Thermal Paste?

The elder spawn wants some thermal paste for her aging desktop CPU. Firstly, is this stuff worth bothering with, secondly does it matter which one I buy?

Not being a PC person, I don't know. But I thank you for the amazing topic title.

Amazingly, I am absolutely the person you need for this as I've been on a JOURNEY INTO THE THERMAL PASTE ZONE for the last two years and experimenting a lot with different types. My conclusion is - do not buy cheap thermal paste. It genuinely makes a difference, and I'm someone who would always buy a value option if one exists. I did extensive testing of different types on my main PC as I was unhappy with the temperature the CPU was running at. And in the end traced it to the cheap non-branded thermal paste I'd bought locally. I cut around 10-15 degrees off the operating temps, which doesn't sound like a lot, but opened up options for overclocking. For an older CPU (which one), a decent heatsink and paste may open up an option to squeeze a bit more performance out of the chip, but I think you'll mainly be looking at maintaining it as a working chip for longer by reducing the operating temperatures of it.

When you apply, clean the heatsink and CPU with an alcohol wipe first and make sure they're totally free of old paste. Then use either the blob method, or cross method. Don't be tempted to use too much. My personal recommendation is Kryonaut Thermal Grizzly. Which is also a good band name. If money's tight the named Corsair branded stuff is good, but any other non-generic should be fine. If you've had the PC for a while then it may well need a repaste - I did my dad's PC recently which was about 5 years old and the paste had basically burnt off.

While the case is open, try to remove as much dust and other shit as you can too as that will make a big difference to how hot things are running. If fans are getting old and noisy you may want to remove and replace those too.

Great. Thanks!

I've been on a JOURNEY INTO THE THERMAL PASTE ZONE

Of course you have, you sick bastard, you should see a doctor about that, etc etc.

You wish you could gain access to my hot thermal paste zone.

If I spread this on my lower back will it help with sore muscles

You wish you could gain access to my hot thermal paste zone.

99p per minute, please get the bill payer's permission before you call.