murphy.barbara•18d agoProlific Poster

Coworker swore I was wrong about thermal paste application. He was right.

I've been building PCs for 6 years, so when my coworker (new guy, only 2 years in) told me I was using too much thermal paste, I laughed it off. Last week I finally ran a benchmark test on my rig (a Ryzen 7 system I built 8 months ago) and my temps were hitting 85C under load. I pulled the cooler off and sure enough, paste had squeezed out all over the edges of the CPU. I redid it with a pea-sized dot like he said (instead of my usual X pattern) and now I'm maxing out at 68C. Has anyone else had to eat crow on something they thought they knew better about?

3 comments

3 Comments

evan_campbell18d ago

Is the pea sized method actually better than the line for most CPUs?

kimreed18d ago

The real question is what CPU are you using? The pea method works fine for most standard chips but if you have a larger IHS like on Threadripper or some Intel HEDT stuff you absolutely need the line or even an X pattern. People act like there's one perfect way for everything but it really depends on the surface area. Pea sized drops tend to spread more evenly under normal mounting pressure too, so less chance of air pockets. What cooler and CPU combo are you running?

william_jackson6515d ago

Been there man, I stuck with the credit card spread method for years before a buddy finally convinced me to try the pea dot and it cut my temps by nearly 10 degrees. It stings a little when the new guy knows better, but honestly that's how we all learn the hard way. Take the win and the cooler temps, that's what really matters in the end.