Thermal paste tube that sat in my drawer for 8 years saved a dead laptop

I pulled an old laptop from 2016 that was overheating and shutting off, figured the fan was gone. Dug out a crusty tube of Arctic Silver that expired in 2015, reapplied it anyway, and the temps dropped 30 degrees. Anyone else ever get lucky with ancient thermal compound instead of buying new?

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1 Comment

ross.felix19d ago

Hell yeah, that's awesome! I did the same thing with a tube from like 2012 on an old gaming laptop that was thermal throttling into a slideshow. Didn't expect much but it ran cooler than it ever did new, guess that stuff just doesn't go bad if it's sealed right. Sometimes old tech just refuses to quit.