Matth79 wrote on 2021-08-22, 23:04:

Got a S3 Savage 4 and a NVS280/Fx5200
Now if they used paste, it will be old and crusty, but does it matter?

Both are 2x push pin fitting - one has 2 part pins, the other single part "arrowhead" style. Do they get so fragile that they won't re-use

If you want it to keep working, then yeah cleaning the dust, replacing thermal paste is a must. The clips can be gently pushed back through.

I dont think I have ever bothered for old cards like this. I mean some of them dont even need fans to run, I doubt repasting would make a world of difference.

Where you don't get much thermal expansion, like heatsink to epoxy package, rather than to die or heatspreader, then it's still working even if it's dry, the grease is just there to get the conductive particles in place really. Where you've got continual small amounts of thermal movement in higher power thermal interfaces, then it's probably more worth it. However, vibration and moving the system or card around can disturb a TIM that's gone powdery. Probably you want to use one that is regarded as longer term stable. I think Arctic Silver used to recommend their Alumina paste for longevity.

15+ years hardware certainly would be benefit from new thermal paste. But it's not critical for really old cards like Savage 4 or other low-tier. They just don't produce much heat to make any marginable difference. Something like GeForce 4 Ti? Def needs new paste.

Agree with what others say about keeping it working. As far as worth it, if you have tubes of thermal paste laying around I can't see how it is so much of a burden to repaste something, that we are attaching a value to it. It's probably not so fragile you can't reuse as long as, this is the 1st time and you are careful. You can always spread out the arrow tip before you reinsert it. You can also push the thing in all the way and spread the arrowtip out and then release it so it sticks.