maximus wrote:

and the temperature advantages seem to be fairly minimal.

Is there any real point in applying new thermal paste if the old paste seems to be doing its job?

In these circumstances it's obvious the answer is no.

maximus wrote:

I find myself going back and forth on this one. On the one hand, I want all my hardware to operate at the lowest possible temps, and I have a big tube of Arctic MX-4 lying around. On the other hand, repasting some components is a major hassle (especially if thermal pads are involved), and the temperature advantages seem to be fairly minimal.

Is there any real point in applying new thermal paste if the old paste seems to be doing its job?

There is a very good reason. So it doesnt end up like my Athlon 64 did. I left that paste on 9 years and when i went to remove it, well i couldnt get the heatsink off the board. I had to pull the CPU out by the heatsink which was essentially glued on by old thermal paste well enough to allow me to remove a socket AM2 CPU WIth the Z Force clip engaged by the heatsink. Forgot what i did to get it off the heatsink but i know the thermal paste actually removed the ID whatever its called writing from the CPU. Never had any temperature issues because of the fact this particular OEM board was an ASUS with a decent fan but still, you dont want to have to do that...

If I can do that, I always do. Were talking about hardware that is decades old so at least for me, extending its lifespan is important.

Though ofcourse it depends on the item - I got a gtx 8800 a while ago and knowing these cards had thermal issues I replaced the paste and pads right away.

Meanwhile my slot 1 CPUs remain with stock paste since opening them up without breaking something off is a nightmare.