My cheap thermal pad gamble actually held up on a 6 month old laptop

I was sure that $12 pad from Amazon would turn into goo within a week, but I just cracked my buddy's gaming laptop open for a dusting and it was still solid. Has anyone else had a budget thermal solution surprise them, or did I just get stupid lucky?

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1 Comment

wells.evan10d ago

Six months is nothing. That pad hasn't even hit its first real summer heat cycle yet. Wait until you pull it apart in a year and see what's left of it. Budget pads always seem fine at first, that's their whole trick. They get you comfortable, then you forget about it until your GPU is thermal throttling at 95c. The cheap stuff fails slowly, not all at once, so you don't notice until damage is done. You got lucky, but odds are your buddy's laptop will need a real repaste before the warranty is up.