The $15 thermal paste tube I ignored for years finally won me over

I used to think thermal paste was snake oil for people with too much time. My 6 year old laptop kept shutting off during video calls, so I finally pulled the heat sink and the old paste looked like dried clay. One tube from a local shop in Dayton cost me $15 and a half hour of careful cleaning. Temps dropped from 98C to 71C under load, and the fan actually stops now between tasks. Anyone else put off this fix way longer than they should have?

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zarat372d agoMost Upvoted

Cleaning out six years of dust bunnies from the fans was honestly the scariest part for me, like opening a crypt or something. Now I'm half tempted to re-paste my old gaming console just for fun, though that thing's probably held together with prayers at this point.