running hot (it’s happened once and it was a friend’s shoddy prebuilt pc), or I buy a new cooler.
Yugix1@reddit
I've actually heard the same (from a professor though). if you wanted absolute max efficiency, you would change the thermal paste every 6-12 months, but the reality is that the difference between repasting every 6 months and 6 years is borderline neglible
Lem1618@reddit
I've been PCing since Pentium one days and had to replace paste maybe twice.
noIdealOnlyAllah@reddit
Ptm7950 will last 10 years no need to change.
UTP-8 putty for vrms can also last 8 or more years
lohkey@reddit
The claim of every 6 months is highly inaccurate. You should be doing it every day like a responsible PC owner. /s
pylon567@reddit
Multiple times a day. Can't let it set or it'll reduce down.
Defiant_Ad5381@reddit
No there’s no reason to do it every 6 months. You only really need to change thermal paste when you’re swapping out CPU coolers or if there is a temperature problem.
There’s no reason to do it in any particular interval outside of those contexts for desktops unless you buy crappy paste or don’t do it right.
Some gaming laptop brands like MSI tend to run hot so changing thermal paste on the heat sinks of them annually is a good idea but those are niche cases most of the time
SimoWilliams_137@reddit
So this was someone selling thermal paste?
That’s the last place you should get information about how often to use (and thus buy) thermal paste.
This is adulthood 101- don’t trust sales people.
wtfrykm@reddit
Yeah realistically speaking, only change your thermal paste if the pc has cooling issues. even if you want to play it safe, once every 2 years is more than enough
Bobby6k34@reddit
Not at all, cheap paste should last around 5 years before it starts to dry up, good paste 10 years.
Thermal paste does dry out over time, but its measured in years not months
corvak@reddit
Nonsense.
Watch your temps, if they get worse, repaste. If everything is fine don’t mess with it.
BullPropaganda@reddit
I didn't even know they sold thermal paste at best buy. You can't even buy a high speed USB c cable there.
Expensive-Lawyer-554@reddit
Changed a processor over in an AMD board a week ago, and the thermal paste of roughly 5 years was still slippery enough and working well on the old one.
RepresentativeIcy922@reddit
Ideally I guess, but then again dentists say you should change your toothbrush every six months also.
Numerous-Bet-4847@reddit
I never change thermal paste. If it eventually dries out over a few decades, and I notice temps spiking, them maybe I will do it.
There are people I know that change their washing machine water hoses pre-emptively every year.
If that makes you happy, go for it.
Manu_does_stuff@reddit
I change mine whenever I feel like it.....so between 1 and 2 years, mostly when I deconstruct my build and deep clean it lol
Due_Prior_7962@reddit
My first PC I built ran 24/7 for years, never changed the paste. Never had thermal issues either.
I did pick up a cheap PC that hadn't been run in a couple years. Just needed something to type reports on. CPU fan wasnt working so I got a new cooler. The paste just fell off in chunks.
So.....it depends! No issues, no worries. Issues? Slap some new paste on. Shit, my 980 Ti still is good!
NecroRAM@reddit
About 3 years is ok on average unless youre chasing benchmarks.
DumboBoggins@reddit
I changed my thermal paste on the CPU of my pre built whilst I was putting together my new pc so I could hand it down to my sister. What I also did that took possibly 6 months to discover was ever so slightly knock one of the ram modules, causing months and hours of stress and debugging, windows reinstalls, carting the pc back and forth to my sister's. Trying different graphics cards to discover the issue.
Morale of the story, don't repaste unless you actually have to because you will inevitably cause your self a mischief.
mdred5@reddit
Once in 3 years....definetly once in 5 years
CryptikTwo@reddit
I’ve said this a million times before but quality paste applied properly will last the lifetime of the component. No need to change it at all unless you’re removing the heatsink.
LiliaBlossom@reddit
whatever the fuck was on my XMG Fusion which I bought 2020 definitely needed replacing after 6 years and probably earlier, it was fully dried out and unevenly applied. My brother used to have a second gen intel i5 which somehow ran for years on a stock cooler with never switched thermal paste. The paste was kinda gone, when I checked it. Same for the paste in an old Dell XPS I opened. However the Arctic TP I put on my old 7700K 5 years ago still looks good. It rly depends
geniuslogitech@reddit
depends on paste, TG Kryonaut is a popular paste and notorious for not lasting long, on a GPU if you are reaching high temps constantly it could need replacing before 6 months, other pastes could be fine for 5 years of 24/7 operation, depends on paste
CryptikTwo@reddit
Kryonaut is for sub zero temperatures it’s the wrong paste for anything else. Hydronaut, Aeronaut or Duronaut should be used at ambient temperatures.
geniuslogitech@reddit
yes, it sucks for normal use because it dries super fast at 80+ degrees Celsius but people still use it in their systems
whwt@reddit
I deep clean my computer twice a year and change thermal paste on the CPU each time. Only because it is easier to clean with my air cooler removed.
The thermal paste is in excellent condition each time it service the PC. If you have no need to remove the cooler then your paste should last about 3-5 years.
MikeyKillerBTFU@reddit
My 1080ti is on original thermal paste and hasn't seen any noticable reduction in performance.
Technical_Moose8478@reddit
I don’t think I’ve ever replaced thermal paste without also replacing the cpu or cooler.
Advanced_Ninja_1939@reddit
I've done it once.
Old pc became my server (+10 years) and was overheating during summer.
The first time changing the thermal paste was actually usefull in my case.
TheDarnook@reddit
I did it once, on GTX460. My previous GPU was 7300GS, my next GTX1060. It deserved some maintenance for all those generations it skipped trough.
Eventually it got fried with smoke on heavy modded Minecraft as we were trying to upgrade my brother's PC :p
moonski@reddit
I have once or twice when on a couple of occasions when I noticed temps getting bad... but that's the only time I'd ever repaste outside of when replacing parts over the course of like 20 years PC ownership
Elastichedgehog@reddit
Same here
Zero issues
ReverendDizzle@reddit
Same. I’ve been using/building computers since the 1980s and I’ve never repasted unless work on the PC necessitated reapplication.
If I was ever presented with a clear indication the thermal paste had failed, then I would. But that just hasn’t happened.
Good thermal paste will likely outlive the usable life of the chip it is applied to.
crazyjerryyy@reddit
Honestly that Best Buy employee was chatting rubbish. 6 months is way too often for thermal paste. I've been running the same paste for about 3 years now and temps are still perfectly fine. Just monitor your temps every now and then and only reapply when you actually see them creeping up. No need to fix what isn't broken.
mappythewondermouse@reddit
The only paste ive ever had dry out to the point of increasing temps was kryonaut because its not supposed to be used for years. Almost all if them will last years
mrizvi@reddit
I haven’t changed mine since 2014 and I’m seeing the same temps I saw then on my 4790k.
Zmajski_most@reddit
Shitty factory applied thermal paste should be changed after first 2 years.
Then using something midrange like arctic mx every 4 years is fine.
Liquid metal, phase changing paste and graphite sheet never unless you see poor temperatures.
AdventurousAgency371@reddit
Never change thermal paste in my computers, some of them have been on service for maybe 10 years.
Plenty-Pudding-7429@reddit
I don’t think I’ve ever changed my thermal paste in the years I’ve had my PC.
I still get good consistent temps on around 90-95 degrees Celsius
Happy and healthy👍
Cecilerr@reddit
Change it whenever its over heating
Psyko_sissy23@reddit
Lol. Every 6 months? I'm lucky if I get to getting the dust out of my computer every 6 months. Damn. That reminds me...
Aranxi_89@reddit
It depends on what kind of paste and what kind of system you are running.
Really thin paste like the Noctua ones can be affected by thermal pumpout effect more readily, so you may have to repaste more often. It is not 6 months though, more like 1-2 years depending on performance. It the temps remain low, it's likely fine.
However, some of the thicker pastes are very resistant to pumpout, so you can run them for 4-6 years without issue, if the initial application was good. Stuff like PTM-7950 is basically immune to pumpout, so they are better suited to use in machines that don't really need to be disassembled often, like handheld devices and laptops, or on GPU dies.
So yes, 6 month is a bit overzealous. You only do that sort of maintenance on open loop watercooling.
ekristoffe@reddit
Generally I only change the paste when I do a full cleaning of the pc. Since I take out the cooler I may repaste it at the same time. I do this every 2 years (but that because I’m in a high dust environment…)
d0ndrap3r@reddit
Heck no. Three years, maybe - if you're having temperature problems.
InnocenceIsBliss@reddit
Honeywell PTM 7950 and you will never have to worry about repasting for the rest of the device's lifetime
furruck@reddit
I do mine every 18-24mos. I could go longer but I tend to deep clean the system every 16-18mos and I just do it while I’m there.
Flewent@reddit
Don't take pc advice from 98% of big box "techs"
BlearyLine7@reddit
No, that's a really weird thing to expect people to do that is not practically. Every few years is fine. Basically if you're ever taking your PC apart, do it then. Like if you're upgrading RAM, or putting a new Drive in. Stuff that happens super infrequently.
