Why does nobody talk about how bad the factory thermal paste is on Dell laptops

I popped open my XPS 15 from 2022 last weekend to clean the fans and figured I'd re-paste the CPU while I was at it. The stock paste was crustier than week-old bread... like completely dry and flaking off. After I swapped it with some Arctic MX-4 my temps dropped a good 12 degrees under load. Has anyone else seen this or did I just get a lemon?

2 comments

2 Comments

craig.grant8d ago

Your XPS is a 2022 model, how many hours a day would you say it typically runs under load?

the_wade8d ago

You said "under load" - are you talking rendering or just regular multitasking with a bunch of Chrome tabs open?