Realized I was using WAY too much thermal paste for 5 years straight

I was at a friend's place last month helping him re-paste his old PS4 Pro. He watched me put on this big pea sized blob and just goes "dude what are you doing." He showed me his method with a tiny X pattern using maybe a quarter of what I normally use. I laughed it off but then I checked my own PS4 that I had re-pasted 3 times over the years. Turns out I had paste squeezing out the sides of the CPU every single time. No wonder my fan always sounded like a jet engine. I swapped it out with the proper amount and my temps dropped by a good 12 degrees. Has anyone else been doing this wrong and only found out from a friend calling them out?

2 comments

2 Comments

kai_west17d ago

My cousin had the exact same thing happen with him and his air fryer. He was overfilling the basket for like two years thinking more food meant crispier results, then his roommate showed him the single layer rule and suddenly everything came out perfect. It's funny how we just assume more of a thing equals better results in so many areas, not just thermal paste. I mean, I used to put three times the recommended laundry detergent in every load because I thought it would get my clothes cleaner, but it just built up residue and made my washer smell weird. It took a random YouTube video of some repair guy saying "if you think you're using enough, you're probably using too much" to finally change my habit. Maybe it's just me but I feel like tutorials and manuals don't emphasize the "less is more" part enough, they just say the minimum amount and we all ignore it and pile it on.

tylerr2917d ago

Holy crap, three times the laundry detergent? That's wild! I'm honestly shocked your washer didn't break down completely. I mean, I've heard of people using a little extra, but that's a whole other level. It makes sense now that you mention it, all that extra soap just sits in there and gets gross. That repair guy was totally right, in pretty much any situation more doesn't mean better.