Originally posted by: Xarick
when I re-seat my e6400 and redo the as3 would it be better to do the pea sized blob thing or to spread it evenly across the surface. I have heard both.
I'm making a thoroughly idle comment here. Too much time on my hands.
Given the TIMs that ship with many heatsinks -- some just standard silicon grease -- AS3 would be adequate. A lot of people use AS5 -- pretty common for several years.
Given the marginally better performance of TIMs like nano-diamond thermal paste, I don't understand why people continue to use AS5. Diamond paste can result in a temperature improvement of 2C to 4C -- depending on CPU thermal wattage at load.
It's more expensive, and a $7 tube of the stuff is only good for about 4 or 5 applications. But it doesn't need to "cure," is actually "re-usable," doesn't degrade over time.