Just found out that thermal paste has a shelf life and I've been using stuff from 2018

Was cleaning out my drawer and noticed the tube said 'best before 2020' on it. Has anyone else dealt with dried-out paste or am I the only one who never checked the expiration date before?

3 comments

3 Comments

marydavis1mo ago

Honestly that best before date is mostly a suggestion anyway. Plenty of thermal paste still works fine years past its date if the tube hasn't been opened yet or was stored right. The whole panic about expired paste seems overblown to me, like people just want an excuse to buy new stuff. Did you actually try to use it and see bad temps, or are you just going by what the label says?

rileygarcia1mo ago

Hold on a second, thermal paste does actually dry out over time even in a sealed tube. The carrier oils evaporate or separate, so you end up with a crumbly mess that spreads like clay. Are you really getting full coverage with a five year old tube, or is it just looking okay from the outside?

ryanm601mo agoMost Upvoted

Five year old paste is basically concrete dust at that point. Just buy a new tube for like eight bucks.