Thermal paste is designed to last years. That's regular end user should never even have to notice it's there. Only people who're super comfortable with working on computers should be changing it.
AlaskanDruid@reddit
That employee needs re-education.
Different-Ad-7165@reddit
After about 8-12 months that paste will "cure" and is good for years. I built/pasted my cpu in 2020, no signs of needing to repaste anytime soon.
Stopher@reddit
Then he sold her some monster cables.
malikye187@reddit
My son is using my old computer with a 13 year old i7 that I’ve never replaced the thermal paste. The thought has never even occurred to me.
DaGrexican@reddit
Built my PC 6 years ago. Never changed the paste. Still kicking!
AnnArchist@reddit
Lmao no that's a stupid fucking thing to say.
It probably should never be changed because disassembly just creates an environment where you can break something else.
web_knows@reddit
In other news
What sentence did you use to send her to buy thermal paste?
PS: newly wedded still learning the tactics
Bacch@reddit
I mean, I'm no expert, but I feel like the more I mess with my CPU, the higher the chance that I fuck it up somehow. Never had an issue running a build for years upon years without touching the CPU once it was installed.
Chsenigma@reddit
My 4820k is still running on the same pre-applied thermal paste from a Corsair H100 originally installed in 2013. No maintenance, temps are still fine.
Awkward_Pingu@reddit
I've never changed mine ever.
MidnightT0ker@reddit
I have a 2600x that I got on release that still has the same paste from stock, and it was the default one that comes preapplied on the cooler
Hairy_Ordinary_23@reddit
You all missed the important point. So I can see your wife every 6 months. 😃
Bliv_au@reddit
Blowing the dust out of your pc and cleaning the filters while making sure your fans are working will do more than fresh thermal paste ever will
sykes1493@reddit
The only time I replace my thermal paste is when I get bored with my setup and change cases/coolers/etc. I maybe notice an improvement for a month before it goes back to “normal” temps.
azrehhelas@reddit
Ive never changed thermal paste.
couchisland_com@reddit
The only reason I've had to repaste every 2-3 years is because I run my pc with excessive dust filtration and refuse to update older components that are on old architecture. On my gaming PC I bought liquid metal interphase and I've had the same temps for about 10 years.
LuckyWriter1292@reddit
Absolute b.s - I've had systems for 5 years without changing it.
vaultdweller1223@reddit
I've never touched the thermal paste on my rig that I built just before the last Cyberpunk delay announcement.
ShadeWitchHunter@reddit
Depends what it is and what it does. Also how is the mounting and are you pasting bare die?
I have an old 2070 thats basically needs a repaste every 2 years since the cooler design pushes out all the paste with thermal expansion. But thats a special case and honestly... just watch your temps. Are you running into overtemp? => change paste.
astrozork321@reddit
I collect computers from the 90’s early 2000’s and they are almost always still working just fine with the original paste from 25 years ago. I always put on a fresh coat, but only after I test them out first. I am not up to date on modern pc builds but I can’t imagine it’s much different. Every few years should be fine even if they could probably tolerate longer.
Practical_Adagio_504@reddit
Technically, if we had a PERFECT metal to metal fit between the heatsink and the part being cooled, we would want ZERO compound in that space. The heatsink compound that we DO apply should be as THIN as possible and is used to help transfer heat where there are the SMALLEST of gaps in between. Heatsink compound will NEVER conduct as much heat as fast as a PERFECT metal to metal surface. But the perfect surface does not exist ESPECIALLY if there are TWO dissimilar solids, so we use a cream or a sliver of malleable product. Heatsink compound should be replaced once dried out completely and no longer HELPING to conduct heat but now INSULATING the transfer of heat.
SpudmasterBob@reddit
It depends on just how powerful/hot your rig is, and the quality of the paste. The paste does degrade over time to where it no longer effectively conducts the heat away, but how long it takes depends on temperature load over time.
I’ve personally never replaced mine on any of my PC’s. By the time it’s been old enough to be a problem I’m usually upgrading anyways.
EtotheA85@reddit
Unless temps go up by a reasonable amount, no need to repaste. If you wanna repaste once a year, sure go ahead, but even then it would simply be a repaste because you dismounted the cooler.
Vhfulgencio@reddit
Best I can do is 6 years
HeatLifer87@reddit
I have an 11 year old pc with a gtx 1080 that still runs great and I've never chnlanged the thermal paste.
tidyshark12@reddit
5 years is the recommended time frame, but even this is most likely just to sell more tthermal paste imo.
99.9% of pc owners will never change their thermal paste and 99.9999% of those people will never have issues arising from not changing their thermal paste.
Naerven@reddit
Just because thermal paste lasts people 8-10 years with a single application doesn't mean they should spend more money to do unnecessary maintenance every 6 months. This is pure sarcasm of course. In the past 4 decades I've never had a system that actually needed a repaste. Currently I have an I5-6500 with the stock cooler and paste still going daily in a server.
ZequineZ@reddit
I changed mine after 4 years and it was still good, maybe if you’re stressing it a lot but average user nah
jakemoffsky@reddit
I change it when i notice overheating. Otherwise the liquid cooler likely dies before the paste does.
Substantial_Range861@reddit
Never ever EVER listen to those noobs.
iTNB@reddit
I built my pc in 2020 and haven’t replaced the paste once. Still runs just fine
imasneakybeaver@reddit
I built my pc in 2020 and just swapped out my cpu last week and the thermal paste was still gooey and moist in the middle. Just get a decent quality paste and you won’t have any issues for a while.
dwot2005@reddit
Every few years is reasonable to say. Definitely shouldnt be talking in months 😂
Ladyheather16@reddit
Best But employees while they get hourly wage -- are required to sell specific products and make a certain amount sales.
GBA-001@reddit
People keep saying if thermal paste is applied properly it lasts a lifetime. Unless it’s too little (which is hard to do) or so much thermal paste that it gets under your cpu, into the socket and starts moving pins it’ll still last you a lifetime
Rothgardius@reddit
If it gets hot, it’s time to repaste.
HopefulTuber@reddit
So. this is one of those things where context matters.
Both answers are valid depending on what the end goal and other variables are.
Is this being played 3-4 hours a day at moderate temps in a cool room, with good ventilation?
Is it being run 24/7, at max temps, with fans going hog?
Never change for life of component. Fine probably.
Change every 6 months.
Like all things. The truth is in the middle. And most people will be fine to never touch their thermal paste. And any enthusiasts is gonna do it every 2-4 years for fun.
Richneerd@reddit
I would say every 3 years. They do crumble over time.
street_ronin@reddit
I mean it’s Best Buy. Maybe Geek Squad has any kind of professional insight (never actually have interacted with them so no idea), but it seems like this was just a “sales advisor” which might be hit or miss with what they recommend. They might usually be assigned to a whole different section of the store but have to do this one today.
LilGrippers@reddit
Haven’t changed the paste in my 9800x3d in 4 years
Kolorbox@reddit
Usually you can skip the 6 months if it’s under 5000 miles from what I’ve heard
Greyfire10@reddit
Starting with "sent my wife" is always cringe.
pooborus@reddit
No. Thats stupid.
ButterscotchFar1629@reddit
I mean I haven’t changed the paste on my wife’s computer in just shy of a decade and she hasn’t complained……
mack0409@reddit
How often you need to change your paste depends on how often your paste needs to get changed. I know it sounds a little self referential, but it's the truth. Many of the high performance pastes prioritize that performance over the paste's longevity, but even these pastes under very poor conditions should generally be lasting closer to a year than to six months. Similarly, the types of paste that usually get pre installed on CPU stock coolers often prioritize longevity of the install over general performance.
Seanyd78@reddit
I only changed the thermal paste twice in 20+ years of building computers. The first time was to change to a different cou. The second time I was being clumsy and knocked the cooler right off the mobo then managed to smear the thermal paste trying to grab the cooler as it was falling.
I see it as if everything is working correctly, leave it alone and only change it if necessary.
superkamikazee@reddit
I recently ditched thermal pastes all together, and started using Thermal Grizzly Carbonaut thermal sheets. I always hated dealing with thermal paste application, equal spread, or wondering if it’s drying out.
Leo-J-Covo@reddit (OP)
I saw those recently. Seems much more convenient.
superkamikazee@reddit
It’s a one and done install. No repasting, easy to install.
WifeKidsRPGsFootBall@reddit
Is your wife by chance attractive?
ze11ez@reddit
Had mine since ......2017 or so
CPOx@reddit
Salesman trying to make recurring sales
actionerror@reddit
One tube of $6 lasts years even if you reapply every 6 months.
cBEiN@reddit
No way. Next, you are going to try to convince me that pens last more than a month.
