[SOLVED] thermal paste reuse

Solution
I've had no trouble using thermal paste that was tightly sealed in its container, whether a tube or tiny tub, over the course of years.

One definitely cannot reuse - in the conventional sense of use again - thermal paste that was applied previously. The whole heat transfer mechanism is created by the stuff oozing/spreading between the heatsink and processor. That can only occur once, when the stuff is either applied as a tiny blob and spread by the pushing together of the pieces themselves, or in a thin layer that's still thick enough to be spread out as the two pieces are placed in contact with each other.

britechguy

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Jul 2, 2019
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I've had no trouble using thermal paste that was tightly sealed in its container, whether a tube or tiny tub, over the course of years.

One definitely cannot reuse - in the conventional sense of use again - thermal paste that was applied previously. The whole heat transfer mechanism is created by the stuff oozing/spreading between the heatsink and processor. That can only occur once, when the stuff is either applied as a tiny blob and spread by the pushing together of the pieces themselves, or in a thin layer that's still thick enough to be spread out as the two pieces are placed in contact with each other.
 
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Solution

foxz

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Feb 17, 2018
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Agreeing With Conan, You shouldn't reuse previously used thermal Compund as this can cause overheating issues as well as high temperature and it may damage the life span of your CPU. If you want to you can use isopropyl Alcohol to remove old thermal paste and micro fibre cloth and then apply fresh thermal compund for a efficent heat control.
 
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