Overheard some kid at Micro Center saying he'd never use thermal paste again because of that new graphite pad stuff

I was standing in the PC parts aisle in the Denver store last Thursday picking up a new fan for my Switch mod and this teenager is telling his friend he's done with thermal paste forever because of graphite pads. He said they're way easier and just as good so why bother. I wanted to butt in so bad but I kept my mouth shut. Look I tried a graphite pad on my Xbox Series X about 6 months ago because I got lazy and it looked like a good shortcut. Temps were fine for like a month then my CPU started hitting 10 degrees hotter under load and I swapped it back to paste and it dropped right down. My takeaway is those pads are okay for a quick fix but they don't hold up over time for me. Has anyone else here tried one for a long-term build and had it work out?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_sean1d ago

Read some dude on a PC building subreddit say his pad actually melted a bit after a year in a high-temp rig. Shortcuts never work out long term.

ellis.robert1d ago

Isn't it always the quick fix that causes more headaches later @the_sean?