A client called me out for skipping thermal paste cleanup and I felt dumb

Last month I was swapping a CPU on an old Dell Optiplex in Wichita and just slapped the new cooler on without cleaning the old paste. The client saw me do it and said 'aren't you supposed to clean that off first?' and I had to admit I was being lazy. Has anyone else had a customer catch them skipping a step and make you rethink your habits?

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1 Comment

eric_murphy363d ago

Gonna push back a little here. Thermal paste isn't some super critical thing where a tiny bit of leftover old stuff ruins everything. If the old paste isn't dried out or crusty, leaving it on and adding fresh stuff on top works fine most of the time. I've done it plenty of times on office machines and never had a temp issue or a failure from it. The real problem is when people don't clean off a thick, cracked layer or they mix different types of paste that don't play well together. Your client calling you out probably made you feel bad, but that's more about them catching you being casual than you actually messing something up. Not every step needs to be perfect every single time, especially on a cheap Optiplex.