Hello I'm noob here just wanna ask if I disassemble my STANDARD PS4 for cleaning, do I need to reaplly my thermal paste? My previous cleanup on my PS4 was only way up to my dvd disc so I didn't get a chance to remove the motherboard fearing I broke something from it. But now I wanna try whole cleaning my ps4 so i hope some of you know the answer about thermal paste, I wanna clean my motherboard badly cause I see some corrosion on it. T.N. My PS4 thermal phase hasnt been change since I bought it. My PS4 was 4 years old with usage time of 6 to 8 hrs a week not day.
If you did not separate the cooler from the motherboard, leave it be. If you removed the cooler from the CPU (stripped down all the way to the motherboard) - to the point where the old thermal paste is visible - you should remove and replace the thermal paste while you're at it. Wipe off the old thermal paste thoroughly, clean both the CPU and heat sink surface thoroughly with alcohol, and put a new drop of thermal paste on there. I'm sure you can find videos on YouTube about cleaning and reapplying thermal paste. Or, if you're lazy: https://www.amazon.com/Innovation-Cooling-Graphite-Thermal-Pad/dp/B07CKVW18G
So if I ever separate the cooler from motherboard it needed to replace the thermal phase everytime I teardown my PS4. Anyway thanks.
It depends... If your old thermal paste has not dried out yet and you leave it untouched, you may get away with reusing it, but the effectiveness will be slightly reduced as it won't seal up as well the second time. If it's already gone hard and crusty, it's no good - you'd just be asking for trouble if you're not redoing it. The whole purpose of thermal paste is to improve heat transfer from the CPU to the heat sink by filling up any microscopic gaps along the contact surface. Dried out thermal paste will not do this at all. Reusing previously applied thermal paste that's still 'good' creates a possibility for introducing new air bubbles, which can degrade performance. This is an opportunity replace the factory paste with a premium paste for a slight cooling performance improvement. Note: The difference between [ reused pate / graphite pad / factory paste / premium paste ] is probably only 1-5 °C, but some people care about that. I'd personally redo the paste to avoid the possibility of having to open it again in the near future to resolve degraded cooling performance... Then again, it's probably not necessary to remove the cooler from the motherboard if you're just cleaning up dust and not replacing parts. I don't have a PS4, but I've cleaned out plenty of laptops and desktops without needing to dismantle them to the extent of taking the heat sink off the CPU. Correct and careful use of compressed air and/or a vacuum cleaner is usually sufficient. Now, since you mentioned cleaning up corrosion, you're probably going for full dismantlement. In that case, my opinion is to choose the option that reduces the likelihood of future issues: clean properly and new paste.
If your PS4 is more than a couple years old, and you have it open already, it's worth doing. PS4s are known for overheating problems. Reapplying thermal paste can reduce the chance that your PS4 will overheat.
It's fine if your a lazy person and skip it. It's mostly just some rusting on the IOs, It made me remember my first close loop liquid cooling where I mess up with the solution and the whole loops radiator, fillings. Well, coolants are corrosive even in cars. As Xbox I believe it's use an air coolers, thermal paste usually are non corrosive. you can ignore it, it should be dry up by now. If you want to change it, please buys some Thermal Gap Filler Pads too. I recommend brands from laird. Note, Thermal Gap Filler Pads are not suppose to be use on cpu/gpus. it's for your other heating components. like Vrams.