what to do when applying thermal paste on to cpu??

[Achilles1600]

what to do when putting on thermal paste on to the cpu a book tells me to apply in a circle patern center outwards then leaving space can someone post a pic of how it should look?? or explain it to me better??

 

[Steve-007UK]

i guess its hard to say exactly how to apply paste as we all have our own ways and methods, i personly put a thin layer on the cpu starting neer the middle then i use my finger to even it out. i personly cover the hole cpu as i find my intel core 2 duo a little odd in design (the top don't seem as flat as dual core amd cpu's)

Some people use a credit card to smooth the paste over the cpu aswell and some thermal paste comes with its own little spreader aplicator.

with a room temp of 21C my current cpu temp using not so good thermal paste is at 29c and current max temp under load 45c.

 

[Cuzza]

no offense but you should hit google up about that. there are plenty of guides out there, try youtube even.

 

[a111087]

what to do when applying thermal paste on to cpu??
go outside to some public place then scream and shout: "I'm insane, but my doctor says that he doesn't think i'm dangerous! Who wants to be my friend?"

lol,... cound't resist, sorry
anyway... it doesn't really matter how you do it, just put a little amount, like a rain drop or two in the center of CPU, then put heatsink on it and u should be fine.

 

[tzitzibp]

no offense but you should hit google up about that. there are plenty of guides out there, try youtube even.

Cuzza is right.... also depending on the TIM you are going to use, the way to apply is can be different! it could be a case of a single drop in the middle and pressing the cooler block on it, or a case of spreading it on the cpu, or placing a thin line of the stuff across the cpu and then pressing the cooler block on it.....*catching breath*....or even, in the case of liquid metal, trying to apply it and 1/2 later you decide it can not be done....

try google and youtube...it should be most helpful!
"Thank you" should go to Cuzza. I just +1

 

[Error 404]

Put about a rice grain size of thermal paste on it, do not spread it out, thats the job of the CPU cooler. IMO if the CPU cooler doesn't spread the TIM properly by itself, then something is wrong.
Use as little as possible, since all its there for is to remove air from between the CPU and the Heatsink.

And Animal007uk, no offense but thats possibly the worst way of applying TIM aside from putting it on both the CPU AND the HS

 

[Dice]

What cooler do you have?

 

[hat]

There's so many different meathods. In my experiance, putting a small blob on the center and letting the heasink flatten it out works best. Some processors require bigger blobs than others to cover the whole cpu because some processors have multiple cpu dies under the heatspreader. If you have an HDT cooler (a cooler where the heatpipes make direct contact with the heatspreader) apply thin lines of thermal paste on each heatpipe.

 

[chuck216]

I personally like to spread a thin layer over the entire IHS of the processor.

To me the "little bit in the middle and apply heatsink" method leaves too much of the area between the cpu and HSF without any TIM.
All 4 corners in fact that's a lot of area not to be transferring heat to the heatsink.

 

[douglatins]

just sit back, relax and let it flow

 

[Dreadnought33]

I personally like to spread a thin layer over the entire IHS of the processor.

I usually do it that way. It works best for me and don't leave none of the CPU's surface unfilled.