[SOLVED] How long does pre applied thermal paste on a Ryzen 5 5600x stock cooler last before installing it on the CPU?

[rodres268]

Hello, I'm building a new PC, and the only components I have so far are the CPU and GPU. I opened my AMD Ryzen 5 5600x box because I wanted to verify the state of the CPU and Cooler and I took them out of the box, both seem fine. However, I can see the Stock CPU Cooler has pre applied thermal paste... Is it ok if I just leave the stock cooler in my building bench/open air? Can Air/Oxygen alter the state of pre applied thermal paste when it's out of the box? I'll recieve the rest of the parts next week.

 

[Nemesia]

Leaving the stock cooler with the plastic thing over the pre-applie thermal paste on your desk is no different than leaving it in the box which is not an air tight sealed box.

You're fine.