How to apply thermal paste?

TubbyGreg · 21 Sep 2015 at 15:50

I bought some thermal grizzly aeronaut and on the packet it suggest spreading it but everywhere else I've head that a dot in the centre is the way to do it. Any ideas?

greywolf · 21 Sep 2015 at 15:59

Although not thermal grizzly aeronaut I have done both dot and spreaded with many others. So far can't see any difference in temps either way and when removed its shown the pressure has spread it out anyhow. So for ease I just put a dot. Can't go far wrong, but as the pack suggests spread may as well. Maybe try both ways and see if any temperature differences.

Rroff · 21 Sep 2015 at 16:17

Some pastes are designed for spreading, some aren't - traditionally most thermal pastes and other interface material like adhesives were designed for spreading (which is why you see a good few people who persist in hand spreading) but over the last few years there has been a trend towards pastes that aren't designed for spreading and give optimal performance with blob or line methods though as greywolf said the difference can often be quite small to none outside of a "testing lab environment".

Thermal Grizzly however is a paste that has been designed with spreading in mind.

ukxenon · 21 Sep 2015 at 20:56

I use pea method always worked for me

LoadsaMoney · 21 Sep 2015 at 22:54

ukxenon said:
I use pea method always worked for me

Same, once the heatsinks on, it'll spread out.

faheemrazzaq · 21 Sep 2015 at 23:44

Pea method. Simple and clean. Always works flawlessly. Don't apply too much though.

TubbyGreg · 22 Sep 2015 at 17:53

faheemrazzaq said:
Pea method. Simple and clean. Always works flawlessly. Don't apply too much though.

I'll probably go with pea method to try to keep it off of my motherboard.