Thermal paste comparison saved my bacon on a Dell Optiplex

I swapped two of the same Optiplex 7050s from stock paste to a $6 tube of Arctic MX-6 last week. One dropped 12 degrees under load, the other stayed the same because I messed up the mounting pressure. Has anyone else found that paste matters way less than how tight you screw the cooler?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_tara1mo ago

Wait, you actually tested the same paste on two identical machines? That's a solid experiment. I used to swear the paste brand was everything, blow money on the fancy stuff. Then I did a repaste on my old laptop, screwed the cooler back on crooked, and temps were worse than before. Fixed the pressure, same paste, dropped like a champ. So yeah, I'm with you now. The paste has to be decent, but the spread and tightness are the real game changers.

olivia7571mo ago

Nah, I gotta push back a little on this one. Thermal paste absolutely can make a difference, even on those older Dell office machines. I've used MX-6 too and saw a solid 8 degree drop on a 7040 that had crusty factory stuff, but the key was that the old paste had basically turned to dry chalk. On a different Optiplex where the stock paste still looked wet, swapping to Kryonaut got me maybe 3 degrees at best. Mounting pressure matters a lot, sure, but the paste itself matters when the factory stuff has been heat cycled for years and turned into garbage.

fiona7371mo ago

Half the battle is just remembering which drawer I left the tube in, Lord knows these old fingers need all the cooling they can get.