PC Cleaning and Thermal Paste Replacement Gone Wrong (and Right!)

After 5 years of running my trusty PC, I decided it was time for a deep clean and a thermal paste refresh on both the CPU and GPU. But what started as a simple maintenance task turned into a comedy of errors with dropped screws, forgotten cables, and a few panic moments.
Watch as I give my PC a much-needed glow-up, share tips on cleaning and applying thermal paste, and learn some lessons along the way. Whether you're a PC enthusiast or just curious about PC maintenance, join me for this hands-on adventure (and some laughs)!

[@acidgaming0]

Dude take it easy on the thermal paste already.

[@James28R]

too little is bad too much is irrelevant as the excess gets pushed out. source: google it, many tests

[@PixelPulseAdventure]

Let me know what you think!

[@cheesyvoid3143]

Personally, I wouldn't use thermal pastes for GPUs anymore, especially for high-wattage cards. This is because pastes tend to pump out in a few weeks to a few months.
Phase change material like the PTM7950 is the best thermal solution for GPUs because they last for a very long time. I had to trial-and-error multiple times in the span of five months for me to conclude that thermal paste is only a temporary solution.

[@zero.zero.one.001]

A good paste is better than PTM7950.
Go and have a look a IgorsLABs database of thermal paste, there he shows which are good and which are bad for different use cases.

[@markflores6104]

I made the same mistake as well because its been a while I assemble a pc. So it felt like cleaning my pc was a noob experience 😂

[@PixelPulseAdventure]

But hey, not everyone is doing it, so we are still good! :)

[@kenzolr9373]

He definitely does the same amount with his tooth paste x)

[@PixelPulseAdventure]

Noo, the X was smaller! :D

[@bornlivedie]

no point in doing a cross pattern wit the thermal paste if you are going to spread it all over the cpu 3 seconds later
do a cross, with much less thermal paste then just install the heatsink

[@PixelPulseAdventure]

Yes, I think you are right. Could have saved some time.

[@amigapelit]

think someting ells need some cleen to beffore to

[@PixelPulseAdventure]

Yes, the whole place. :)