How often should you renew your CPU's's Thermal Compound?

OLDPHART · 16 Jul 2012 at 08:56

Just out of curiosity l emailed Arctic Cooling Support and asked them as l use MX-4, how often you should renew your CPU's thermal compound. As my CPU's TIM has not been replaced in over 2 years and CPU temps are just the same, their Support replied once a year or when temps go up for no reason at all.

robj20 · 16 Jul 2012 at 08:59

Never, unless im changing cpu or heatsink, or if my temps suddenly rise. Of course they would say yearly.

Vimes · 16 Jul 2012 at 09:08

I surprised that they did not suggest monthly, after all this stuff goes a long way and they have lots more to sell.

If I ever need to remove the HSF then I will be tempted to replace it, although being both lazy and often misplacing whatever gunk I'm using I have been known just to smooth it out and replace the HSF with no detriment to temps.

When I built my E8500 and P35 board it ran with the same 1st revision Arctic Freezer cooler in place for around 4 years and always overclocked to at least 4Ghz. I removed it a few weeks ago to put it into a HTPC. That was the first I had seen of it since it went into the board. I had to remove the HSF to get the board in sadly, otherwise I would not have seen it then.

Smoogels · 16 Jul 2012 at 09:11

I normally do it once a year.

XeNoN89 · 16 Jul 2012 at 09:47

Not reseated my Q9550 yet and it has been going fine for nearly 4 years now.

shuffle · 16 Jul 2012 at 09:58

havent changed for 3+ years

NealR · 16 Jul 2012 at 10:00

Will usually give it a proper clean down once every 2 or 3 years, but thats when I take the vaccumn, and the 8 bar air compressor to it and give it a real going over. But I will strip the machine right now and then blast it clean, then put it all back together as if it was all new components

Hagar · 16 Jul 2012 at 10:34

Whenever I change, reseat my processor typically 2-3 years.

Gilbert89 · 16 Jul 2012 at 11:39

I reapplied Thermal Paste when changing Heatsink or every year or 2!

SouthEastBlue · 16 Jul 2012 at 20:54

I would only ever change when I swap cooler or CPU which would equate to roughly once every year or so on average over the past few years.

Justintime · 17 Jul 2012 at 07:12

I think i got some Arctic silver in some machines going on a decade or more.

Vimes · 17 Jul 2012 at 08:20

Thinking about it like that ^^^^ I know that my brothers PC has not been touched since I gave it to him in 2002 and before that it was my daughters for a few years, and never touched. It is totally unnecessary to replace any TIM just because it has been there for a few years.

ubersonic · 17 Jul 2012 at 08:47

I applied thermal paste to the CPU's in our gateway DNS machine in 1999 and its been running almost continuously ever since, never knew you were supposed to replace it :S

spain · 17 Jul 2012 at 09:43

Same as most above, only when changing CPU or Cooler. If I had a heat problem then It would be looked at.

Justintime · 17 Jul 2012 at 18:26

Vimes said:
Thinking about it like that ^^^^ I know that my brothers PC has not been touched since I gave it to him in 2002 and before that it was my daughters for a few years, and never touched. It is totally unnecessary to replace any TIM just because it has been there for a few years.

How old is that thing? And he still uses it? :eek:

Vimes · 17 Jul 2012 at 19:20

Justintime said:
How old is that thing? And he still uses it?

It is a Pentium 3 Socket 370, I forget what speed it is running at as he has never asked me to fix anything on it for ages. He uses it almost every day and has never complained yet of its performance.
Forget just how old it is but IIRC it has a Abit board in it. I did put him XP on it around 2005, as he had Win 98 installed.

Chrisbes · 18 Jul 2012 at 09:47

I'd say I change mine every 6 months or so. Usually for a complete clean of the heatsink. Due to the size of the D14, it's not easy to do while it's inside the case.

Tealc · 18 Jul 2012 at 10:05

Used to change it every 12 months but now can't be bothered. I don't think it's that important really.

CyberCrow · 20 Jul 2012 at 20:44

Clean the inside of the Pc at least twice a year, i change me cpu compound when i change my rig ( every 2-3 years)

BrianB · 20 Jul 2012 at 21:02

Chrisbes said:
I'd say I change mine every 6 months or so. Usually for a complete clean of the heatsink. Due to the size of the D14, it's not easy to do while it's inside the case.

It's a ******* to get out as well if you have psu mounted on bottom!