Does Thermal Paste have a life span?

[meanhoe]

i have Arctic Cooling MX-2 i bought a couple years ago that has been safely tucked away. can i still use this after such a long time? is there a shelf life to paste?

 

[coder_t2]

I've used Ceramique that was 2 years old before. I actually have some Arctic silver 5 that I am going to use that is at least 3 years old. I just squirt some out to get rid of any junk or dust that got in the tip. Or any paste that hardened due to air exposure.

 

[Eddie313]

I have had arctic silver go bad on me before, when applying you could see it separated.

 

[coder_t2]

What does it look like? I had some clear gunk come out of my tube, but after that it was fine.

 

[Eddie313]

Some clear then went very dark brown would not spread right.

 

[coder_t2]

Hmm, I think mine may be ok. Its dark gray, but seems to spread normal.

 

[frostedflakes]

Sounds like it separated. You could try using it and seeing how it works, though. It may be one of those things where it will slightly affect performance, but not much (maybe it will run a few *C hotter, which wouldn't be a huge deal for most people).

 

[Eddie313]

Now OCZ Says there Shelf life is 24 months on paste discard after that.
I use about a tube 1.75 grams about every 2 weeks but also build a lot.

 

[coder_t2]

As long my temps on my C2D are below 50 C on full load I'd be fine. Currently I get 34 C. But I am switch cases from a mid tower with 2 120mm fans, to a HTPC with no fans. Also switching from AC Freezer 7 pro, to intel stock cooler. So lots of changes that aren't in favor of cooling lol. Hopefully the stock cooler isn't that loud.