I think I just cooked my thermal paste

HarryBizzle · 2 Jul 2016 at 16:31

Long story short, spend ages taking everything apart, stuck some nice new MX-4 on my CPU and hen promptly forgot to plug the fan back in after the fact.

One automatic shutdown later I'm scratching my head until I re,premiered I forgot the fan!

Have I ruined that bit of MX-4 and should I take it all apart and reapply?

And yes, I'm kicking myself at the moment.

new boy · 2 Jul 2016 at 19:24

It'll be 100% fine

Borealis · 2 Jul 2016 at 20:16

It'll be fine. The thermal paste does dry out slightly over time (takes years) but in this space of time it won't be an issue.

Jumper118 · 2 Jul 2016 at 22:29

most thermal paste work well above the 105c cut off for a cpu. should be fine upto 180-200c for a short time.

Holst1981 · 2 Jul 2016 at 22:45

The high temp may make the paste more liquid and it may spread out more thinly than usual.
So it might be better than normal.

Not worth changing it, you may forget something more important next time

yoyo59 · 3 Jul 2016 at 00:15

you will be fine lol

my friend actually forgot to even put a cooler on and ran his PC for a few weeks without noticing lmao

HarryBizzle · 3 Jul 2016 at 01:30

Thanks all!

jasonmorris · 6 Jul 2016 at 08:16

Surprised it booted at all with the cpu fan header not connected. My Asus board won't.
There is usually a setting in the BIOS if you want to check it.