Thermal paste, also known as heat sink paste or thermal compound, is a thermally conductive material designed to improve heat transfer from your laptop’s GPU and CPU to the heat sink. If you take a look at a new processor and its heat sink, it might look like they have perfectly smooth surfaces, but that’s not quite the case. There are microscopic gaps in them, and it’s these gaps that can trap hot air and make your laptop overheat. When you apply thermal paste, it will fill these tiny gaps, keeping hot air from getting trapped. Instead, the heat will have to move from the processor to the heat sink in a direct path using the thermal paste as a bridge in between. Your laptop’s active cooling system will handle the rest.
If your laptop is running hotter than usual, performance is dipping, and you’re experiencing sudden shutdowns, the fix might be as easy as replacing the thermal paste. Laptops generate a lot of heat, and the airflow is often not satisfactory because the components are packed so tightly together. As dust gathers and the thermal paste wears out, your laptop starts to overheat and slow down to protect itself.
Fortunately, the maintenance is something that you can handle yourself without any tech know-how or special tools. Every laptop comes with thermal paste already applied by the manufacturer, so you don’t usually need to worry about it when buying a new device. However, the paste can degrade relatively quickly, especially in cheaper laptops where the manufacturer might have cut corners. Changing the thermal paste is as necessary as changing a car’s engine oil, and it should be a regular part of laptop maintenance. That said, here’s everything you need to know about changing thermal paste.
How often should you replace thermal paste?
Thermal paste degrades over time. It can dry out, crack, and thus lose its thermal conductivity. When this happens, it will no longer bridge the CPU and heat sink well enough to prevent the buildup of hot air. Most laptops could use a thermal paste replacement anywhere between two to four years, but it depends on several factors. If you’re regularly running demanding games or video editing and 3D rendering apps, your laptop will generate more heat. Constant heat exposure degrades thermal paste faster. That means you’ll have to change the thermal paste more often, closer to the two-year mark. If you’re using your laptop for light work like browsing or just occasional gaming, you might be able to wait longer than two years.
The environment is another big factor that influences how often you should change the thermal compound. If the room where your laptop stays is dry, dusty, and filled with pet hair, you’ll need to replace the thermal paste more often. You should make a habit of opening your laptop for deep cleaning. Also, keeping thermal paste fresh is a simple and affordable solution for keeping your laptop at optimal temperatures and prolonging its lifespan.
How to check if it’s time to change the thermal paste
There are several warning signs you should look for if you suspect your laptop is overheating and might need a thermal paste replacement. No, holding your hand near the vent isn’t sufficient. However, you should pay attention to changes in the sounds the cooling fans make. If they’re producing constant and loud noise, it might indicate an overheating problem.
Another sign to look for is thermal throttling. This is a safety mechanism every laptop has to prevent the CPU or GPU from overheating. When the device reaches dangerous temperatures (usually 212 degrees Fahrenheit and above), it will reduce the clock speed and the performance will drop. In extreme cases, thermal throttling might cause your laptop to shut down unexpectedly to prevent heat damage to the processor.
That said, the best way to determine if your laptop needs thermal paste change is to observe the CPU and GPU temperatures both during the laptop’s idle time and while running a demanding program like a video game or rendering software. There are several free temperature monitoring programs you can download online, such as HWMonitor. Run one of these apps and observe current, minimum, and maximum temperatures for each core while running a demanding app for at least 15 minutes. If you determine your laptop is overheating, and it needs a thermal paste replacement, take the opportunity to also clean all the cooling fans.
