3 ms·

It's been about 10 years since I built a PC, but I always did the following, and never had any cooling issues - in fact, I got quite good overclocking results:

It's been about 10 years since I built a PC, but I always did the following, and never had any cooling issues - in fact, I got quite good overclocking results: Using plastic gloves (or just put a plastic bag over your hand) spread a REALLY thin layer over the cooler using your finger. This is simply just to fill any small grooves in the coolers surface. If you lap your cooler you don't need to do this. Using a credit card spread a layer around 1mm thick on CPU, the main thing here is to just try and cover the whole area of the CPU that comes into contact with the cooler. The most important thing is not to fret too much about this. Once you've put it all together, run a stress test and keep an eye on the CPU temp, if it goes too high, just clean the paste off and try again :)

guilamu 11y ago
Thanks for your reply, MattBearman. According to ArcticSilver ( http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appmeth/int/vl/intel_app_method_vertical_line_v1.1.pdf http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appmeth/int/vl/intel_app_met... ) all CPU covered with an aluminium plate should have their thermal paste just put in a single vertical line in the center. They also talk about the line surface spread method you're talking about but only for mobile CPUs. My fear is that by spreading the paste with gloves I'd somehow add some air in the paste, resulting in really bad thermal conductivity. It seems your method is the way to go, though: http://overclocking.guide/thermal-paste-roundup-2015-47-products-tested-with-air-cooling-and-liquid-nitrogen-ln2/4/ http://overclocking.guide/thermal-paste-roundup-2015-47-prod...
- MattBearman 11y ago
  Interesting, as ArcticSilver was my paste of choice, and my method was based on what they used to recommend, it seems things have changed in the last 10 years - I'd probably go with what the ArcticSilver instructions say. As for using gloves, you won't add an air pocket, as the gloves are only used for applying a really thin coating to the heatsink. By really thin, I mean just enough to be visible on the heatsink, while still being able to see the heatsink surface through the thermal paste. That should be enough to fill any gaps in the heatsink surface.

guilamu 11y ago

Thanks for your reply, MattBearman. According to ArcticSilver ( http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appmeth/int/vl/intel_app_method_vertical_line_v1.1.pdf http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appmeth/int/vl/intel_app_met... ) all CPU covered with an aluminium plate should have their thermal paste just put in a single vertical line in the center. They also talk about the line surface spread method you're talking about but only for mobile CPUs. My fear is that by spreading the paste with gloves I'd somehow add some air in the paste, resulting in really bad thermal conductivity. It seems your method is the way to go, though: http://overclocking.guide/thermal-paste-roundup-2015-47-products-tested-with-air-cooling-and-liquid-nitrogen-ln2/4/ http://overclocking.guide/thermal-paste-roundup-2015-47-prod...

MattBearman 11y ago
Interesting, as ArcticSilver was my paste of choice, and my method was based on what they used to recommend, it seems things have changed in the last 10 years - I'd probably go with what the ArcticSilver instructions say. As for using gloves, you won't add an air pocket, as the gloves are only used for applying a really thin coating to the heatsink. By really thin, I mean just enough to be visible on the heatsink, while still being able to see the heatsink surface through the thermal paste. That should be enough to fill any gaps in the heatsink surface.