How much Thermal Compound to use?

[wormvortex]

Ordered a 4600+ AMD x2 939 the other day and was wondering how much thermal compound I should put on it to install it as I've always bought retail versions before and just used the thermal pad that comes with them.

I read that you only need to put a rice grain amount in the center of it, is this true?

The chip has a heatspreader? think thats what they're called. (big metal plate covering majority of chip) so do I simply just put a bit on the center of it and then attach the heatsink or is there anything else I need to do?

 

[wormvortex]

Hmmm i have a feeling i may have put a little too much on lol I did like a pattern on the heatsink and then spread it out as i was worried about heat spots... didn't look overly thick though, should i redo it?
e.g.
________________
l ______________ l
l l______________ l
l ______________l l
l l______________ l
l ______________l l
l l______________ l
l________________l

i hope you see what i did lol

Looks like the first level of Donky Kong 1. All its missing is DK and mario.