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

[Twirlywoos]

whenever temps start to rise unexpectedly and that applies to gpu's as well

 

[Stoner81]

Only when I changed the CPU cooler other than that I never bother unless I get spikes in temps which so far *touches wood* hasn't happened.

Stoner81.

 

[Mal X]

never..... only when you replace the cooler

 

[spixelspixel]

It says '8 year durability' on my mx-2 packaging.

 

[mranderson]

never..... only when you replace the cooler

Same here. Decided that 2-3 degrees improvement is not worth the hassle.

 

[Tuvoc]

Never, unless you have a temperature problem, or replace the cooler of course. The longest time for me was about five and a half years, at which point I retired the machine and there were no temp issues. That was Arctic Silver.

Potentially it could depend on the type of thermal paste, there are lots of different compositions. Gut feel says that the traditional Arctic Sliver type of paste might last longer, but I have no evidence to back up that statement...

 

[Nightglow]

Longest is round four years for me, but with my main pc, it's usually around a year, as I always strip it down for it's annual clean.

 

[craarc]

only on a rebuild

 

[BrianB]

only on a rebuild

^This. When I have to remove heatsink only, some thermal paste is rated to last 3-8 years. I don't see that stuff going anywhere.

 

[LexLuthor]

Well, one think is "should", and one completely different is "must"..
Why??.. I live in a very polutioned city, and every 3-4 months I "must" take apart my entire machine, pice by piece, do a full clean, and assembly it.. It's amazing the amount of dust it can grab, despite the case filters.. Remember: dust is a mortal enemy to your system..
Of course, that involves my H80 rad, my GPU cooler, and everything else. You know, cleaning the rad fins is not easy.. In fact, I sumerge it into pressured water for a better effect (same situation with my old Tt Frio).. All the cleanning take me an entire day..
Obviously, I must take out the cooler, and as re-assembly it with the old TIM it's a fail, I put new one (CPU+GPU)..

So, despite it "should" least for several years, in my case is every time I must..

If you don't suffer for polution/dust where you live, then from 3 to 5 years would be a nice number.. Again, like almost everyone had said, if you see some temp's spikes, then maybe you'll need to do it..

Just an opinion..

Best regards..

 

[Muel]

I had MX3, got to 2 years old, started getting hot, so decided to replace it, had to almost chisel the old stuff off, then put new stuff on from the same tube I'd bought 2 years before, knocked off 8-10C.

 

[fishboyuk]

I had MX3, got to 2 years old, started getting hot, so decided to replace it, had to almost chisel the old stuff off, then put new stuff on from the same tube I'd bought 2 years before, knocked off 8-10C.

Never had that problem with MX-2. Must be a feature of the newer product

 

[Cupra]

When I install a new CPU

 

[setter]

Ive owned my i7 920 for three years now, in that time ive had three different coolers on it, theese are the only times when ive repasted the cpu.

 

[MonsterMoshi]

I would go with the once a year thing but i like to mess about with my pc a lot! so it ends up being every month or so :s

 

[Ice213]

I tend to only bother when I take my cpu fan/heatsink off for whatever reason. Either that, or as they suggested, if suddenly the temps ramp up for no real reason.

 

[garethfedwards]

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)

^^^This

Keeping your PC dust free is far more important.

 

[jones2636]

I have not replaced mine since I put it on 5 years ago and temps are as they have always been.