kansas_dude :
With all the cooling technology advances, do you THINK CPUs will need thermal paste in the future (like 10, 20, 30 or more years from now)?
Extrapolate 20 years into te past.
Yes, there was 'thermal paste' between the CPU face and whatever minimal heat sink was on it.
Moving forward to today...there is still 'thermal paste' between the "cpu" and whatever device is there to assist with heat dissipation.
Whether in a hotrod PC, or a little tablet.
But the VAST majority of people never, ever consider, or even know about whatever goop might be in there.
When was the last time you changed the thermal paste in your phone?
I'm guessing never. But it is there.