I was using thermal paste wrong for nearly 3 years

I always put a pea sized dot in the center like everyone said, but after a machine kept overheating I cracked it open and saw half the CPU die had zero coverage. A friend told me to spread it thin with a credit card instead, and my temps dropped 12 degrees on the next build. Anyone else get better results from spreading manually?

3 comments

3 Comments

derek6562mo ago

Hah! I tried the credit card method once and made a total mess of it. The paste was way too thick and I ended up with a huge air pocket in the corner. Took me three tries to get it right. I honestly think the pea method is fine for most people if your heatsink has good mounting pressure. But yeah if you've got a big CPU like an Intel i9 or something the pea just doesn't spread far enough. I've seen guys use an X pattern on those and it works great.

oliviagrant2mo agoTop Commenter

I used to swear by the pea method for everything until I tried it on a Threadripper build. Total disaster, the paste barely covered half the chip. So I can totally see where you're coming from with the X pattern for bigger CPUs now.

robin_roberts842mo ago

Hold on, Threadripper is AMD not Intel.