Published May 15, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT

Hamlin has been in the tech field for over seven years. Since 2017, his work has appeared on MakeUseOf , OSXDaily, Beebom, MashTips, and more. He served as the Senior Editor for MUO for two years before joining XDA. He uses a Windows PC for desktop use and a MacBook for traveling, but dislikes some of the quirks of macOS. You're more likely to catch him at the gym or on a flight than anywhere else.

Until recently, I used to repaste my CPU almost every year. I know I didn't have to, but when these modern CPUs hover around 85C while gaming, despite using a 360mm AIO, I'll gladly take every degree of thermal headroom I can get. Usually, I'm satisfied with the thermals after repasting, but I've noticed how the temperatures creep up by 2–3 degrees after a year or so while playing the same games.

I just assumed the thermal paste was slowly drying out and losing effectiveness over time, so repasting became something I treated like annual maintenance.…