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how do you know if you should reapply the thermal paste on a laptop cpu? - bk7794 When should you do that.

Best Answer: The time when you need to re-apply the thermal compound is usually after around 2 years. The reason for this is because after time the ventilation ducts start to become blocked and cause the laptop to heat up more than normal thus putting more stress on the themal compound, don't get me wrong - the paste is designed to withstand and/over the temperatures of the processor but for example if you have a toasty P4 installed and its been running and getting thrashed for about 3 years its not going to be at its best. To find out you can download a free program from cpuz.com called PC Wizard 2008 and this will tell you the temp of the cpu, I prefer Everest Ultimate 2008 but its personal and prefessional choice. If your laptop has shutdown unexpectedly when the fans were going crazy that is also another let tale sign of overheating. another example it to have to laptop idle for 10 mins and if its over 55C degrees chances are it needs the ducts brushing out and new thermal putting on. If you decide to replace it, buy a proper thermal compound with silver particles because they increase conductivity, beware though as this type of compound is electrically conductive so only put it onto the heat transfer plate and be very tidy. You need to purchase a proper remover, something like TIM cleaner which is perfect, it is a citric based acid and is easy to use, clean both face plates, leave no grease!!! - Notebook Tech

Unless its cheap gunk from the manufactuer then i wouldnt. Most thermal pastes have a working life of 7-10 years based on what they're made of. So if you've applied some to your CPU/GPU then it should pretty much last the life of your rig The only time you change it after initial installation is if you screwed up applying it or you are changing your CPU again - Kamin_Majere

In my experience I don't reapply the Thermal Paste unless I have pulled the processor or pulled the fan. Then I of course re-apply the paste to ensure that it does what it's supposed to. Basically if you haven't touched your laptop's fan / cpu then I wouldn't worry about it. Take care, Chad - Helpful Chad

you don't reapply it, it should be a one time deal when you put the CPU in - Ian C

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