An old-timer once told me I was too rough with thermal paste application

He said 'you're spreading it like butter on toast, just let the cooler do the work', and after I stopped overthinking it my temps dropped 8 degrees across the board on the next three builds, has anyone else had a small tweak like that totally change their results?

2 comments

2 Comments

oscarm247d ago

Man that old timer knew what he was talking about. Same thing happened to me a few years back when I was building a system for a buddy. I was so careful with the thermal paste, making sure it was perfectly even and all that. Turns out I was way overdoing it. After I switched to just a pea sized dot in the middle and let the cooler clamp down, my temps dropped about 6 degrees on my own rig. It felt wrong at first, like I was being lazy or cutting corners, but the results don't lie. Now I tell everyone the same thing, less is more. Your mileage may vary with different coolers and CPUs but for the most part letting the pressure do the work is the way to go.

nancy37d ago

Yeah, I remember reading that Arctic actually did tests and found the pea sized dot gave the most consistent results for most modern CPUs. I tried the X method once and it made a mess, so now I just do a pea in the middle and trust the cooler. It feels wrong at first but the numbers don't lie.