Realized my thermal paste application was all wrong after 5 years

I finally watched a slow-mo video of how paste spreads under a cooler and saw I was doing a pea-sized dot when my CPU die is rectangular. Checked my temps dropped by 8 degrees after fixing it. Has anyone else been doing it wrong this whole time without knowing?

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3 Comments

iris_rivera443mo ago

5 years of dried paste was probably doing more harm than the application method.

5

evan_stone4mo ago

Pea sized dot when my CPU die is rectangular" - bro you're overthinking this. I've used the pea method on every build for 15 years and never had a temp issue. If you're not crashing or throttling it's fine.

1

fiona_sullivan294mo ago

Not enough people talk about how the pea method works fine because the pressure from the cooler spreads it out evenly anyway, even on a rectangular die. The whole point is to avoid air pockets, not to perfectly cover every millimeter from the start. If your temps are good and your paste isn't squeezing out the sides, you're probably fine.

5