Does thermal paste wear out?

[texas_techie]

simple question but dont knwo the answer. If paste stays on a while i notice it gets very discolored. But that can be due to dust, cat hair, smoke and whatever else. So is paste supposed to last teh lifetime of the cpu or does it need a "touch up" now and then?

Benchmarks are like sex, everybody loves doing it, everybody thinks they are good at it.

 

[Matisaro]

Silver based ones dont.

"The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark"
No Overclock+stock hsf=GOOD!

 

[svol]

Only the thermal pads used on most heatsink slowly degrate but they will still fill up the holes, only the edges are going to degrate. But with Arctic Silver you wont have this problem.

My case has so many fans that it hovers above the ground .