Does thermal grease dry out?

[Harryh]

Hello,

Does thermal grease on a CPU dry out? If so, how long does that generally take?

[BC_Programmer]

that's a good question. I know for a fact that thermal pads turn to dust. Don't know about pastes.

[Salmon Trout]

Some thermal greases may dry out over a period of time. They can set hard and make it hard to take off the heat sink. If that happens, you could damage the processor if you force it. In that case run the processor for a few minutes to soften the grease. The period of time before drying out would be years. Most machines will go through their normal lifetime with the original application. Reasons to reapply are when removing/installing the heatsink, if working on an overheating problem, or if the pc is older than you are.

[BC_Programmer]

oldest computer I had was a year older then me...

but it was too old to need any special cooling solution 

[Salmon Trout]

oldest computer I had was a year older then me...

but it was too old to need any special cooling solution 

My 1995 P120 didn't have a heatsink, however I am older than 15 (as everybody knows.)

[Harryh]

Thanks folks,

Sounds like I can expect the grease to last for a few years at least. And if I ever go to remove the CPU cooler, do so with care.

Harry

[Computer_Commando]

I've got a tube of Silicone Heat Sink Compound that's older than the 1st Personal Computer.  It's still good & I have used it on a couple of PCs in the past few years.

[lectrocrew]

Good subject Harryh.
 

 For further discussion,  I agree thermal grease dries out over a period of time but does this affect the ability of it to transfer heat as efficeintly as when it's fresh? I guess that may depend on the type used (silicone-based, ceramic-based,  metal-based, ect.). I don't know?

oldest computer I had was a year older then me...

but it was too old to need any special cooling solution 

My oldest computer is much younger than I am, and neither of us need any special cooling solution. We both cannot seem to perform well enough any more to get heated up.   

[Citizen Swooboo]

My PC is four years old.  As of two years ago when I upgraded some hardware, the grease was still in its semi-liquid state.  Just last month, as my computer approached the four-year mark, I took apart the computer again to clean it out, and the grease between the CPU and heat-sink had turned to dust.  Although I have not had overheating issues, I went ahead and reapplied some grease to be safe.

I do not know what type the original grease was to speculate on which varieties may break down.

[Geek-9pm]

Tooth paste dries out. 

[Salmon Trout]

Some thermal greases can dry out to a kind of powder in which case there will be air spaces appearing in the layer between the cpu and the heatsink. This will worsen the heat conduction and would eventually lead to a drift upwards in average temperatures. If I had a 5 to 7 year old computer that was overheating, (If I decided to fix it at all) I might well try and see if the heatsink compound was dried out. But it would not be the first thing I suspected. I think some people over estimate the role that thermal grease plays in CPU cooling.

[Salmon Trout]

I think some people over estimate the role that thermal grease plays in CPU cooling.

I didn't mean that thermal compound doesn't matter or that you don't need to be careful how you apply it, I mean that properly applied thermal compound can be left for years and if I had a PC that was seriously overheating I would be investigating other things first such as case ventilation, clogged fan/heatsink blades, fan condition and operation, etc.

[talontromper]

I know the importance of good thermal compound for the transference of heat between the heat sink and cpu. My question is when i do hardware intensive work on my hp laptop (I.E. Revit doing a rendering, or Starcraft 2 (not really work but applies)) with an AMD dual core processor it can heat up the core to anywhere from 160~200 degrees. Does that mean i have bad thermal compound? (yes the fans work, and yes it is properly ventilated while in operation)

[BC_Programmer]

Does that mean i have bad thermal compound?

if I had a PC that was seriously overheating I would be investigating other things first such as case ventilation, clogged fan/heatsink blades, fan condition and operation, etc.

[Salmon Trout]

160~200 degrees

If you mean degrees Fahrenheit (the temperature scale they still use in the USA) then that equates to 71 to 93 degrees Celsius (the temperature scale they use everywhere else). This is TOO HOT for an AMD dual core cpu, I think. Talontromper, I see this thread was started by harryh, so I think your question is slightly different.

From what I can gather, some HP laptops with AMD cpus do run hot. (the notorious dv9000z with the AMD mobo and the nVidia Go 6150 GPU is one such) It is a problem in hot places such as Hawaii. Before I went to the extent of dismantling the laptop (never a trivial task) I would check out a few things such as

- is Cool 'n' Quiet enabled

- is the laptop being operated laying flat or is the back raised up a bit (this can help)

- is the use I am putting the laptop to suitable for its design and capabilities

You can get after market external notebook coolers such as this aluminium one with a fan inside

[talontromper]

Cool and quiet? It sits on a external cooler already. Actually i just start another thread, I don't want to jack this thread  Here is the thread

[Harryh]

This is what Artic Silver says:

Arctic Silver 5, Céramique, Arctic Alumina and Matrix thermal compounds are
greases and have no adhesive qualities. They will never dry or set and cannot be
used to glue a heatsink to a CPU core.

Thanks folks,
Harry