TIL that a thermal pad can fail after just 8 months in a hot server room

I swapped out a drive in a Dell R730 last week and found the thermal pad on the chipset had basically turned to dust. Has anyone else seen these things degrade way faster than they should in high-temp environments?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_charlie19d ago

_lovely_phrase: "Crumbling within a year is about right. Not 8 months though" - honestly, I'd push back on that a little. 8 months versus a year isn't that big a difference when you consider how cheap those stock pads are. I've seen thermal pads on way older gear last years, so I'm kinda wondering if the R730 just has a design thing going on, not like it's some catastrophe needing immediate fix. Most of the time those chipsets run fine even with a crusty pad, just slap a new one on and call it a day.

casey_harris1mo ago

The R730s are notorious for this. I've had to replace the chipset pad on three of them now, and they were all crumbling within a year. Swapped them out with some Fujipoly pads that are rated for higher temps, but even those get a little oily after a while. Have you checked if the airflow around that chipset is getting blocked by anything, or is the ambient temp just that high?

tara_jones941mo ago

Crumbling within a year" is about right. Not 8 months though.