Prebuilt PC With Core i7-12700K Ran Three Years Without Thermal Paste

A prebuilt desktop powered by an Intel Core i7-12700K processor ran for three full years without any thermal paste applied. The machine was used as an office computer in a studio and repeatedly suffered blue screens and slow performance. The user replaced the memory modules, but the faults persisted.

An inspection found that no thermal paste had been applied between the CPU integrated heat spreader and the all-in-one liquid cooler. During OCCT stress testing, the CPU temperature rose to 100 degrees Celsius.

The machine's all-in-one liquid cooler uses a front intake configuration, which limits cooling performance. Thermal paste fills microscopic unevenness on metal surfaces to reduce thermal resistance. Even without paste, direct contact between the pure copper cold plate base and the CPU heat spreader retains a weak heat-transfer capability, and modern CPU thermal protection throttles the processor to keep it running. The processor's survival for three years under these conditions is linked to the dual-fan all-in-one liquid cooler, direct contact, and throttled operation.

Thermal paste has now been reapplied and temperatures have returned to normal. However, it remains uncertain whether the roughly three years of near-100-degree-Celsius operation caused permanent damage to the transistors' lifespan.