QOTW: How do you apply thermal paste?

[ik9000]

Read more.

not like this, that's for sure!



Anyone with crappy thermals on an XPS 9350 / 9360 this could well be what you have under the hood!!

From various sources learning back in the day my method is:

• Clean surface with TIM cleaner (if used before)
• Prime surface with small amount of compound smeared with plastic credit card or similar - nothing hard, sharp or metallic.
• Get as much off as you can - the aim is to help fill the microvoids only.
• Look up CPU guidance for where to apply the small amounts to target the cores. Some want TIM applied in a line, some a cross, some a blob.
• Apply a small amount of TIM as the relevant guidance.
• Mount heatsink (also pre-cleaned if used before), give it a wee twist (as manufacturer's instructions) and screw in position.

[ik9000]

Empty 3 or 4 tubes of it and smother the CPU and socket in it

Damn it man, do you work for Dell or something?

[LSG501]

Usually (I can't even remember where I found this technique lol) but it's very similar to ik9000 above..

Clean the surface with tim cleaner
Rub a small amount of paste onto surface to get the microvoids
Add small 'pea size' amount of paste in the middle
Squish the cpu cooler (also cleaned with tim cleaner) down as evenly as possible

Hope it goes well and that I'm happy with cpu temps...if not repeat until happy lol

[Andi-C]

I use half on the CPU & the other half in a cup of tea.... Winner's way !

[nar53]

A blob in the middle & let it do the rest.

[Tunnah]

I approach it like I approach most lubrication - I spit on it and ram it into place.

[Saracen999]

not like this, that's for sure!



Anyone with crappy thermals on an XPS 9350 / 9360 this could well be what you have under the hood!!

From various sources learning back in the day my method is:

• Clean surface with TIM cleaner (if used before)
• Prime surface with small amount of compound smeared with plastic credit card or similar - nothing hard, sharp or metallic.
• Get as much off as you can - the aim is to help fill the microvoids only.
• Look up CPU guidance for where to apply the small amounts to target the cores. Some want TIM applied in a line, some a cross, some a blob.
• Apply a small amount of TIM as the relevant guidance.
• Mount heatsink (also pre-cleaned if used before), give it a wee twist (as manufacturer's instructions) and screw in position.

Well ....that, really.

All I'm trying to do is fill in pits in either metal surface, so it doesn't need much. A "pea", IMHO, is probably too much. Maybe a petit pois. Or a matchstick head.

Apply. Spread with old credit card. Debit cards work too.

Remove excess but don't wipe. Then the "blob", twist as per ik9000 and mount.

I want the absolute minimum compatible with filling those pits. Best is metal-to-metal, next, TIM. Worst, air-gap.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the pads manufacturers use (or used to) and tend to rem8ve them then clean up and TIM myself. And, esoecially ckean up and as above when replacing one cooler with another, and I've sure done plenty of that over the years.

[SpeedyJDK]

The "bloke" is right. You spread it with a credit card to make sure it gets an even layer all over.
It comes from old days, where you put it directly on the cpu core. There were no heat spreader or what it's called on top as we got today. So a lot more thermal paste is needed now

[redseven1]

I put a pea sized blob in the center, that's it nothing special when I do it.

[philehidiot]

Spread with a credit card? I just use my phone for payments these days. Do I need NFC enabled for this approach like with contactless or will my Samsung spread it just fine without?

Asking for a friend (who is an idiot).

I did once get a cooler which had "pre applied thermal paste". It was like someone had buttered a biscuit with I'd say a 2mm of thick, perfectly square "blob" of paste. Obviously, this was not helpful so I scraped it all off, cleaned it with IPA and applied a small blob which I spread around using the cooler. I then removed the cooler, scraped off the excess and secured the cooler in place. That was with standard goo. There are some other ones which are designed I think to be more forgiving with more paste. I suspect these have been developed as a lot of this stuff is sold via word of mouth on forums ("I got X degrees under load with this paste") and most people believe more = more betterer. Therefore if your paste works better than other with it buttered like a biscuit, then I suspect you'll get better reviews via word of mouth regardless of whether it works when applied properly ala Saracen.

The only other thing to consider is, if you put too much on and then you apply a cooler with sufficient pressure, it'll just squeeze any excess out of the sides. Enough pressure will solve the problem. It'll solve it over the side of the CPU and right into the socket if you do it right. I used this approach with a very viscous paste on my watercooled set up. The idea was that I could ensure that I got it everywhere and then screw the cooler into place bit by bit, the excess goo coming out of the sides and only residing where there'd be an imperfection. The viscosity of the goo meant it was easy to stop it going where it wasn't wanted but it was very hard to get the excess off. I think this is the most effective approach I've ever used but it does require a cooler you screw into place, not clip. My temperatures under load are insanely low but that may just be that I got good sillycon.

[aidanjt]

It largely depends on what I'm applying it to. If it's a naked die I'll spread out a thin layer across the die. If it's a small CPU I'll just do the pea-sized dot and slap the heatsink on. If it's a large chip I'll do a union jack and slap the heatsink on it.

[eHM]

% or an X

[ik9000]

% or an X

the chip supplier usually recommends the best pattern to target the core dies. Different chips want different focus. There is no one-pattern-suits-all solution.

[malculator]

Probably the only video on thermal paste you need to watch:

Nice vid. I've used the line method with Arctic Silver 5 a few times and whenever I installed a different processor or just reapplied paste, I noticed it had covered the heat spreader satisfactorily. Interestingly enough though, I watched this LTT video on the subject, a while back, and the results seem to imply that it doesn't matter how the paste is applied as long as there isn't too little.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2MEAnZ3swQ

[loccothan]

Thin cover on all of an CPU and very thin cover on LC (copper plate).
Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut is my recent pick, earlier was Artic Silver 5.

[meuvoy]

Small centered dot and then, put on the heatsink. It should do a good job of spreading the paste.