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I used to roll my eyes at thermal paste swaps, then I saw the temps on a 5 year old Dell
For 8 years I told customers that repasting a CPU was a waste of money unless the fan was screaming. Then last Tuesday a guy brought in a Dell XPS from 2016 that would randomly shut down when he opened Chrome. I pulled the heatsink and the paste was basically chalk. New paste dropped his load temps from 94C to 71C. I still think 90% of repaste jobs are a cash grab, but I was wrong about it being useless. Anyone else got a cutoff rule for when you actually recommend it?
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viola_ward6d ago
My cutoff is when the machine is 4+ years old and the idle temps are already creeping past 60C. Had a 2017 HP Omen come in last month, idle sat at 68C, paste was so dried out it flaked off like old paint. Fresh paste knocked 25C off the idle temp and the fan finally stopped sounding like a jet engine. If it's under 3 years old or still running cool, I just blow out the dust and send them on their way.
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