sorry if this has been discussed to death already

casual_eze · 26 May 2013 at 20:34

Pea size OR spread (credit card or finger in plastic bag method) OR one vertical line OR multiple vertical lines OR x shaped OR h shape OR something else?

Yes thats right. This is about spreading thermal paste.

The last time i built a pc myself was an abit BH6 motherboard with a celeron 300A overclocked to 450MHz. Yes i am old. Yes i am out of touch but i am old skool

I will be building a haswell system once released so am getting prepared. Applying thermal paste is the one thing i not 100% sure on which is the best method. Please advise.

I would love to start a poll for this but have no idea how to (so if someone knows, please do, i'd love to see the response). A useful response would be to describe your method, cooler and temps?

Discuss

RJC · 26 May 2013 at 20:41

It depends on the paste used as Arctic Silver recommend a line for Intel CPUs.

I will ask regards a poll.

Jokester · 26 May 2013 at 20:52

Depends on the paste and on the chip/heatsink surface shape.

casual_eze · 26 May 2013 at 20:57

i have gone for a coolermaster 212 evo and am planning on using the provided CM paste if that helps.

greenbrucelee · 26 May 2013 at 21:28

Depends on the paste, most coolers have reccomendations in their instructions.

Using a credit card to spread the paste can actually cause grooves in the cpu and damage. I let the tightening of the cooler spread the paste out as thats what they are designed to do.

Some people will tell you that you need to cover the entire cpu in paste but this is incorrect. You only have to really cover the cores.

If you apply the paste correctly and use the tightening of the cooler to spread the paste it should looker like an oval shape or a big O that is all that is needed.

ubersonic · 26 May 2013 at 22:32

Dot in the centre is how to do it in 2013, spreading, X, line, etc are all relics of a bygon age , nowadays we have IHS's and tiny tiny die's.

kyle1970 · 26 May 2013 at 23:00

ive lost count of the ammount of seating ive done and ive tried all sorts of different ways pretty much all with the same results,so its a personal preference thing really,no right or wrong. as long as you get the desired coverage whats it matter how you got it?

Drangueos · 27 May 2013 at 01:21

Jokester said:
Depends on the paste and on the chip/heatsink surface shape.

Agree.

In my case I need to spread the thermal paste.

No Hotlinking - Burnsy

trickynickyuk · 27 May 2013 at 01:47

spread if heat pipes straight across the bottom of heatsink a blob if if heatsink is flat

Akagi · 27 May 2013 at 04:26

I put a dot in the middle of the CPU, usually about the size of one cooked rice grain. Or maybe a tad more for a bigger chip like an AMD.

I use vodka to clean it off because i'm hardcore and stuff...

RSRAVI · 27 May 2013 at 09:22

pea size its what I have done always

troops · 27 May 2013 at 10:23

More like rice sized for me.

stevie_vee · 27 May 2013 at 15:15

Troops.

Can you provide details of your 4.5 OC please. I have the same mo bo as you and am looking for a stable 4.5 ghz. I.m at stock at the moment.

Thanks.

Steve.

Akagi · 27 May 2013 at 15:28

stevie_vee said:
Troops.

Can you provide details of your 4.5 OC please. I have the same mo bo as you and am looking for a stable 4.5 ghz. I.m at stock at the moment.

Thanks.

Steve.

Every chip will clock slightly differently and require slightly different voltage to remain stable. The settings he used may not be relevant for your CPU at all.