Reapply thermal grease

  • Thread starter Thread starter WebWalker
  • Start date Start date
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WebWalker

How long we need to reapply new thermal grease to the CPU surface (clean
the old grease before apply the new one).
I know that when time pass by, the grease will become harder and less
effective for transferring heat.
 
How long we need to reapply new thermal grease to the CPU surface (clean
the old grease before apply the new one).
I know that when time pass by, the grease will become harder and less
effective for transferring heat.
Click to expand...

You don't need to,"Re-apply".
Going,"Hard" would not affect it's ability to transmit heat(or at
least not enough to ever worry about).
HTH :)
PS
More important to clean out the dust and gunk off the fans etc :)



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WebWalker said:
How long we need to reapply new thermal grease to the CPU surface
(clean the old grease before apply the new one).
I know that when time pass by, the grease will become harder and less
effective for transferring heat.
Click to expand...

Thermal compound does not get hard. It will stay sticky for years.
Maybe you are using thermal adhesive (which is an epoxy and is less
thermally conductive) instead of thermal compound.
 
Thermal compound does not get hard. It will stay sticky for years.
Maybe you are using thermal adhesive (which is an epoxy and is less
thermally conductive) instead of thermal compound.
Click to expand...

Some do get hard(er).
Elevated temps and thermal cycling will separate the liquid
portion and smaller islands of solids are left behind. I've
noticed it on several different compounds on small-core CPU like
Celeron/P3 and Athlon/Duron. Typicially it happens with the
silicone based compounds much moreso than the synthetics like
AS3/Alumina/Ceramique/et al, if the synthetics are affected at
all.

For smaller exposed core CPU that runs pretty hot it may be
beneficial to reapply compound every 12 months or so. Same
compound "could" go longer with only a few degrees difference
though so it also depends on how concerned the user is with the
result of a few degree temp rise. Beneficial <> necessary
 
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