J_Paul@reddit
Month? I use a new one every week, Got to make sure the ink can't get crusty around the ball!
dumpin-on-time@reddit
not true. I'll lose it before i need it again
desrever1138@reddit
Lmao, I just cleaned out a drawer last weekend and ended up finding 5 tubes of thermal paste
J_Rath_905@reddit
You mean to tell me that when they say to maintain health and prevent issues, brushing off and reapplying paste 2 times a day isn't nescessary?
I should still use floss to clean the fans daily for the minty fresh finish, or was that a lie as well.
CeriPie@reddit
I always use the old faithful NT-H1 and haven't changed my thermal paste in 3-4 years. I haven't needed to. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure Noctua even recommends 5 years with NT-H1.
I've built plenty of PCs for other people using NT-H1 and their thermals have never increased either. I think the oldest one was 10 years ago, even. It's a media PC now, but still going and still cool.
Yellowbentiness@reddit
Change it when you change your CPU. That's my general rule. Unless you have overheating issues.
Lord_Goose@reddit
I mean if your temps are fine then what is the point exactly lol
jacle2210@reddit
Yeah, "every 6 months" is way, way over excessive.
Sure unplug the system and take it outside to blowout the dust and crude every 6-12 months is something that should be done, but not fully dismount heatsinks so that you can clean and apply fresh thermal paste, that is just too much.
Effective-Sample-261@reddit
On my old system that was in service for 12 years (technically its still functional I just don't use it much any more) I changed the paste once and that was only because the AIO had to be replaced.
Asketes@reddit
I have literally never done it. On machines that are years old. Is it right, probably not, but it's not yet been an issue 😁
Zeal0usD@reddit
This is why they work at best buy
its_wausau@reddit
I use noctua thermal paste and the two times I've taken off my cpu cooler the thermal paste was the same as the day I applied it after 3-4 years of use. However I took apart my Xbox due to overheating issues after 5 years and that thermal paste they used had turned to dust. So quality matters.
_Nonexistant_@reddit
I’m no professional, but I had a pre-built for 4 years, crappy shitbox. Didn’t know what thermal paste was so it never got changed. Do you know what blew first? The PSU.
flexylol@reddit
I had components where I had used MX4 for many (10+) years. The few times where I changed a cooler or similar...even after many years it looks like I put it just on, doesn't get dry or anything.
BB guy is an idiot.
Maysock@reddit
I probably change mine every 3 or so years because I'm also in there doing something else.
Been building PCs for two decades. It'll be fine.
aygross@reddit
Best buy the bastion of knowledge .
Errettfitchett03@reddit
10 years is normal. Thermal paste last for the entire life of the machine in most cases
Geek_Verve@reddit
Nerds will say some of the dumbest shit, when trying to look smart in front of a lady.
ArmoredAngel444@reddit
I never change thermal paste but i make an entirely new pc every 5 years.
carnage123@reddit
I havent changed mine...ever...in any build that Ive had lol. Most go about 5+ years before I rebuild for better components lol
Qbert2030@reddit
In theory it can dry out but like damn you must have one dry ass environment if that's happening and I guess you really wouldn't ever turn on your PC ever because the heat itself is what prevents it from my understanding.
0260n4s@reddit
No. It's been my experience that Best Buy employees want you to think they know more than they do by talking a lot more than they should. One tried that with me and after I replied, he admitted, "dude, I don't know; I just put these things on the shelf."
PowerfulDisaster2067@reddit
Bro is probably just bullshitting her to give you more excuses to work on the PC more often
Zeewass@reddit
Yes- if you’re a heavy user than ideally once a year. Thermal paste dries up especially the cheap stuff
Rothuith@reddit
im never taking any advice from people working in best buy lol
evilbob2200@reddit
Lmao my previous rig went 5 years and didn’t need a repaste just get good quality paste
evilbob2200@reddit
And I want to mention that I always run hwinfo64.
Fox9826@reddit
6 months is not accurate, maybe 1.5 - 2 years if you play a lot of graphics intensive games , if not, you can have it change every 3-5years depending on the temps you see
B34n_Bun@reddit
To my knowledge, It's supposed to be every 6-8 years. If you feel super cautious or heavily stress your computer, then I guess 5 years. The most important thing you should do regularly is dust your PC maybe once or twice a year and keep your PC in a well ventilated area. Just be sure to hold the fan blades to prevent damage.
ZamorakLovesAll@reddit
I change mine every year, but I’m weird about it.
Can easily last 3-5 years depending on the PC/thermal paste
5kyl3r@reddit
if it's a cpu or gpu that runs at 100% like 24/7, sure i think that might be justified, but for normal use, i think even a year is a little unnecessary unless you start having temp issues, otherwise why bother if things still work like normal
OneEyedC4t@reddit
that's when you submit a negative review
TRANxEND@reddit
Don't you just change it when thermals are higher than your normal?
wienercat@reddit
Unless you swap out parts regularly, just switch to graphene/graphite sheets. Thermal Grizzly makes a good one.
For normal people, they work perfectly fine. temps are like 3c higher worst case. Unless you are overclocking heavily you won't notice any difference and you will never have to worry about thermal paste. They are even reusable multiple times if you are careful.
Erik0xff0000@reddit
Thermal paste on the machine I built 10 years ago, never changed. I don't see any reason to change it either.
Turtlenumber13@reddit
My intel 6700k i7 was built in 2018, and I have never reapplied thermal paste. Bought a tube of that arctic silver stuff and have to assume I applied it correctly with 9 years of a system thats uptime goes for months on end without restarts or shutting down.
aForgedPiston@reddit
If it doesn't run hot, I don't change it. Had 6 year old graphics cards running fine on factory paste. It depends a lot on the quality of it. Some real cheap generic stuff could degrade significantly within like 2 years.
Thermal pads are also a thing and work really well, too.
mdeadart@reddit
Not necessary.. I used my laptop for ML training, that could take hours, if not days. and I replaced yearly.. And the diff wasn't w lot, but i serviced it myself regularly so was an easy thing for me.. My other laptops hasn't seen new thermal paste in 2-3 years, and they're fine too..
Spyhop@reddit
Me at Best Buy
SyrusDeathHunter345@reddit
I do mine every 4-5 years…
littledogbro@reddit
it should be more like clean out the dust bunnies 2-3 times a yr, more if you live in a very dusty house. with good air circulation your way ahead of the curve from over heating, but more then ever you need to air dust or soft brush clean out the case more often to keep it clean and clear. good luck.
SoCpunk90@reddit
I'm honestly shocked he knew what thermal paste was. Last time I went to a Best Buy I had to buy a WiFi dongle and they didn't know what I was talking about. I haven't gone back in 7 years.
SirTrinium@reddit
You change your thermal paste when you: a) notice a difference in temperatures b) remove the cooler/aio from your cpu for whatever reason (usually cleaning) c) move the motherboard/cpu to a new case. d) selling/parting out the cpu/case/cooler/fans.
There is no particular time. A better question (imo) would be how long from purchase would you consider a sealed, unopened tube of thermal paste as viable for being used in your rig?
Emblazoned1@reddit
Thermal paste whenever temps become an issue. Stupid to change it every 6 months. I actually need to dust my PC now that I think about it. Almost a year old but yeah no reason to change paste or really anything unless it stops working/stop working well.
SeriousGoofball@reddit
I built my system 9 years ago and have never changed my thermal paste.
Now, I'm also not a hard core gamer who overclocks and pushes my system to the edge of performance. I do some light gaming and normal work stuff. Hell, I'm still using a 1070.
So I'd say if you aren't pushing your system to the max all the time, you'll likely never notice any significant performance gains by changing thermal paste.
queen-adreena@reddit
Welcome to being a woman: long lectures about shit you already know from a person with no idea what they’re talking about.
epic4evr11@reddit
I usually only change my thermal paste when I change my CPU lol
Haorelian@reddit
Repasting shouldn't be a scheduled chore. It only makes sense if:
If it isn't one of those two, you're just wasting paste. Better yet, grab some PTM 7950 and never worry about it again. From that point on, your only maintenance is occasionally dusting the PC.
GuelmiGames@reddit
2-3 years is fine. Thermal pads 4-6.
kimbabs@reddit
They’re trying to sell products to people they believe will be gullible enough to believe it.
OleElGrande@reddit
Shiii.. I put my build together in 2019 and its the original thermal paste on there.
I plan to upgrade CPU in 3-12 months and will change it then.
Maybe I got lucky or maybe the thermal paste I got was awesome.. but my CPU temps been great (with DarkRock 4 Pro cooler which is amazing).
LetsLearnSomeScience@reddit
I once knew a guy who bought a new pair of shoes every 2 weeks. Didn't know he started working at Best Buy.
jesta030@reddit
Recently changed the paste on my home server after about 3 years of running 24/7/365. Was a tad dry but otherwise fine. Arctic MX-4.
SombraMonkey@reddit
Maybe I should change mine… it’s been 8yrs.
