Heard a guy at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo say thermal paste is basically snake oil for old consoles

He was arguing that on a PS1 or an original Xbox, the factory paste is fine and redoing it is just a waste of time. But I've seen so many guides, like the iFixit PS3 teardown, that list repasting as a key step for overheating. I'm torn between trusting the old factory stuff and doing a full clean and reapply. What's the real deal on thermal paste for consoles over 15 years old?

3 comments

3 Comments

kim.emma2d ago

Listen to that guy and you'll end up like @the_skyler's buddy, baking a CPU with crusty old paste. Factory stuff from 1999 is basically a dried-up sponge by now. For a PS3? You absolutely have to replace it, the guides are right. That old paste turns into a thermal insulator.

brian_jackson23d ago

Ever think that old paste just dries up and stops working?

the_skyler22d ago

My buddy had a tube of thermal paste from like 2015 sitting in his garage. He used it on a new CPU build last month. His temps were crazy high from the first boot, just awful. We opened it back up and the paste was cracked and chalky, totally separated. He had to clean it all off and use fresh stuff. It made a huge difference, like twenty degrees cooler. That old stuff definitely goes bad.