How much thermal paste, and does it matter?

[mikezy44]

I was wondering if there are some guidelines on how much thermal paste should be applied to a CPU (P4 3GHz, not overclocked in my case)?

I guess this is common sense thing. In my view it doesn't really matter how much I'll apply because any excess will be squzed out once I put heatsink on top of the CPU, and excess doesn't really matter becasue thermal paste is non conductive... well, that?s my thinking anyways. Any suggestions (from experience)?

 

[RIGorous1]

don't more than 1mm of thermal paste over your cpu.... I use a toothpick to spread the paste evenly over the surface. ofcourse you can't get it perfectly even so if you have excess leave a slight lump in the center so that when you apply the HSF it'll spread out the excess evenly.

It does matter how much you use because depending on the thermal paste (I use artic silver3 = 9.22w/mk, which is ther best thermal paste) no thermal paste can compare to the thermal dissapation of copper(402w/mk) and even better aluminum (422w/mk)... THG did a bar graph about this on their review of the corsair watercooling. Read up

 

[neutralizer]

Should I scratch off that film of waxy thermal pad on the stock cooling of the P4 and add my AS3? How much temperature difference should that make?

 

[lobadobadingdong]

scratch???!?!?!? it off? no No NO. remove it gently and if possible get some very, very fine grit sandpaper and wet lap it to a nice mirror finish. after you removed the cheapo thermal pad.

 

[neutralizer]

now how could i remove it gently?

 

[Narcosynthesis]

use your fingernail to scrape it off gently.

 

[snidy1]

Originally posted by: neutralizer
now how could i remove it gently?

Goo-off works great. But be sure and clean it with rubbing alcohol afterwords

 

[NokiaDude]

I find that a BB sized application of AS3 works best. And try and find a razor blade to spread it out. Its much thiner and works the AS3 better, CC's IMO are too thick.

 

[neutralizer]

I usually put about a BB sized application, but I use a piece of plastic to smooth it out and then have the hsf do the rest. Just wondering could I use a razor blade to remove a thermal pad?

 

[BlessidThug]

Hey Neutralizer, just a word of caution. You wouldn't want to use anything metal on the heatsink because the metal would create scratches which would lessen the effectiveness of the heatsink. If you do use metal, you'll have to do some lapping to get rid of the scratches.

 

[DamageInc]

Whatever you do, don't apply it with your finger and then lick your finger.

I've been applying thermal paste with my finger for quite some time. Never really occurred to me that I should be applying it with something else. (Don't worry, I never licked the paste though)

 

[Digitl]

Originally posted by: DamageInc
Whatever you do, don't apply it with your finger and then lick your finger.

I've been applying thermal paste with my finger for quite some time. Never really occurred to me that I should be applying it with something else. (Don't worry, I never licked the paste though)

Just wash your finger first! God knows where it's been?!

Digitl

 

[cmdrdredd]

I never put much thought into how much I put on. I spread it thin but thick enough to cover the core. That's all. very simple