What can be instead of thermal paste?

Question

Iron

Good afternoon.
We dismantled a laptop with a friend, removed the heat sink, there was thermal paste under the processor, but under the video processor there was something like plasticine (1 mm thick), the color of thermal paste. A friend wants to leave the old plasticine in place, giving the old look (rolling it into a ball and placing it in the center of the video processor), but I say replace it with a new, regular thermal paste.
How is it better? Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

It could be thermally conductive rubber. It softens over time and becomes like plasticine. And then, on the contrary, it dries up and cracks into pieces. Better to replace.

Answer 2

It is better to remove the old one and smear a new one.
PS: this is not plasticine, this is a paste that dries like that.

Answer 3

This is a thermal pad, you need to buy it and put it in place; it can be of different thicknesses, where the paste was, you need to spread the paste

Answer 4

With a thickness of 1 mm - a friend is right, leave it as it was.
The paste will run out.

Answer 5

Finding and Testing Alternatives to Thermal Paste