SoundSwitch@reddit
That's bonus level RET-TART-3T. Seriously of it isn't broke don't fix it or you're gonna break it. I've never changed and only once used something better than the stock schmear that came on it on account that it didn't come with any to begin with. Never had anything fry
Fellatination@reddit
I put liquid metal on a i9-10850K and cooler master cooler in early 2020. I have not touched it since and still game daily on it with no cooling issues. At one point I even had it OC'd to 5.0 GHz.
acewing905@reddit
I'm still using the same thermal paste from over four years ago. Temps have gone up slightly since then but still far from being a problem
Replacing thermal paste every 6 months sounds like a real pain and I sure don't want to do that
McMeatbag@reddit
Spoken like a man that needs to sell thermal paste
foggeenite@reddit
The person she dealt with is a clearly pretentious clown and should be pitied, not taken seriously.
Cruisin_Fart@reddit
I built a computer in 2012 and never replaced the thermal paste. It was rock solid through all those years. Not one problem.
Tip_Of_The_Sauce@reddit
Yeah, in 1995…
the_gamer_guy56@reddit
It depends on the paste. Some is really thin and will pump out after many heat cycles. Others, like what's used in OEM builds, is a lot thicker and is more like putty than paste. Those ones don't really pump out, they just dry out and lose effectiveness, which takes a long time.
Still, 6 months is pretty short even for the thinnest of thermal pastes. 2 years is more reasonable but you should be changing it based on performance rather than time. If your chip gets hotter than you remember, change it out.
FranticToaster@reddit
Changing paste is one of those things we do when idle temps increase a little and we're paranoid and then it doesn't do anything so we conclude "eh just ambient temp things I guess."
canadian_viking@reddit
You repaste when you have temperature issues, and even then, you'd do other stuff first, like blowing out dust and making sure your fans work and your airflow isn't blocked somehow.
That's great and all, but people can just be wrong without requiring you to overanalyze, cause that just turns into overthinking about things that don't matter.
You'd go through a lot more thermal paste.
boanerges57@reddit
I'm gonna go open the first PC garage.
You should also get your fans rotated to even out the wear.
If you want the elite service I can check your PCIE lanes and make sure the bandwidth is topped up.
Phazon_Metroid@reddit
I have a 108ti from 2017 that I've never changed the thermal paste on. But I live in a relatively humid location so could be different for arid climates.
Ganjee303@reddit
My setup has been going strong for 2 years now and haven't changed thermal paste.
Arawn-Annwn@reddit
I've let mine go until it became thermal chall before, and that takes way longer than 6 months. longer than most people go without a new pc. And my temps still weren't that bad, oddly enough.
ALEX-IV@reddit
Is your system overheating? No? Then no.
I depends on the paste but usually you don't need to re paste for a couple years.
Different_Drummer_88@reddit
Taking advice from Best Buy? Haha, never do that. Most of the workers are high school kids and know nothing.
Hisagii@reddit
Havent changed thermal paste ever in any computer i've owned.
Haraxter@reddit
My PC is six years old. I've only ever replaced my thermal past when I:
replaced the heat sink because it was the stock cooler which got pretty noisy and during lockdown drove me nuts.
moved because my new cooler is weighty and I've been advised I was best off removing it beforehand so I don't bend the motherboard.
Six months is excessive. I replaced my paste August last year and I know I will not replace it any time soon as the only way I'll be moving is if my life either suddenly goes very well or very poorly. The other replies here will guarantee I don't get the urge to buy more past and replace it any time soon.
aisle_nine@reddit
Way back in the day, there was a ton of cheap thermal paste out there that would dry out and firmly stick your CPU to your cooler if you didn’t replace it every few months. These days, with the price of decent paste so low, there’s really no reason to buy the mayonnaise jar full of spicy peanut butter anymore.
GavenJr@reddit
Just make sure to clean your fans and you're good
ConsistencyWelder@reddit
I have never done that in my 30+ years of building PC's.
If you have a higher end Intel CPU I'm sure you'll get more pump out effect, but honestly I don't think it matters under normal circumstances. I have never taken off a cooler and discovered that there's no thermal paste left.
Odd-Requirement-2765@reddit
I've always heard once a year because once it starts getting hard it becomes more insulating instead of transferring heat.
KSI_FlapJaksLol@reddit
I’ve changed my thermal paste exactly never, on a PC I built in 2017. Nine years. No heat faults.
dTmUK@reddit
Bad advice given to your wife, only need to change it if theres a problem!
Bl00dY_ReApeR@reddit
Wow, I've had the same thermal paste on my CPU for a good 10 years now. No idea if my temp are a bit higher but my cooler is good enough I don't notice anything. At this point I'll build a new computer before it could become a problem.
I'm not saying never changed it, maybe if you're always pushing it to the limit it could help but I doubt it would help anything in the most cases unless you actually notice overheating.
GladMathematician9@reddit
1-2 years am in hot sunny FL, usually I will change cooler while I am at it. 1 year 1 month just changed revently 9900X3D Thermalright frost commander (eww dust) 4090 to 240 aio aqua elite v3 I had hoarded (polartherm paste). There was still some paste on cpu, think it could have went longer I just was dusting and decided to cooler change.
jeffcolv@reddit
I'd say more like every 3-5 years would be resonable if you wanted to stay ontop of regular maintenance, but realistically it's not needed unless something is going wrong like the temps are higher than normal, crashes, etc.
teddytwelvetoes@reddit
every six months is laugh out loud ridiculous. in my 20 years or so of building computers I have never reapplied paste, including builds that ran 24/7 for over half a decade
VirtualArmsDealer@reddit
Once is a year is the max even under extreme loads. Because it's a pain in the arse and risks damage to components. Normal use, maybe every 3 years.
Azmasaur@reddit
It depends on the paste. Some of the old school ones degrade a bit even over 6 months. Those are still available, but the stuff most people are using nowadays is good for anywhere from multiple years to basically forever.
Responsible_Ear_6005@reddit
After proper application and seating the paste is effective until it's not, mine is still working after 6 years and counting.
TSGarp007@reddit
I didn’t know you were ever supposed to do that. Guess my last three computers that lasted 8 years until I just wanted to upgrade them got really lucky.
calladus@reddit
Should ask them how often they recommend thermal paste be replaced in laptops.
OberonsGhost@reddit
I have a computer I built 15 years ago that I still use as a bedroom media server and have not ever opened the case except to blow out dust occassionally.
Full_Vegetable_5348@reddit
Incredibly wrong. Thermal paste only gets changed for me when I'm installing a new cooler, or temps are randomly higher than normal, which is once every like 3-5years.
SpaceGhost777666@reddit
For the first time in my life I have had to replace thermal pads on a part that was 6 years old. That is how long it took for the part to show signs it was over heating. I would say that is a very good track record considering I have been building computers for the better part of 30+ years.
DandySlayer13@reddit
Best Buy employee… Nuff said.
This reminds me of when I went to Fry’s back in the day and the floor workers had NO idea about BYOP and the parts they sold. I never ask for advice from the store employees UNLESS it is Microcenter.
Also no Microcenters close to you?
timotheusd313@reddit
Well, I bought an i9 9000k new. The motherboard died after about 1.5 years or so. While that motherboard was out of commission (sent back to gigabyte) I bought a new old stock motherboard and installed the original 9900k in it, so that one has had one re-application of paste.
When the gigabyte board came back, I got a new old stock i9 9900kn, and it’s been in the gigabyte board ever since. Previous computers got maybe 1 re-application of thermal paste in their 10 year service lives.
Only exception was my Athlon thunderbird 800 MHz. I ran ProTools LE on that thing and it there were a couple times it got a little unstable, and doing a full clean-out of dust, defragging the scratch disk and re-applying the image to the system disk seemed to help. But I still only did that like 4 times over its 12 year service life.
-Dixieflatline@reddit
It's an overzealous suggestion by someone who probably personally loves PC building for max performance. They see someone actually buying thermal paste and assume "one of us!" But their self projection of use case scenarios is more the outlier and not the norm.
And maybe someone like that could benefit from a 6 month change if they're constantly stress testing their system. But for the average person, even one who needs to change thermal paste, it's overkill. Once a year or two is probably already more than enough, and "never" is actually acceptable for casual users who aren't experiencing thermal throttling.
guitarmike2@reddit
That’s just Big Thermal Paste talking
Chappietime@reddit
If your cpu starts getting hot, then you can think about it. I guarantee the risk of bent pins, electrical shorts, etc. from replacing it far outpaces the risk of leaving old paste on there.
gaz8600@reddit
Not changed mine for 2 years
bandit8623@reddit
why did you send your wife to get thermal paste.??
Merias58@reddit
Yeah, this thread does not align with what I have experienced at all. Even my desktop GPUs always have pump-out problems. And repasting after a year makes at least a 20C° difference.
My old 1050TI laptop couldn't even run Divinity OS:2 on the lowest settings after a while. Steady 60fps on highest settings after a repaste.
