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Chose a $20 thermal paste over Arctic Silver 5 and temps dropped 4C
Was rebuilding a Dell Optiplex 9020 for a client and had to pick between the old tube of Arctic Silver 5 I had laying around or some random Cooler Master paste I grabbed at Micro Center in Denver. Went with the Cooler Master because it was newer and saw idle temps drop from 38C to 34C on an i5-4590. Anyone else notice old paste getting worse over time even if the tube is sealed?
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terry_bailey3514d ago
Yeah, that "random Cooler Master paste" thing is probably more common than people think. I mean, Arctic Silver 5 is old school but it's got that thick, cement-like consistency that never spreads right after a few years. Maybe it's just me but I've noticed that even sealed tubes of thermal paste seem to separate over time. The liquid part might dry out or the particles settle, so you're basically smearing on a less effective mix. I had a tube of Noctua NT-H1 that was maybe 4 years old and it worked fine, but an older tube of some generic stuff I found just came out all grainy. Could be that fresh paste just has better thermal transfer properties right out of the gate, like the difference between a brand new bottle of motor oil and one that's been sitting in a garage for a decade.
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Man's out here proving that tube of Arctic Silver 5 was basically just fancy dust at this point. That stuff probably had more separation than my parents' divorce paperwork. Fresh paste for the win, old paste for the trash.
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