I noticed some clear/oily liquid around the edges of my thermal paste after removing my CPU cooler.
The attached picture was taken a few hours after applying the paste, so this happened very quickly.
I'm not concerned about the amount of paste applied. My main question is about the liquid separation itself.
Is this just normal oil separation from the paste, or does it indicate that the thermal paste has degraded?
Could this liquid potentially seep into the CPU socket and cause any issues, or is the only downside reduced thermal performance?
The paste is DeepCool Z5. It is relatively new and has been stored at room temperature.