Does thermal paste (still in tube) go bad? Quick response appreciated!

[Silvertongue19]

Hello everyone,

Installing my new cpu tonight and was just wondering if my thermal paste is still "good". I've had a tube of artic silver just sitting in the cabinet for about 3-4 years now. Is it still perfectly fine or would I be better off purchasing a new tube as I know it's cheap?

Thanks for your help!

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Artic Silver takes about 200 hours of thermal cycling to cure (or about a year of normal usage). It should be OK if unopened but I'd grab a tube of Shin Etsu anyway....just so I could get my OC's in place w/o waiting for curing to finish

 

[Someone Somewhere]

You should be fine - I've used several year old stuff before, and haven't seen any bad side effects.

 

[Calculatron]

If the thermal compound has separated at all (there's a watery substance that comes out, along with the usual grey paste) or, if I remember right, it has a strange smell, then it is probably best to invest in some new thermal compound.

Otherwise, you're probably good. A lot of people have a rule of thumb of three years, but there are plenty of thermal compounds that will last over five, as long as it is properly stored.

Arctic Silver 5 is an oldy but goody. Cure time aside, it is also capacitive, so don't spill any of it onto any circuitry. Many people consider it obsolete, but it still gives good results.

 

[Sn1992-1361850]

Look if the thermal paste was kept really air tight cap then it wud b fine just chck by taking a very small amount on any other metallic surface teat it if its perfectly smooth with no uneven ness or cloggin then its good to use

 

[shagbark]

A lot of people have a rule of thumb of three years, but there are plenty of thermal compounds that will last over five, as long as it is properly stored.

Arctic Silver 5 is an oldy but goody. Cure time aside, it is also capacitive, so don't spill any of it onto any circuitry. Many people consider it obsolete, but it still gives good results.

I have a tube of Arctic Silver 5 that I think is 15 years old. Should I throw it out?

 

[ohio_buckeye]

It's probably fine if it's not watery and still holds it's consistency.

 

[Jason H.]

It's probably fine if it's not watery and still holds it's consistency.

you just ressurected a thread from 2013 lol

 

[Jason H.]

I have a tube of Arctic Silver 5 that I think is 15 years old. Should I throw it out?

thermal paste is cheap. A good 10-15$ tube will last you the lifetime of the pc, depending how often you remove the heatsink for cleaning (I do mine about every 2 months because Im a smoker) So in my case a tube lasts me about 1 year. Which is probably about 1/5 of the life of the PC.

Most people only replace the paste about once every year or 2.

So yea throw that out and buy some new paste, because even if its not bad, which I doubt it is as paste only really gets bad under heat, the new paste they make now a days is a bit better.

 

[Blitz Blitz]

Look at paste manufacturers sites. It should be information, when paste gets old.

 

[Gam3r01]

Please refrain from bringing up old threads, normally posts would get deleted and the thread locked, but since they have some useful info Ill let them stand.
Thread closed.