Does thermal compound go off?

I’ve got an unopened tube(well I don’t remember taking the cap of or using it) of kryonaut, bought it back in 2015 & it got misplaced for years. Only found it a few years ago & its been set in a box in the garage for the past couple of/few years, is it ok to use?
 
As long as consistency is similar to what is supposed to be i.e. It hasnt dried out or separated, it'll be fine.
I would only care if you're chasing benchmarks.
 
i would buy new as i used 10 year old on mine and had to remove the cpu it stuck so hard it pulled the cpu out and ripped the pins out
 
Had it solidified or was it simply a suction effect? You have to slide them off rather than pull as the suction can be huge

If compound goes off after a couple years how is it supposed to stay stable in the pressure cooker of being clamped between a hot cpu and heatsink for years? I took apart a build after 4 or more years and the AS5 compound was like the day I put it on
 
You should if possible, run your pc for a good length of time, play some games etc before removing a CPU cooler.

If not take a hair dryer to it.
 
I usually get free new paste included with other purchases, so I end up with half used perfectly good tubes of paste. I've never had any go-off.
 
I doubt a bit of old thermal paste would hurt. Personally I would just buy some new stuff just for peace of mind but I'm no expert.

Although, That being said something is better than nothing ;) Even some ageing tube of thermal paste.

I recently watched this video where a guy tested various configurations of thermal paste application (Size, Shape, Amount etc) He even cleaned it all off and used none :D He must have had a pretty good contact with his cooler because nothing blew up and the CPU appeared to be fine.

So based on that kind of testing I'd say that any thermal paste will do :p Or none at all.
 
It does harden over time yes, and will lose performance eventually. This is why manufacturers use longer lasting, but lower performing compound.
 
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