Paste on Processor or Cooler

phil-k · 15 Jul 2011 at 23:51

does it make any difference if you put the thermal paste on the processor or cooler, I would have thought putting it on the cooler would be easier as the surface is sticking out from the rest of the unit and would be easier to spread out if thats the method you use

Phenomenologica · 15 Jul 2011 at 23:52

Blob in centre of CPU. Put cooler on CPU. Job done.

Theoretically it should make no difference.

panyan · 16 Jul 2011 at 00:09

well they sell coolers with pre-applied paste, so it doesnt make a difference, but if your applying yourself, it is easier on the cpu first, then attach the cooler

OLDPHART · 16 Jul 2011 at 11:38

Not to big of a blob, about a small garden pea size and tight'n your heatsink down the correct way, the same number of turns on each screw to get a even spread.

Tealc · 16 Jul 2011 at 13:59

I pre applied some paste to my direct contact plate's gaps and then applied as normal tp the CPU.

Plec · 16 Jul 2011 at 14:13

phil-k said:
does it make any difference if you put the thermal paste on the processor or cooler, I would have thought putting it on the cooler would be easier as the surface is sticking out from the rest of the unit and would be easier to spread out if thats the method you use

Depends on the cooler.

If the HS is smooth then the rice/pea sized blob is the best method (personally).

However, if you have exposed heat pipes on the base of the HS it's sometimes advisible to tint the HS first to fill in the gaps/voids - and then apply blob to cpu.

Below is a more comprehensive reply i've written before:

Plec said:
For flat surfaced HS i use a rice size blob or a very thin line down the middle of the CPU.

For exposed heatpipes on the base i do the below:

If you have exposed heatpipes (ridged surface) you could try tinting the surface of the heatsink first to fill in the voids made by the exposed pipes on the base (artic silver 5 advises this but i've used this method with other gunk if i felt the heatsink required it.). You're basically filling the gaps, created by the exposed pipes, but scrape of all the excess so the base of the heatsink only has a very slight tint of gunk (credit card is great for this). The theory is that it fills, the sometimes pretty large, gaps that exposed heatpipes can cause on the base of the heatsink.

After tiniting the heatink you then only need to apply a rice sized blob or a single line (less than a mm thick) down the middle of the core (vertically) - but don't go from edge to edge leave a 5mm gap at each end. (you can use the rice blob method here too - depends on results)

This method should ensure that the pipe gaps don't suck up all of the gunk on the cpu and allow it to spread as it would on a shiny flat heatsink base.

I will stress that you only need to use this method on exposed heatpipe heatsinks (and even then not all of the time) - there is no need to use this method with perfectly flat based heatsinks.

EDIT: Some people apply small blobs to the exposed pipes on the HS after tinting (instead of the CPU) - but this is down to personal choice - i've always found the blob method works great.