I guess I either just suck at applying thermal paste or choosing thermal paste.
luq1988@reddit
A good one will last 4- 5 years. Take nth1 from noctua for instance
LumpyOctopus007@reddit
Change it when it runs hot
Burgundy_Channel@reddit
Sounds like someone wants to sell more paste.
oo7demonkiller@reddit
lol that employee is an idiot thermal paste lasts 4 to 7 years depending on brand and type.
Silound@reddit
You repaste when it's necessary because your thermals are creeping up. There's zero reason to do it more often than that.
2raysdiver@reddit
I see "I just re-pasted my PC and now it won't turn on" posts once or twice a month. Re-paste when you need it.
If you are into heavy overclocking and/or using some of the exotic mediums that trade longevity for heat transfer efficiency, then sure. The pastes that come with coolers or come in a prebuilt provide a good balance of longevity and heat transfer. I have at least one PC that hasn't been re-pasted since maybe 2008. Of course, last year was the last time it got turned on. I have a gaming laptop (Alienware - hold the flames, please) that has been used daily since 2016 that is probably gue for it's FIRST re-paste. The temps are finally starting to climb.
NoDoze-@reddit
Well, that would depend on the quality of that thermal paste!!! LOL
HayesBrewery@reddit
Unnecessary.
I've gone 4 it 5 years without changing it before. Could I change it 2-3 years sure, but if you have good temps who cares.
vjuricic@reddit
I did not change any in last six years and until I consider it's going strong and making no problem with cooling there is no need. Just trust your feelings...
themysteryoflogic@reddit
Lost me at Best Buy. If a Best Buy employee says ANYTHING, up to and including "the sky is blue," they're probably wrong.
Maybe it's just at the nearest location to me, but they are AWFUL. I hate that store so much.
coneycolon@reddit
I have two self built PCs running. One was my flightsim rig that I built in 2014 and now it's just there for daily use (no gaming).
The other is my flightsim rig that I buying 2020. I haven't fired up FS in over a year, and now I just use it to play Fortnite with my kid.
Both I've never change the paste in either system. Both have AIO coolers.
Tks1991@reddit
It depends on the paste. The higher performance ones after 6 months they start to degrade, but you can keep it easily up to 2-3 years if you have the headroom.
Others, more pasty, with a higher silicon base, last a lot longer. There's some of them that probably last 5 to 10 years.
Markgulfcoast@reddit
These people are very present the Victus sub. People join, post a picture of their new laptop, then get bombarded by posts telling them to change their thermal paste. It's bizarre.
FiddlerOnThePotato@reddit
I have an Intel I5 4590 with presently 10 year old thermal paste and it's doing just fine.
CerberusInExile@reddit
Change it every time you remove/replace your chip. That's it. The geek at BB has no clue what they're talking about.
digabledingo@reddit
he should have been telling her about phase changing thermals, usually won't have to ever touch it once you apply it, can be tricky
dartheduardo@reddit
I do my three PCs every April like clockwork. I play a lot of games and I notice a HUGE difference in cooling for about two to three months after I don't, which is great cause it's summer and we don't have AC.
Square_Nature_8271@reddit
Go back, find that employee, tell him you're interested in a new laptop. Ask about the warranty on them. Ask if opening them up and removing components voids the warranty. Ask him to reconcile the two statements.
Satellite_bk@reddit
incoming tin foil hat theory:
no. you gotta bring it in to have geek squad mess it up. that way you’re still in warranty and you’ve spent a bunch on ‘preventive service maintenance’ and your laptop will conveniently break once warranty expires.
6 months is nuts. i’ve got a 2018 hp laptop i never turn off working as a media player in my room. no issues other than being slow because it’s still on windows 7…
CwazyTwain@reddit
Y’all changing your paste??
Desperate-Run-1093@reddit
Thermal paste manufacturers are pretty clear that you should be replacing thermal paste every 6 months for optimal cooling. There's not a single human being alive that does this.
Derpykins666@reddit
6 months is pretty crazy. Every like 2-4 years is probably more accurate. Taking apart your PC and servicing it that much every 6 months is nice, but not really required. I haven't replaced the thermal paste on this rig in like 2 years.
The most you SHOULD probably be doing every 6 months is disconnecting it and blowing out the dust carefully, I say carefully because you don't want to blow the fans super hard and break them, or send an electrical current through the mobo while it's off.
titojff@reddit
I use a power transistor white silicone, it never drys out.
Either-Cry5555@reddit
I guarantee they got their info from Reddit lol.
Bawlofsteel@reddit
Listening to a Best Buy employee looool
uhqt@reddit
I wonder if it was you that had went up there, if the employee still would’ve went on his little rant. Doubt it, but I wonder
JobHuntingManiac@reddit
Whenever you go to a place like best buy, just remember the place is full of people who think because they got a job there means they know something.
Most of them don't know anything about even half the products that are in the store, let alone the lifespan of thermal compound.
blueblocker2000@reddit
Yeah I can see people cracking open their Dell, HP, Lenovo PCs and repasting 🙄
If store bought paste is that delicate, it's defective.
dfm503@reddit
Generally i recommend every 5 years unless you see an issue with excessive heat. I recommend thermal bars on GPU VRAM at that timeframe as well.
fkenned1@reddit
I work on my computers professionally, heavily hitting gpu/cpu every day of the week. I never change mine, and it's fine.
PlatoPirate_01@reddit
My rig is old (i7-6700k + 1080ti). I've never changed my thermal paste. Just regularly dust. Still chugging along with no temp spikes.
makoblade@reddit
It depends a little on the general environment you live in, with regard to temperature, dust, etc, but in general you don't need to change your thermal paste really ever.
Changing the paste every 6 months is idiotic for almost everyone.
dumpin-on-time@reddit
I've never changed thermal paste
dstrawberrygirl@reddit
As far as the sales experience your wife had, I experienced a lot of this at Best Buy locations, but never at Microcenter. Honestly after discovering Microcenter it felt so refreshing to be treated like a knowledgeable adult, I never go to BB unless I’m out of options now.
OttawaDog@reddit
Most people will change computers before they need to change paste.
I used the same CPU and GPU for 14 years. GPU paste was never changed and it never overheated. CPU was only changed once, when I was replacing the fan for worn bearings.
VisiblyJelly@reddit
I did a good glop of the pea shaped method and I’m going 2 years no problems and will probably go 2 more
Andrew9112@reddit
I change my thermal paste when my PC starts running hot and cleaning the dust out doesn’t fix it. No sooner no later.
PTR95@reddit
Wait, you're supposed to change those? Lol
kzutter@reddit
I can't get past her getting talked down.
RogueCanadia@reddit
Bro I’m running stock thermal paste on my 3600 since I installed it 7 years ago 😂
VS0P@reddit
I try to once a year just because it’s a new year, give or take a few months when I remember or aren’t being lazy. Does it help? Probably not, more about peace of mind.
crazysurferdude15@reddit
He just wants to see your wife come in to the store more often.....
DCGColts@reddit
no but certain thermal paste do dry out faster than others but that's like 2 years min the trade off is better temps for those pastes.
bsguardian452@reddit
6 months is ludicrous. Do not listen to him. I also had a Best Buy employee try to tell me that an R7 5800x would not bottleneck a 5070ti
le-battleaxe@reddit
I have a 2010 build that I converted into an HTPC, and it had the same thermal paste for over a decade until I upgraded storage and did a thorough clean.
All three other builds are 3-6 years on the same paste. I clean them every few months, but that's about it. Usually when I upgrade parts, I'll redo it.
Anyone telling you to change your thermal paste every 6 months is an idiot.
Viriidian@reddit
I’m gonna be honest girl I pretty much only ever reposted w a cpu upgrade so every 4-5 years OR I notice that my temps are bad. Some people are just obsessed and try to justify it by projecting it as a requirement onto others when it’s not.
itsabearcannon@reddit
Depends on the quality of your paste.
Generic brown/white sludge that comes with Chinese AliExpress coolers? You’ll be lucky if that paste isn’t dried out in a week.
MX-6, NT-H2, GC Extreme? Those will last years, easy, before there’s dry-out risk.
RogLatimer118@reddit
They are idiots
BK_NC@reddit
I've been building my own computers since 1998 and have never changed the thermal paste unless I was upgrading the cooler on an already installed CPU. Have never had an issue.
DeadOneWalking@reddit
She went to Best Buy. They will do everything they can to upsell and don't understand anything they are selling. You'll be lucky to find one person who knows that they are talking about out of every employee from four stores.
Bad thermal paste will require this, but you would have to be unbelievably cheap to run into this. Any good thermal paste (unless it's extreme stuff) should last between two and seven years, if not longer.
messfdr@reddit
I have literally never reapplied thermal paste on any components in 25 years of PC building.
