Tried using thermal paste from 2015 on a client's old PC yesterday

I had this tube of Arctic Silver from like 8 years ago sitting in my drawer. Figured it was fine, applied it to an i5-4690k system I was rebuilding for a guy in Portland. PC wouldn't even boot, just kept overheating and shutting down. Had to scrape it off and grab a fresh tube of MX-4 and then it ran fine. Learned that thermal paste really does go bad after a few years, it was all crusty and dry. Anyone else ever try old paste and get burned?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_aaron3d ago

Gotta disagree here. I've used 10 year old Arctic Silver before and it worked fine, sounds like the tube wasn't sealed properly or got stored somewhere hot.

julia_anderson3d ago

Tube storage makes all the difference honestly. I keep my Arctic Silver in a ziplock bag in a drawer away from sunlight and it stays good for years. If the cap isn't on tight or it sits in a hot car for a day, that stuff dries up fast. Temperature swings are the real enemy here, not age.

morgan_martinez3d ago

I had a tube of Arctic Silver that was about 6 years old and it was basically dried out paste when I tried to use it last year. Maybe you just got lucky with yours or had a really good batch.