Was dead set against thermal paste reapplication until my laptop hit 95 degrees

I've got a 4 year old Dell that started shutting down mid game. My buddy who works on PCs kept telling me to repaste the CPU. I figured it was fine from the factory. After the third crash I finally did it. Dropped temps by 20 degrees on the next boot. Had no idea it could make that big of a difference. Has anyone else waited way too long to do this simple fix?

2 comments

2 Comments

fox.skyler3d ago

Is it really that big of a deal if you're not gaming or doing anything heavy though? I mean, 95 degrees sounds bad but these laptops are designed to run hot, they throttle down before they get damaged. That's what the thermal limit is for, right? I've got a 6 year old HP that I've never repasted and it still boots up fine for browsing and emails. Seems like most people only notice a difference if they're pushing the CPU hard all the time. Did you actually see any performance boost or did it just make you feel better?

the_stella3d ago

Did you see that LTT video where they tested thermal paste on a laptop that was like 8 years old and it dropped like 25 degrees? lol I put it off too on my old ASUS until I couldn't even watch YouTube without fans going insane.