Thermal care
A practical thermal paste schedule for ASICs
Not every miner should open a heatsink on a calendar whim. Paste work introduces risk—bent pins, uneven pressure, debris. Yet units you intend to keep through another hot season often benefit from a planned refresh once temperatures climb despite clean fins and healthy fans.
Signals that beat arbitrary dates
Track a consistent sensor or probe point after a thorough clean. If temperatures remain elevated, fans are oriented correctly, and the room ambient has not jumped, paste aging becomes a suspect. Smell of cooked compound during a clean is another nudge. Blind yearly teardown on a unit you may retire in months wastes time.
Workshop stance
In the flagship lab we demonstrate pressure patterns and cleaning of the die area on practice hardware—not on a participant’s only profitable board. For home work, stage a clear bench, fresh paste rated for your temperature range, and a torque method you can repeat. If a spring or screw pattern feels unfamiliar, stop and photograph rather than improvise.
Pair paste with the rest of the checklist
Paste alone will not rescue choked filters. Schedule compound work after airflow is restored, then re-baseline temperatures. Our Thermal Management Assessment often places paste later in the priority list—after dead zones and fan health—so you spend effort where it moves the needle.