How often should you renew thermal paste to a CPU/Cooler?

[Boge]

Dumb question I know but I honestly haven't a clue.

I built my first machine in 2011, i5 2500k. It's been happily running at 4.5 since then and I must have put thousands of hours of gaming through it.

Thing is. Just recently the temps have been going crazy. Even just browsing / monging it keeps leaping up to 50. Normally sat around 29 - 30 doing that. CPU idling at 1600.

Cooling is by way of a Noctua D15 with 2 fans in Pull Push and 3 120mm case fans in a Fractal (2 at the front intake - 1 at the back exhaust)

So how often should you replace the thermal paste on the CPU? Have I left it too late? Is 7 years too long do you think?

Honest question.

 

[Tealc]

I doubt it's too late. If you feel the need swap it for some fresh, or use something that is guaranteed not to dry out.

I have an even older i7 and it's been around the same amount of time since I swapped coolers. I'm not planning on changing mine until I need to or an upgrade happens. I read somewhere that it's supposed to be done yearly but I've got better things to do than waste my time when nothing is wrong.

 

[BluD]

Theres no harm in replacing the paste, there might be a dust build up you could get rid of too to help get the temps back down, its probably a lot easier clearing dust out when the cooler isnt mounted.

 

[LuckyBenski]

No need to replace it until it stops doing its job i.e. temperatures start to become unacceptable, which sounds like now

As mentioned, regular dust clearance is just as important - annually on average I'd say. More if you play a lot / have a dusty house. Less if you're lucky enough not to have fast dust buildup.

 

[Hotwired]

It could be a software change or update that causes sudden power demands from the cpu. This would cause periods of high temperatures.

However, no harm in carefully removing the cooler, dusting it off, scraping and wiping away the old paste and redoing it.

If its software at it then you'll still see spiky temperatures after.

 

[doyll]

Might need a new application, but it might just need the cooler fins, fans, vent grills and vent filters cleaned. I would do them first.

 

[Boge]

Thanks for the replies guys. Good to know I'm not alone in not bothering to replace it every year.

It's deffo not a dust issue. It's nice and clean in there (I go through 3 cans of air duster a year)

Software has got me thinking. I've not updated the bios or anything since 2012 or so and I'm still running Windows 7 64. I've also had auto updates turned off in Windows since around the same time.

The spikes are happening whenever I open anything. CPU use goes up to 80% on all 4 cores and the temps shoot right up to 45 - 50 (and my fans ramp right up ) It then drops down to idle and the temps come down again. Not the end of the world I suppose but it never used to do this.

Done a lot of googling and can't find an answer.

Starting to wonder wether Microsoft Asus or Intel have dropped something in there to make me upgrade.

No chance with Windows 10 . Bloody loathe it.

 

[Minstadave]

Jumping to 50 on load with an overclocked 2500K sounds totally normal tbh. Your fans shouldn’t be ramping up much at 50 degrees, sounds like your fan curves are too aggressive.

Repasting is sensible though if it’s been better before.

 

[Boge]

Thanks. Maybe I've not paid too much attention in the past and I'm getting a bit obsessed ( I really don't want this thing to break though. It still runs every game I play with no problem - Far Cry 5, Prey, Wolfenstein, Fallout 4 etc )

Will look at the fan curves again. Asus Fan Xpert 2 was always a bit of a pain to get just right. Been a while since I dicked around with it. Think I will re-do the paste though. Can't hurt anything I suppose.

 

[MartinPrince]

What was the outcome? Does task manager indicate what is causing the CPU spikes?

Looking at your temps they seemed perfectly fine and not indicative of a thermal paste deterioration issue, though I like to re-paste at least once in 5 years. The D15 is a great cooler, especially for something like a 2500k. You could run that with toothpaste as TIM and it would still cool that chip very well.

 

[Distracted]

What was the outcome? Does task manager indicate what is causing the CPU spikes?

Looking at your temps they seemed perfectly fine and not indicative of a thermal paste deterioration issue, though I like to re-paste at least once in 5 years. The D15 is a great cooler, especially for something like a 2500k. You could run that with toothpaste as TIM and it would still cool that chip very well.

Maybe intel thought the same thing and have been using it ever since.

 

[MartinPrince]

Maybe intel thought the same thing and have been using it ever since.

You could be on to something there!

 

[JasonM]

Never once had to replace IC Diamond, and this includes on a home server thats been in use since 2013.

 

[doyll]

I have one system here that hasn't had any changes in about 5 years. None of the others have been together more than 4 years, but I've never taken one of my own apart to replace TIM. That said I have repaired some (notebooks as well as desktop and towers) with badly dried up TIM on CPU and GPU.

 

[chrcoluk]

I find you get far bigger impact in clearing dust from fan and heatsink, especially the heatsink where the fins can get clogged up with dust.

On my old haswell before I sold it, I tested both.

When blowing out the dust from the heatsink temps went down by 9C under load and 2C at idle.
Changing the compound barely had 1C impact at load and nothing at idle.

This was a system turned on 24/7 for about 4 years.

 

[doyll]

Indeed, if system is not kept clean then cleaning things up makes a big difference. Luckily all my systems have good filtered intakes and I usually hoover filters when cleaning house .. maybe every other time.

I've had a some systems in for 'repair' that were almost completely plugged with link on cooler fin face .. and that was all that was wrong with them. Have done a couple heavy smokers' that had me gagging they were so bad. Had to disassemble and wash everything in dish-washer. Of course had to dry immediately with hair dryer.

 

[Zefan]

The fact that the cpu temp spikes immediately tells me that you have an issue transferring heat away from the cpu to the cooler. To me this is a thermal interface problem smoking gun, the first place I'd be looking is the TIM.

If the interface was sound but the cooler wasn't performing properly (dust) you'd have a slow ramp up during idle or light load, and a slow ramp down.

 

[doyll]

Considering heat transfer takes at least a little time, much more time than these almost instantaneous spikes do, how can different/better TIM change them?

Seems to me those spikes will be there regardless of what TIM is used.

 

[offitmassive]

Just a thought... How old is the d15... Surely you'd have changed the paste when fitting that? Like has been said... Only when you see the need to

 

[onepunch111]

I change it every five years