Fell for that cheap thermal paste scam on Amazon

Grabbed a 5-pack of some no-name thermal paste for $8 thinking it was a steal. Applied it to a clients Ryzen 5 and temps were hitting 95C under load straight away. Peeled the cooler off and that stuff had turned into a weird chalky mess after just 3 days. Ended up spending $15 on a single tube of Arctic MX-6 to fix it properly plus an hour of my time I cant bill for. Anyone else get burned by those mystery tubes from China?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_karen21d ago

Learned that lesson the hard way myself a couple years back. Those cheap packs are usually just powdered chalk with some oil mixed in. Within days the oil evaporates or gets pushed out and you're left with basically nothing. Best to just avoid anything that doesn't have a recognizable brand name on it. Stick with Arctic or Thermal Grizzly or even the generic stuff from a reputable electronics store. Your time and a client's trust is worth way more than saving a few bucks on paste.

gracecarr21d ago

Powdered chalk with some oil mixed in" is exactly right. I've scraped that crusty junk off enough boards to know better now, just grab Arctic or Thermal Grizzly and move on.