Warcraft_Fan@reddit
I really hope your wife said "I don't understand any of these" at the end and add on "My husband send me to get this, I don't know anything about computers"
MuffDivers2_@reddit
This was probably a geek squad employee trying to sell her on fake shit she doesn’t need. I deal with this crap with my dad. He knows a lot about windows, but he knows nothing about computers. I bought him a 2 TB solid state trim a few years ago for Christmas and he was too scared to install it. He took it to geek squad. Smh
PepperoniFire@reddit
Woman gets unsolicited advice from (sales) man, news at 10.
Sarcasm directed at life, not OP.
clupean@reddit
It depends. Maybe that store sells shitty thermal paste that can only last 6 months on a CPU?
Noctua says their thermal paste can be stored up to 3 years before use, and is good for 5 years on the CPU: https://www.noctua.at/en/products/nt-h2-3-5g/specifications
Meaning, you can't use the same tube you used 5 years ago in a previous build.
I suppose other manufacturers have similar specs.
nstern2@reddit
We have machines in our data center that are at least 15 years old that have been powered on 24/7. You'd get laughed at if you suggested replacing thermal paste in them.
liillie@reddit
she was a classic victim of mansplaining
Dolapevich@reddit
Nah, put one correctly and it will last forever.
I have to do it every year, because my laptop exaust is clogged with dust and lint, and in order to clean it, I must separate the heat pipe from the cpu.
But in a desktop, where the CPU, disipator and cooler can be cleaned without removing it, there is no need.
Doctor-TobiasFunke-@reddit
Ive been building pcs since 2010 and ive never reapplied thermal paste over all my builds.
As long as its applied properly the first time, it should last you the lifespan of the cpu (I upgrade mine every 4-6 years typically).
dmb_80_@reddit
It's a load of bullshit constantly parroted by PC 'experts' on Reddit.
Properly applied paste will last for many years and the free stuff that usually comes with 3rd party coolers is more than adequate in 99% of builds.
The 'premium' fancy pants stuff may save you a couple of degrees on your temperatures at best.
MyStationIsAbandoned@reddit
that best buy employee is a moron and is why I and a lot of people buy from amazon instead of going to the store.
vkevlar@reddit
it's best buy, they have no idea what they're talking about.
CodeWizardCS@reddit
I've been building pcs for decades and I've never changed thermal paste on a component.
aamfilochios@reddit
Same since 2019.
Renekling@reddit
Built my PC in 2023, and I have not changed thermal paste, should I? Maybe. But I definitely do dusting like every 6 months because it is an all white PC and the dust is very noticeable.
Internal-Hedgehog-47@reddit
Sounds like she got a healthy dose of mansplainin…
No one changes their thermal paste unless they are reseating or changing a component. Best Buy workers get paid near minimum wage, they don’t know shit.
RandomMexicanDude@reddit
I don’t change it unless there are issues with the temps and de dusting didn’t work, ha happened once in like 15 years
onwardtowaffles@reddit
The only reason to consider replacing your thermal paste is if you're working on the motherboard for other reasons or seeing heat spike shutdowns.
False-Associate-9488@reddit
I got the phase change pads, I'll change it when I build new
Valuable_Injury_4249@reddit
I have an 11th gen i9 i got at release.
I havent changed the thermal paste since it came out of the box.
hamsterwheelin@reddit
Having worked at Best Buy when I was younger I know from experience that the managers there "coach" you to tell people inaccurate things in order to boost sales and repeat sales. This sounds like the culture has not changed at all. I am not surprised.
Do not ever listen to an of the "advice" they give you there. Every single person is trained to upsell you and to sell you on more. Every. Single. One.
GamingSince1998@reddit
I built my PC in 2019. Never changed the thermal paste until 2023 when my NZXT water cooler died. So I replaced the cooler and reapplied new thermal paste.
That was 3 years ago. Haven't changed it since.
No cooling issue on my PC.
Dude at Best Buy is clueless. He has no idea what he's talking about.
mschiebold@reddit
Ew, getting mansplained by employees, especially when they're wrong, is the worst.
SimonShepherd@reddit
Not really, the only case where frequent change of thermal paste is warranted is on gaming laptops which generate a lot of heat in a relatively small space, and pump out can happen rather fast. Phase changing thermal pads do a good jump prolonging the lifespan though.
FPSrad@reddit
more like 6 years
gabacus_39@reddit
Thermal paste gets changed only when I have to change it because I'm rebuilding or upgrading my computer with a new motherboard, CPU, or CPU cooler. I've never, ever changed thermal paste on a GPU in my 25 years of building computers and I never will.
Primus_is_OK_I_guess@reddit
I have a 4 year old 6700xt that I am getting ready to sell, and it hits 95 on the hotspot after 30 seconds. It clearly needs to be repasted. I guess if you don't care about performance or longevity, there's no need to repaste though.
fugly16@reddit
I say go back to that store and hit that employee with the Ron Swanson “I know more than you”
YouSayToStay@reddit
I worked at Best Buy for a very long time. Electronics attract a wide range of people, and some of them are unfortunately the very "stereotypical" nerd...and this seems like one of them. You do not at all need to replace your thermal paste every six months. You're probably more likely to do accidental damage doing that than you are to help protect your machine.
That's just yet another Best Buy employee who either won't last long, or will never move up and will complain about it forever and assume it is anyone else's fault but their own, even when it is explained to them multiple times.
Unethical-Sloth@reddit
I replace mine every 2 years or so but only because I enjoy cleaning out my fans and heat sink. After 2 years the paste stills looks brand new.
tacticall0tion@reddit
Utter bollocks. I've got a pc thats now 10y old, 6800k OCd to 4.2Ghz, still got the same paste from when I built it, still got nice low temps
ElmoZ71SS@reddit
This is the same logic that the kid at autozone behind the counter telling people to change air filters every 12000 miles. It’s just something to make sales and bad info put out by people who don’t truly understand what they are selling but trying to sound like an expert and make numbers.
semidegenerate@reddit
Air filters actually increase in efficiency as they load up a bit with particulate matter. They do hit a point where efficiency starts to go down again, and airflow restriction becomes a problem. That point is WAY past 12k mi, unless you're regularly driving off-road in the desert.
Mecha120@reddit
Homie's trying to set up a recurring sale.
RvstiNiall@reddit
One maybe could argue every six months if you're using liquid metal and you're over clocking a decent amount. But even then I would say 9-12 months unless you know your case has terrible thermals or something.
For normal gamers maybe once every 2-3 years. For non-gaming normal computer use probably every 5...
Thundernutz79@reddit
The only time I've every replaced thermal paste was when i had to remove the cpu cooler to get at some stupidly placed header on the motherboard.
As long as it was applied right the first time and you never have to remove the cooler, it should last for years.
LowBudgetViking@reddit
The man whose job it is to sell things like Thermal Paste informed your wife that she should do more miantenance that would require the purcahse of more Thermal Paste on a regular basis.
Got it.
Not all clowns wear big red noses and floppy shoes.
twilighttwister@reddit
No. Not even 6 years necessarily. Probably worth doing by 60 years.
But the real answer is you replace it if/when there's a problem with temperatures.
Thewhitelight___@reddit
They're just shills for big-thermal paste.
hipdashopotamus@reddit
6 months is some neck bear shit maybe 6 years lol
PredatorPortugal@reddit
My brother change mine and clean my computer once per year but i think 2-3 years is fine if you usually watch pc's temps.
Electricprez@reddit
Commissions on thermal paste must be lucrative
LindseyCorporation@reddit
Get a Kryosheet and you never have to replace it
MightBeBren@reddit
I did my thermal paste 6... YEARS ago... Temps when i put it on, 3-4c above ambient. Temps nowadays, 5-6c above ambient. Under full load i'm still under 75c
tankiplayer12@reddit
Mine wasnt changed for 6 years , it unironically ifles 1c° lower now
Wheeljack26@reddit
I only change it when it starts to run more hot than i remember and it has been a few years
enfersijesais@reddit
I thought he was going to give her something else long and unsolicited. Like a tube thermal paste so big you’d never manage to use it all. That would be too far.
N7even@reddit
I usually only change Thermal paste if there is a thermal issue, or I'm changing a part, mainly CPU.
I've never had the need to change thermal paste on a GPU yet, temps on my current setup had been more than good for the past 3 years.
However, there have been times where pre-applied thermal paste to a cooler uses crappy paste, that was the only time I changed thermal paste when I wasn't changing my CPU, or the cooler itself.
Rustycake@reddit
I have had my PC AT LEAST 12 years. I put a small dab in the center back then and have not changed since. I am have no issues
BHoss@reddit
I just repasted my CPU and GPU for the first time since I built it in 2019 lol. To be fair, I didn’t change it until I started noticing heating issues, and the old paste was a poot of dust when I switched it, but it was fine for 7 years.
cookiesphincter@reddit
Its actually every 3000 miles
LekoLi@reddit
There are only two times when you should mess with your heat paste. You are having thermal issues. You need to move/replace a heatsink. at that point you should clean and remove any of the old with rubbing alcohol, and then apply the new paste and forget about it till you have an issue.
The only time that kind of schedule would be at all justified is if you were running a competition level overclocking rig. Even then, that's stretching it.
