TIL swapping thermal paste dropped my CPU temps by 12 degrees

I built my PC about 3 years ago and used the stock paste that came with my cooler. Last week I finally swapped it out for some Arctic MX-6 I grabbed for $8 at Micro Center in Austin. After running Cinebench, my max temp went from 82C to 70C on my Ryzen 5 3600. I didn't think it would make that big of a difference honestly. Has anyone else seen that kind of drop just from a paste swap, or did I just mess up the first application?

2 comments

2 Comments

wren2176d ago

Did you remount the cooler completely or just swap the paste? @jamie712 reminded me of a Gamers Nexus video I watched where they tested old vs new paste and saw similar gains on a few year old builds.

jamie7127d ago

A buddy of mine had a similar thing happen with his old Intel build. He built it in 2018, used the stock cooler with whatever paste came pre-applied, and his 8700K was hitting like 90C under load. Finally swapped it for some Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut he had sitting around, and his temps dropped almost exactly the same amount, around 11 or 12 degrees. He said he thought maybe the original paste had just dried out or something, but I don't know. Weird how such a cheap fix can make that big of a difference though.