Thermal paste near the socket indicates a potential issue.
Thermal paste near the socket indicates a potential issue.
They were reapplying an older version and saw that earlier paste had at some point moved down toward the LGA1150 socket, which sits just a bit exposed on all sides of the CPU. They didn’t take the CPU out to clean it, thinking it might be okay since similar issues have happened before without any issues. They’re now more cautious and are curious about the potential consequences.
Can't recall the details, but I'm pretty sure it was either Intel paste or possibly MX5. I had a similar idea in mind—if it isn't conducting electricity, it should work fine. It wouldn't connect pins, so maybe it's just a cheap adhesive. However, if it ever becomes conductive, that could be a problem.
If it isn't a good conductor, I'd remove it and use a non-conductive material. If the material you're using isn't conductive, it won't affect anything, even if it touches the socket.
Most budget thermal compounds are not conductive, but some may have limited conductivity. Generic white-label products often lack proper conductivity unless specified otherwise. If you wanted better heat transfer, using conductive materials like liquid metal would be necessary.
Conductive pastes tend to be costly. Their conductivity is a significant drawback, so they need additional benefits to justify consideration. Standard pastes and mx-5 likely lack the necessary conductivity. In most cases, silicon oil isn’t conductive because it acts as an insulator rather than a conductor.