Qwertysaurus1@reddit
Fiddling with the clips will introduce more risk to the part then any marginal reduction in paste performance
pmgoldenretrievers@reddit
This is how I see it. The only time I've ever repasted was when I replaced my stock cooler with an aftermarket one about 5 years after I bought my computer. I figure the risk of damaging a $500 CPU/Mobo combo is too high to warrant an extra FPS or two.
Arcade1980@reddit
I built mine in 2019. No issues with temps.
PirateRob007@reddit
At a retail store like best buy, its far more likely the employee was flipping burgers a month ago, rather than being an expert in hardware.
MovieGuyMike@reddit
Best Buy trains their employees to sell stuff. It does not train them to be knowledgeable about electronics or maintenance.
EvilDan69@reddit
That is ridiculous, but you should be cleaning the dust out of the pc, fans etc before it gets caked on too thick. once every half year for sure, This also depends on frequency of use, how hard you push the pc, do you live in an area with a lot of dust etc.
PunchBeard@reddit
I used to RMA computers for a living and I don't think anyone changes thermal paste.
DLS3141@reddit
If that same employee worked at a car repair shop, they’d be pushing blinker fluid
No-Repordt@reddit
Probably some neckbeard getting offended by a woman even asking about computer components and wanted to act like an authority when he clearly doesn't know jack shit.
If we're talking about an in-production environment (which is to say a professional setup with daily use for the sake of an actual job like building floor plans using CAD software), then yeah to keep the thing in peak condition for the sake of asset maintenance and limiting value depreciation for re-sale, 6 months is a good rate to keep it in the best possible state.
If this is for your gaming rig that you only play on the weekends and maybe an hour on a weekday at most, no. You could keep that paste on for years and never see a heating issue. At most I'd say, if you're already opening it up and taking out components for some reason, you might as well put on some fresh while you're in there, but otherwise it's a waste of time and money.
MissingGhost@reddit
One of my CPUs has the thermal paste untouched since 29 years and it's fine. I don't know what would happen under a heatsink that nobody touches.
Avinor_Empires@reddit
I've been building PCs for personal use for about 40 years. I've never changed thermal paste once on any machine. Never had a single overheating issue other than once when my CPU cooler went kaput and I had to replace it.
As a general rule, I've learned not to listen to most Best Buy employees.
TEEx6@reddit
Be sure to change all fluids and paste every 5000 hours and rotate your fans every 3000 hours
Coolclouds0@reddit
If it’s properly applied, changing thermal paste every 6 months is dumb. Best Buy employee is just plain wrong. Even if you left the pc on for 6 months you still wouldn’t need to change it.
Ryan32501@reddit
Every 4-5 years for me, I typically upgrade by then anyways
bigbyte_es@reddit
You send your wife to buy thermal paste, few monts ago I send mine to buy “powdered water” to clean the 3D printer.
I sleep in the sofa for few day but dude, that was fucking hilarious
-CJF-@reddit
Last time I changed my thermal paste was when I built my PC in 2014.
mioiox@reddit
According to Noctua (https://www.noctua.at/en/support/faqs/when-is-it-necessary-to-reapply-noctua-thermal-pastes):
Noctua NT-H1 and NT-H2 thermal pastes have a specified usage time (on the CPU) of up to 5 years. However, you will most likely see excellent results for much longer than that, so we simply recommend checking the temperatures occasionally after passing the 5-year mark. Unless you see a clear increase in delta temperatures (difference between CPU temperature and ambient temperature, compared at 100% CPU load) there is no need to replace the paste. Many customers have been using NT-H1 for 10 years or more with excellent results.
TheFlyingAbrams@reddit
I only repaste or recommend others do it if there’s data to support the claim of a poor first application, or if there’s been an upward trend in temperature and dusting did not correct it and the machine is reaching worrisome temperatures. For a typical user there’s no need to just reapply on an arbitrary time scale.
MechanicTop7210@reddit
I started with a pre-built PC two years ago. A month ago, I replaced the CPU and installed an AIO. That was the only time I applied new thermal paste. I haven’t had any issues in the past two years, and honestly, it never even occurred to me to replace the thermal paste. Everything I know about PCs comes from YouTube, and when it comes to electronics, I’ve always followed the motto: “If it works, don’t mess with it.”
xmkgenzo@reddit
I rode my old rig for 10yrs without replacing the thermal grease.
Maybe in high-performance builds that run hot most of the time you have to replace it every few years. 6 months is an exaggeration.
coolgui@reddit
Since when has Best Buy employees ever been a reliable source of information?
SkyWest1218@reddit
I only change mine if I'm swapping parts, otherwise I've only ever gone out of my way to re-paste old game consoles. Never had any issues.
boisterile@reddit
No, guys just really enjoy explaining things to women. It's a very popular hobby, the best part is you don't even need to be right about it, you just need to be condescending enough
Kathdath@reddit
3 years is the earliest I would bother with even a cheap paste that come bundled with budget no-name cooler (so long as the thermals don't immediately suck and prompt replacement during the build).
5-6 years is has been the average length before I end up upgrading my computer anyway. I tend to only repaste when I am opening up to do a deep clean and want to change some optional internals anyway.
I also have some 'ancient' AM3 machines that still work fine that I never bothered to repaste.
MarxistMan13@reddit
You can usually safely ignore the advice of anyone at Best Buy.
Erlkings@reddit
My thermal past is like 5 years old And ive taken off my cooler a few times and put it back in with the same ol paste. My temps are still great for a 5800x3d
fnord55@reddit
I've been a PC gamer for about 30 years now. I can only remember re-pasting one of my machines. I've never installed a CPU that eventually wound up thermal throttling. Sure, I would probably stand to benefit from a repaste every 3-5 years, but I'm pretty content just doing it right the first time and doing a thorough air dust once or twice annually. People have some pretty insane ideas about best practices with gaming PC's and honestly? Best Buy employee, that should tell you everything you need to know.
ThunderKats351@reddit
Na thermal paste is design to work for the entire life-spam of component usually, only require changes if for some reason it started cracking after getting full solid but even then it would still do the job. Usually the main issue when it comes to heat is dust or fans failing. I did repaste a GPU/CPU mostly for the experience but there was no significant change, I would only do it if I star to notice issue around temperatures.
Symysteryy@reddit
I've always changed it every 3ish years, 6 months way too frequent
Marisakis@reddit
6 years, sure, if you're an enthusiast and notice thermal issues.
_EnFlaMEd@reddit
Don't think I've changed the past on my over clocked 3770k since the 2010s
Zitchas@reddit
I know a person who overclocks their system and jokes about how they run their system hot enough to warp the components over the mid to long term. If you are such a person, then applying thermal paste every six months might be a necessary thing.
But seriously, it is an "as needed" thing. If your computer is thermal throttling, then it's time to check your cooling setup including the thermal paste. If it's not thermal throttling, then you should be good.
korg64@reddit
I cracked open my 2080 to change the thermal paste (7yr old at this point)
It was still wet. I was shocked, even the pads were still soft.
Bathtubwaterdrinker@reddit
I hadn’t changed my graphics card thermal paste in about 3 years and my graphics card apparently has a kill function if it gets too hot so my computer was crashing playing BG3. Changed the paste and no issue, runs cooler than it ever has. So my vote is probably around that 3 year mark makes sense. But I also assume you’re talking about the GPU, which I would probably also just do ever 3 years, but I’m not a computer guy tbh.
ShineReaper@reddit
Thermal Paste Renewal every 6 months is absolute Overkill. If the cooling in your case overall is completely sufficient, you apply it ONCE to your CPU, put the CPU Cooler (without the plastic please...) onto it, screw it tight and then you never change it again.
Thermal Paste Change during a PC's life is only really needed, if the cooling is not sufficient and you see the CPU after a few years of use hitting TjMax (the temperature level, where it starts to throttle down to protect itself from thermal damage)
Rhoden913@reddit
I dont even bother checking unless temps rise above normal or im about to replace my CPU... thats nonsense..
If you bought it pre-built... I would redo just because they suck at it.. friends laptop was cooking itself alive with thermal paste dumped all over the cpu and spreading out.. was insane.
Just a normal build? Lol no crazy advice
ImTalkingGibberish@reddit
It’s been 3 years on mine and I have now started to notice an increase in temperature
ElGuappo_999@reddit
1: why would you send your wife to buy thermal paste
2: why would you send her to Best Buy?
Leo-J-Covo@reddit (OP)
She works in town, we live buttfuck nowhere. Either I drive 2 hours, order it from Amazon or have wife get it on way home.
lurkerperson11@reddit
Modern thermal paste lasts years. My last build went 7 years with no issue. I would only replace it if my temps were higher than expected after cleaning dust out.
SadIntern6@reddit
People overemphasize best practice/safety in pc communities online in general. Last time I repasted my cpu most of the thernal compound had already dried up (last repaste before that might've been 6+ years) but couldn't tell any problems peformance wise.
