A coworker is putting together a PC and is interested in buying my old MSI Armor GTX 1070 Ti. The card still works and has passed a few benchmarks, but I want to open it up for a basic cleaning. Since it has seen roughly six years of use and then spent another two years stored away, should I replace the thermal paste while I have it apart? Or is it better to leave it alone unless the temperatures are actually high?
4 Answers
The MSI Armor cooler isn’t especially impressive, and the card is relatively straightforward to disassemble, so replacing the paste is reasonable after that much use. Just make sure you have the right screwdriver and apply fresh paste carefully.
Be careful with the thermal pads. They can stick to the heatsink or tear when you separate the cooler, and the pads may use several different thicknesses. If you aren’t prepared to measure and replace them, leaving the card assembled could be safer.
If the temperatures and fan behavior look normal, there’s no urgent reason to open the card. Cleaning out dust and checking the benchmark temperatures may be enough.
The best way to decide is to run a benchmark and record the temperatures, clock speeds, and fan noise first. If the results are fine, don’t fix a problem that isn’t there; if it runs unusually hot, repasting makes more sense.
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