Anyone familiar with Shin-Etsu thermal compound?

[Markess]

Anyone know the shelf life of Shin-Etsu thermal compound? I got a couple E5-2640 v2s cheap on Ebay that wound up being new sealed HP CPU Kits, complete with alcohol wipes and tubes of Shin-Etsu thermal compound in sealed bags.

Normally, I'd throw it away, since I have no idea how old it is (Intel shipped these CPUs from 2013 all the way to 2019). But, I've never used Sin-Etsu, so have no idea what the shelf life is. I'll probably use newer to be safe, but it got me curious.

 

[BlueFox]

Shin Etsu is well regarded. They don't list shelf life for TIM, however I believe a few years is standard. With that said, I've never had any issues using fairly old TIM myself, so you should be fine.

 

[111alan]

In fact Shin-Etsu grease is one of the best-performing and longest-lasting TIM you can buy on market. It's also used in Nvidia reference cards(7783 or 7921).

For most models as long as it's sealed I don't think it'll degrade at all. I have a tube of 7921 sit there for several years and still no sign of any degradation. Of course for some model the solvent could vaporise but these are designed to cure like this and will only be harder to apply rather than losing performance.