QOTW: How do you apply thermal paste?

[HEXUS]

Is there a certain knack to it, or is it an art you've yet to master?

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[g8ina]

A central blob and let the surfaces find their own levels. That would also (hopefully) dispel any air bubbles.

[FRISH]

I pour it all into the socket for the best thermals. But for real, so far I haven't needed to apply thermal paste. I've just used the stock paste on 2 stock coolers and 2 aftermarket coolers that was preapplied.

[PC-LAD]

Put a pea on, done. OR, I recently bought one of those graphite pads for my r5 3600. Idles better now than it did with the paste (40 instead of 46) cooler was torqued the same. doesn't go past 65 in games.

[Queelis]

Re-built 3 PCs in the past couple of days - basically central blob, then some on the outside - with the pressure the coolers have on the IHS, I doubt there would be any air bubbles left.

Though, my R5 3600 does idle at 47 degrees

[The Hand]

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

[LeetyMcLeet]

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

[LeSWiS]

As Thermal Grizzly say it should be done in the package(they even give you a tool for it). Thin layer on all the CPU heat spreader/GPU die.

[Friesiansam]

Carefully.

[Ttaskmaster]

As Thermal Grizzly say it should be done in the package(they even give you a tool for it). Thin layer on all the CPU heat spreader/GPU die.

^ This - It comes with spreader nozzles, so I use those. TG is thick as pig poo anyway, so benefits from a bit of assistance.

[mikeo]

Small pea shaped dot in the middle (even if using Thermal Grizzly). Never let me down in 20+ years of building / modding PC's. But hey, each to their own.

[LeSWiS]

And I don't see the need for this topic/discussion. EVERYBODY knows that the way to do it is as The Verge do it. No debate.

[blokeinkent]

Blob does the job

[irish_adam]

I remember reading an article years ago and the tried all the ways to put it on and found that a central blob was the best way even for , no need to worry about gaps in the corners as the die is no where near there and too much paste isnt great either (think 4mm blob).

[Corky34]

A few blobs here and there, how it's applied doesn't really matter.

I'd hope the guy who bought shares in Thermal Grizzly and (afaik) played a big part in the development of their pastes knows what he's talking about so I'll trust him.

[Nifl]

Sadly with liquid metal it isn't as easy as just putting a blob in the middle. I have to distribute it evenly with a cotton swab.
With older CPUs the actual chip is only in the middle. So it's not that crucial to cover the entire heatspreader. But with the chiplet design this changes sightly.