Hardware Is it a good idea to change frequently thermal paste?

depaul

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Hi guys. My PS4 is working good and I've never bothered to replace thermal paste.
The noise level is the same I noticed the first day I bought the console.

Is it a good idea to replace thermal paste and/or thermal pad every couple of years? Some friend who is electronics professional told me it's necessary to apply a new paste every 2/3 years, but I see no reason to do so even with my 10 y.o. PS3 and 7 y.o. Wii U!

Thanks.
 
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depaul

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Yes actually the PS4 and even my PS3 console are still running fine.
Disassembling a console is a bit risky, that's why I don't thinks it's a wise idea to replace the thermal paste (or is it?).
 

The Real Jdbye

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Hi guys. My PS4 is working good and I've never bothered to replace thermal paste.
The noise level is the same I noticed the first day I bought the console.

Is it a good idea to replace thermal paste and/or thermal pad every couple of years? Some friend who is electronics professional told me it's necessary to apply a new paste every 2/3 years, but I see no reason to do so even with my 10 y.o. PS3 and 7 y.o. Wii U!

Thanks.
Certainly don't leave it for 7-8 years without replacing it as I did with my laptop. It was severely thermal throttling and completely dried up and rock hard. Don't need to replace it as often as every 2-3 years though. Every 4-5 years is probably good enough.
 
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FAST6191

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Consoles do run a bit hotter than some computers, though laptops are also up there.

If the console needs the coolers taken off as part of whatever then I would consider replacing things, though also would not necessarily deem it essential outside of either seeing it completely dried up or a big rip in the relevant parts of the mat if it is one of those.

I certainly don't do it for things I repair, and have never seen it as an essential/while I am in there service for any console repair outfit I respect. You can certainly make a judgement when seeing it but as something to worry about then nah, just keep the dust down.
If you are in there and it has been many years, and you don't want to do it again for many years then I can see it over waiting for it to fail.

Otherwise yeah excessive fan that is not explained by dust/poor air floor, rising temperatures (especially if you think it might only be a certain point dropping the lot, harder to tell that on a console than PC though).
 
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CMDreamer

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If it works, don't fix it.

Replace thermal paste/pads if and only if needed.

Constantly replacing thermal paste/pads won't do any good anyway, even if common belief states so.
 
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pustal

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Hi guys. My PS4 is working good and I've never bothered to replace thermal paste.
The noise level is the same I noticed the first day I bought the console.

Is it a good idea to replace thermal paste and/or thermal pad every couple of years? Some friend who is electronics professional told me it's necessary to apply a new paste every 2/3 years, but I see no reason to do so even with my 10 y.o. PS3 and 7 y.o. Wii U!

Thanks.

Here: https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2137-thermalpaste-types-conductivity-and-more

Thermal paste has some desirable thermal conductivity period. That period largely varies with the quality of the paste. I can't attest for PS4 thermal paste quality, but should be graded for quite a few years, as customers are expected to have that console working for a generation. Usually people change paste not because the original console paste has degraded and causes problems but to have a better-than-original temperature dissipation, making the console run more silently and hopefully preserving the console far longer than expected.

I never felt the need to replace mine. I have replaced my PS3's paste once and should probably do it again in a near future and really had to change my old original XBox now that I recovered it from storage.

For the PS4 shouldn't be necessary but at least do keep it in a well ventilated area. The console's airflow design is terrible, specially for the Pro.
 
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depaul

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Hi. Quick update : Ironically my friend who advised me to replace the thermal paste just bricked his PC. He did something wrong with the motherboard while replacing thermal paste.

So I think if your console/pc is working fine just don't try it. Stay away from disassembling your device unless you really need to.
 
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Leon11

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People that had working console replaced the thermal paste and they made it worse, worst temperatures, strange behaviours, or they broke the console. It's not really hard to take apart a console if you follow a good guide and you have proper tools, but like others said i strongly recommend to do it when there is a serious problem and you are forced to fix the problem, if it works don't touch it.
 
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Maupiti

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Changing thermal paste on a PC tower is quite easy, changing thermal past on a laptop or a console is another thing. As others said, if it works and you don’t have strange behaviours, don’t touch it.

On a PC tower, the cpu/gpu are easily reachable without much risks of damaging other components, it’s not at all the same « story » with consoles…
 
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