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shelf life of tubed thermal paste?

i was debating the same question today.

when building my system last year i used some old thermal compound. i was arguing today that i need to reapply it, as the stuff i used was already opened and at least 2 years old.

i was skimping to save 5 pounds and possibly jeopardised my set up.

i know the lid was screwed on.

i too would like to know what others think.
 
I've got some 5 year old AKASA thermal paste I still use on pcs and the temps are still fine and so is the paste.

As long as it hasn't all dried up it seems like it works okay.

You'd be surprised at how long a teeny tube lasts.
 
i would change it once a year,just to be on the safe side (mental note to myself...must buy some new paste :) )
 
Paste is much cheaper than new components , so i guess the safe thing to do would always be to buy new paste , however i have a tube of artic silver that is a few years old and i used it not that long ago and it seems to be perfect.
 
as long as it hasnt dried up, i would have assumed its fine for normal use - if you were extreme overclocking where the fraction of a degree is the difference between success and failure - i'd get some fresh stuff ;) :p
 
Nearly finished my tube of Arctic Silver that came from an OCUK order placed around the turn of the decade. So a tube around 10 years old last time I used it.

My temps were no different when using the supplied Zalman mini tube paste I got with a cooler.
 
I had a discussion other day with a mate about if thermal paste is like tomato sauce, should you keep it in a fridge (like he does) or in a dry low temp like shelve or cupboard.

The experiement is ongoing....
 
IRLeetly said:
I had a discussion other day with a mate about if thermal paste is like tomato sauce, should you keep it in a fridge (like he does) or in a dry low temp like shelve or cupboard.

The experiement is ongoing....
Click to expand...

If your thermal paste is like tomato sauce, it's not very good thermal paste. :/
 
Just found my email from OcUK from sept 09, Arctic Cooling MX2 - £4.58 at that time. Temps are still exactly the same now as then and I only put paste on in 2009 so it holds up well. I imagine my tube to last several more years.


schizo said:
i would change it once a year,just to be on the safe side (mental note to myself...must buy some new paste :) )
Click to expand...

I know it's cheap but you don't need to, there's enough accounts of people using very old tubes of good TIM which give perfectly good temps.
 
JTrickle said:
Nearly finished my tube of Arctic Silver that came from an OCUK order placed around the turn of the decade. So a tube around 10 years old last time I used it.

My temps were no different when using the supplied Zalman mini tube paste I got with a cooler.
Click to expand...

Arctic Silver 3? Ah, no... AS3 is from 2003. I still have a tube of that.
 
Just finished off a tube of 5+ year old AS5 in a friends machine, temps are perfect.
 
don't see my thermal material degrading over time in the syringe, since it is effectively a liquid anyway, has been kept on a shelf in my room for quite some time now, been very hot and very cold up there, still the exact same consistency as the day I bought it! so think it varies depending on material, my Arctic Silver Ceramique that I used for my 7600GT's back in the day has turned all weird and crumbly so I wouldn't be using that! ;)
 
IRLeetly said:
Well I do put it on my chip butties
Click to expand...

butty.jpg
 
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