I put A LOT of thermal grease on my CPU

[forumposter32]

Huh? Was it inside the socket at the time?

 

[cougar78]

No but I had put too much that when i cleaned it off somehow a bit got on some of the pins on the edge.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Avalon

Originally posted by: geforcetony
It could also ooze out and short out contacts on the mobo. That could lead to a serious disaster. Never use more than a 2-3mm dab of paste, as that's all that's needed .

*Whips out his measuring tape*

Should look like a piece of rice on the heatspreader. Don't spread it around, don't do anything to it... just put the heatsink on.

AS5 on a A64... it looks like more than is really there because it's standing vertical in the case so it "sagged" a little bit. But it is about the size of a grain of rice. Do not spread it out, the heatsink will do all the spreading that needs to be done.

AS5 on an AXP or other bare core... when the bare core is exposed you need to spread it evenly across the entire core.