10 years with this tube, and the day has finally come. RIP.
10 years with this tube, and the day has finally come. RIP.
I have had this tube of MX4 since 2013, it's served me well, countless rebuilds of my computers, CPUs and GPUs alike, home servers, gaming computers, laptops, games consoles, pi4, I used this on everything. You served me well.
8th June 2013 to 4th November 2023.
The post shows more devotion than many relationships found in my family tree.
71I've got half a dozen tubes floating around somewhere in various totes and drawers.
9Not gonna slut-shame you
13
This would be funny if it wasn't so true : /
1
Doesn't thermal compound experies? I thought after some years it would not work anymore.
30It’s important to give it a taste test every few years.
37I didn't notice any breakdown of the paste. It typically dries out over time once applied, this was still the same consistency throughout its life (in the tube)
19This has been my experience with MX-4 as well. It's really really really stable. I've never had to re-apply MX-4 due to it drying out, either. (It's supposed to last at least 8 years in use.)
The same tube has been sitting in my drawer and every time I've needed it, every few years, it's been good.
6I have decade old tubes. Maybe some bits around the entrance can dry out if you didn't clean them after use but it doesn't seem to be an issue for mine as far as the inside stuff goes (of course I put the cap back on as well).
2
I think it doesn't hurt to try before buying a new tube. If once you apply it you see a drop in temps and fan noise, then it's obviously still good.
3No, but you do want to occasionally rotate them around. They will separate over long periods of time.
If you have some expensive stuff that has been untouched for like a year, plunge it all out on a cleaned piece of glass, very, very, thoroughly stir it back up, and scoop/smash it back into the back side of the tube and then let it sit upright somewhere for about a month so all the air works itself back out to one end before using it again.
3It loses conductivity mostly due to drying out, so a sealed tube should keep it good for a long time.
2
As someone who upgrades / rebuilds rarely I have more thermal paste than I know what to do with. lol
21I'm pretty sure I still have a bit of Arctic Silver 3 lying around somewhere...
6That's incredible. I typically only get 1 use out of mine.
5Far out, how much you putting on? As far as I’m aware, doing a cross over the processor is all that’s needed
13Even that's a bit much. For normal sized CPUs, a dot in the middle a tad smaller than a pea is enough to cover the IHS.
6Idk the tube of arcticnaut I have came with a little wide applicator that I used to just kinda paint the whole thing in the thinnest layer possible with the coherence of the paste being what it is. Squished out a bit over the sides but didn't get around the socket or anything.
Idk what Thermal Grizzly Cryonaut comes with but dammit if it doesn't do the job. I've seen 70C on my CPU once and that was during a video render, a game has never broken that barrier. It's Ryzen Master Auto O/C'd so idk what it would be getting without that boost in performance.
4
1
What are you installing, a threadripper every time?
You don't need much at all, just barely enough to cover the IHS in the thinnest possible layer.
10
I have a big tube that I don't think I can ever use up. I have used like less than 10% in a decade.
4