I used to think thermal paste was a one time thing until a server in Dallas

Last month, I was fixing a rack server in a Dallas data center that kept overheating. I had swapped the fans and cleaned the heatsinks, but it still hit 95C under load. A senior tech on site, Mike, told me to check the paste on the old Xeon chips, and sure enough, it was bone dry after 3 years. I reapplied some Noctua NT-H1 and temps dropped to 75C instantly. Anyone else run into paste drying out faster than expected on 24/7 gear?

2 comments

2 Comments

matthewh289d ago

Bone dry in just three years? That's wild for a data center setup.

jana_hernandez9d ago

Maybe we're not asking the right question about the water use. The real issue could be how it changes the local water table itself, not just the amount taken. Pulling that much from deep wells might draw in poorer quality water from other layers, messing up nearby farms or even other wells for good. It's a permanent shift, not just a temporary drain.