Stoicza@reddit
Exactly. "Dry" thermal paste doesn't mean it wasn't still working. If the contact between the paste, the CPU and the Heatsink is still good(and it should be if the correct pressure is applied and the thermal paste wasn't hot garbage), then it's still conducting thermal load efficiently.
Merlin_au@reddit
I truly believe that if you don't know what you are doing, you may cause more problems than you solve, while not a particularly difficult task some people may struggle with removing the cooler, cleaning the surfaces and reseating with the correct amount of paste.
apmspammer@reddit
More like every 6 years.
KarpTakaRyba@reddit
Please consult this helpful decision tree!
Are the temperatures too high? Yes - Change thermal paste No - enjoy gaming
Jackdunc@reddit
Heard about this thermal paste change recently in some comments. I'm over 50 and have had a dozen or more PCs in my lifetime (kids systems included). Never done, or thought about this even once before that. I probably had one PC gpu die and the rest just got older and slower but none broke.
MysticDraden@reddit
My computer is 6 years old , thermals are fine and I have yet to change it.
shleefin@reddit
6 months for paste is too aggressive. That said, 1-2 times a year I like to open 'er up and do a little maintenance. Vacuum up the dust, check connectors, etc. Not every time but sometimes I also remount the cpu heat sink. I vacuum the dust from it and remount with fresh paste.
AstarothSquirrel@reddit
I'm a strong believer of "if it's not broken, don't fix it. " I built my pc in 2020 just before the pandemic hit the uk and I've not redone my thermal paste even once and my pc is on pretty much all day, every day, got work and play.
rick_mcdingus@reddit
I have genuinely never changed thermal paste unless I had the cooler off for some other reason. I’ve had builds go for years on the same paste and I’ve never had any sort of issue
Narrow-Prompt-4626@reddit
Definitely not, change as needed
Leo-J-Covo@reddit (OP)
Unless I play Crysis at full?
Narrow-Prompt-4626@reddit
Change paste every level 😄
AggressiveToaster@reddit
Shouldn’t you be using liquid nitrogen to do something crazy like that?
AU_Cav@reddit
Honestly, if your pc isn’t smoking hot you shouldn’t be touching it. Imagine if every pc user was replacing paste every six months. There would be a shortage of cpus from all of the replacements.
More importantly, I would contact the local Best Buy and corporate stating you didn’t appreciate their salesperson directly lying to your wife and the easy to guess reason why.
Dave6926@reddit
I change thermal paste when I change CPU. Nothing more is required.
Powerful_Physics1780@reddit
The guy who sells thermal paste says reapply thermal paste every six months. Go figure.
At work I have 4 industrial PCs that run equipment 24/7 that have been in place for nearly 10 years. Never reapplied thermal paste.
digIndig@reddit
I have 20 year old machines that have never had the thermal paste replaced because there was no need - they’re running just fine. If you do it right, it never needs replacing unless you are swapping out a cooler or otherwise breaking the bond.
Insufferable_Entity@reddit
If computers functionally needed new paste every 6 months. We would need IT departments 5 times their current size to keep up with the amount of maintenance.
vtGaem@reddit
I change mine every 1-3 years. Depending on how motivated I am and/or if I notice temps increasing. Last time put in MX-6, has stayed good for 3 years now. I'm planning on changing it this summer, even though the paste is still good.
Fun_Champion1@reddit
Tell me, is your wife pretty? Sometimes loser men will do stuff like this to just talk to a woman for longer and to seem knowledgeable.
samuelt525@reddit
I never changed the thermal paste on my first pc i built in 2016…
Maybe i should
audigex@reddit
6 months? haha no
6 years, maybe
I've got a laptop behind me that hasn't had the thermal paste changed in 16 years, and a PC that hasn't had it changed in 11. Both run a little warmer than when they were new but are absolutely fine
Numerous-Loan-8008@reddit
In general, only if the thermal paste is junk, if your CPU is getting very hot, or if you're moving the computer around quite a bit
Changing it out every 6 months is just some nerd nerding out
Next time, just order MX-7 from Amazon 👍 Seems unlikely that Best Buy carries the best thermal paste anyways
X-Craft@reddit
Salespeople don't want to help you, they want to sell.
Relevant_Ring_5055@reddit
I bought My last pc on 2015 with i5 6600k and sold it on february. That was first Time i unplugged The cpu cooler and it was fine always, no thermal problems or anything lol.
Gave it a nice New thermalright assassin x before selling it forward
Crying_Reaper@reddit
On my last build that I had for 11 years the only time I even thought about changing the thermal paste was when I got a new AIO H60 to replace the stock cooler my CPU had at the time. That was about 5 months after I first built it. Temps never went up as the past got older. The H60 also never had any issues.
BladeOfWoah@reddit
I've owned my own built PC that I put together myself for 6 years now and have never re-applied thermal paste.
Granted, thats because I have upgraded my CPU 3 times in those 6 years, and have only had 2 mobos.
burnitdwn@reddit
If it ain't broke, don't fix it
WatermelonRick@reddit
Wait! what? You guys don't reapply thermal paste every morning?! 😁
SecondVariety@reddit
Have builds with the same paste for over 6 years . Not saying that's smart, but it hasn't bitten me in the ass yet. Arctic Silver 5, Diamond IC7, and Noctua paste used randomly through the years. Pea sized ball and smush the cooler down. Highly scientific process /s
The_Observer_Effects@reddit
You are a bot or human making this up.
Leo-J-Covo@reddit (OP)
100% fabricated. Infact, I'm not even real.
This is all a dream of yours, Wake up.
the-awesomer@reddit
nah I will continue to snooze thank you very much
-Great-Scott-@reddit
I change mine every never.
BigFatCoder@reddit
I have built multiple custom PCs and never bother to repaste any of them. The only time sort of repasting is after 6\~7 years, changing all the chassis fans and replacing original intel CPU cooler with aftermarket one. Normal home user with mid-range hardware, should never need to repaste at all.
ArkhamRobber@reddit
I think Ive maybe changed it twice in 6 years.....
I think MX4 the first time and now MX6 now. I dont really remember but whenever I do the next change i plan on using thermalrights version of PTM7950. Already have it, dont have a need to change it right now.
Reason why Im using Thermals's PTM is cause ive used the Honeywell version before it got popular on a 3080 gpu and the results were damn good. I still have some Honeyewll PTM7950 in my freezer, along with Thermalrights PTM.
Cultural-Accident-71@reddit
That is some bullshit from the dude that most likely wanted to chat. Many pre-builds sitting on shelves much longer than 6 months and nobody changes there the thermal pads or paste. Good quality paste will go without issues for 4-5 years if you run your components daily. What the pads and paste don't like is if you run it on higher temperature and then leave them in cold storage aka store it over winter in the garage or similar. As more consistent the components are running, that longer it will last. I had a 980ti running multiple days without turning off the pc and it lasted from day one release till last November. To be fair I changed the last 4 years the pads and paste every 16 months because the temperature was getting out of control.
Craiss@reddit
I've heard lots of people talk about paste drying out over various times, but I've yet to personally encounter any degradation in performance from old paste that hasn't had the two mating surfaces separated.
Once you separate them, yeah, dry paste doesn't work so well. This makes sense to me, logically and my only experience with trying to reuse dry thermal paste supports that.
Even being careful, with no visible breaks (all of the old paste stayed on the heatsink) I saw >10C increase in temps on an i7 950 while I waited on my new paste to arrive. I don't recall exactly how high of a difference I saw, but it was in the 2 digit Celsius range.
On the flip side, I've changed old-dry thermal paste on my graphics cards before and didn't notice any notable temperature changes while gaming or benchmarking.
So... my policy is: If I separate two things that have paste between them and the paste is anything less than ideal, I replace the paste. If I ever see a temp situation that I suspect replacing the paste will improve, I'd do it, it just hasn't happened to me yet.
soulless_ape@reddit
Best Buy person is full of shit. Depending on the workload and environment every few years. Just keep an eye on thermals, clean dust off heating and radiators and you are fine.
MCX6_@reddit
You can just go by your temps. If you notice an increase in temperature from when you first built it you can clean and reapply the paste.
BigEarsUK@reddit
I have a gpu pushing 10+ years. I have never changed the thermal paste. And my pc usually dies a death before I think about changing the paste.
If I do upgrades then yeah I will do it at the same time but otherwise that’s in there for life.
PearlJamTenGoat@reddit
Most likely you will ever need to chante thermal paste, that's the truth.
Can you do it as an extra careful measure ? yes. I had a i7 9700k for 6 years without ever changing thermal paste and always gaming dozens of hours every week, in hist last run his temps were still normal.
your thermal paste should always be enough for life cycle even tho it won't hurt replacing it.
Gorthanator@reddit
Changing ever six years is probably overkill
Tonkarz@reddit
Probably should change it every 3 years for best practice, but basically no one changes it ever and it's really fine.
Serious-Condition650@reddit
This is new information