How often to renew thermal paste?

[Temujin]

Paper towel to get the most of it off. Then I use sterets saches. They contain isopropyl alcohol to clean off the traces.

If you can't get isopropyl, I've always used zippo lighter fluid with no problems. Oh, and to add to other replies, i had to change my GPU this year due to temp fluctuations but that had been on there since at least late 2012. If you have no need to remove the block then don't worry about changing the compound!

 

[russell664]

I change mine between 1 to 2 years.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Only if I see temperatures rising above what they normally are - properly applied I've had systems running for years with the same idle and load temps for a given ambient.

Absolutely this.