How to properly apply Thermal Paste?

[CheeseGod]

I see some people that have applied thermal paste to their cpus complain about there being cracks in the paste or something after applying it and it causes the cpu to overheat etc, how can I avoid this when I go to apply my thermal paste? I've never done it before because I had someone do it for me, now I'm experiencing heat issues and I think it's the thermal paste because it hasn't been swapped out in over 2 years and I'm getting 95c temps. What is the proper way of doing this? What type of cloth should I use to clean the cpu & do I absolutely need a esd bracelet? 

 

Also I'm not overclocking,  nothing in my system is overclocked.

 

1 other thing is that I've been having issues with is performance for the past few months, if this is my cpu overheating etc can it permanently damage my cpu? I'm worried that I neglected it for too long and that it's damaged because I didn't know before. I'm using an i7 8700k. 

[A1200]

Oh dear. Expect this thread to glow white hot in minutes. Pea sized blob in the middle every time. Used same method on Intel CPUs countless times.

 

As for removing, I spray a little contact cleaner in the middle of the chip to soften it then use one of those wet wipes to clean it off.

[Potatocell]

a dab of ranch will do or a dollop of daisy

[Dr0y]

In which case does the temps reach 95 C ?  What type of cooler do you have ? 

 

I use 99% isopropyl alcohol to clean the paste from the cpu and the cooler.

 

I usually spread the paste and I've never had any temperature problem by doing so. 

 

Favorite paste is Kryonaut, but I used mx-2 too and it worked fine ... I prefer the texture of the kryonaut tho. 

[CheeseGod]

44 minutes ago, Dr0y said:

In which case does the temps reach 95 C ?  What type of cooler do you have ? 

 

I use 99% isopropyl alcohol to clean the paste from the cpu and the cooler.

 

I usually spread the paste and I've never had any temperature problem by doing so. 

 

Favorite paste is Kryonaut, but I used mx-2 too and it worked fine ... I prefer the texture of the kryonaut tho. 

I have kryonaut,  I'm using a dark rock pro 4 but again it's been over 2 years since I've replaced my paste. Would it be ok if I just added a pea sized portion or do I actually have to spread the Paste? 

[CheeseGod]

57 minutes ago, Potatocell said:

a dab of ranch will do or a dollop of daisy

 

[Swifty76]

From what I saw recently in a LTT video, French's yellow mustard works pretty good. Avoid Nutella though.

[Falkentyne]

9 hours ago, A1200 said:

Oh dear. Expect this thread to glow white hot in minutes. Pea sized blob in the middle every time. Used same method on Intel CPUs countless times.

 

As for removing, I spray a little contact cleaner in the middle of the chip to soften it then use one of those wet wipes to clean it off.

 

Pea sized blob doesn't work with some thermal pastes and is also not best for very large dies.

Even Thermalright doesn't suggest a pea sized blob for their TFX.  They recommend *five* pea sized blobs (4 corners, 1 middle).  *edit* the "corners" are equidistant from the center to the very edge, so you can say, halfway diagonal each direction.

[CheeseGod]

17 minutes ago, Falkentyne said:

 

Pea sized blob doesn't work with some thermal pastes and is also not best for very large dies.

Even Thermalright doesn't suggest a pea sized blob for their TFX.  They recommend *five* pea sized blobs (4 corners, 1 middle).

Wouldn't the paste drip off the sides? I'm using grizzly kryonaut. 

[Falkentyne]

2 hours ago, CheeseGod said:

Wouldn't the paste drip off the sides? I'm using grizzly kryonaut. 

Oh, not all the way in the corner!

Equidistant between middle and corner, if that makes sense.

 

So like this

 

 

Or this

 

[Dr0y]

I've had my paste on my cooler for about 3 years now and don't need to reapply it yet ... I still have good temps ...

 

Also it's not a big deal if the paste drip a bit around the edge of the cpu as long as it's a non electrically conductive paste.  A bit too much is better than too little ... don't just put all the tube on there tho cause it will be a mess to clean it up when you decide to change the paste again.  The method is also not that important as long as it cover most of the die with enough paste.  Mounting pressure have more impact than the amount of paste and method used on the temperature ... if I recall correctly gamers nexus tested all those things. 

[CheeseGod]

14 hours ago, Dr0y said:

I've had my paste on my cooler for about 3 years now and don't need to reapply it yet ... I still have good temps ...

 

Also it's not a big deal if the paste drip a bit around the edge of the cpu as long as it's a non electrically conductive paste.  A bit too much is better than too little ... don't just put all the tube on there tho cause it will be a mess to clean it up when you decide to change the paste again.  The method is also not that important as long as it cover most of the die with enough paste.  Mounting pressure have more impact than the amount of paste and method used on the temperature ... if I recall correctly gamers nexus tested all those things. 

If it's not the paste then what else could be causing my issues w heat? I don't even know If this is my issue, I just hope i don't need a new cpu. 

[airborne spoon]

i always go with the big X across the whole die be it CPU or GPU that's how i throw it down. never had an issue. there is one caveat to this though if you use a conductive TP like liquid metal or something you have to make sure you dont over apply as you can fry stuff it it comes into contact. I just use the EK paste and have never had an issue.

[Bobbysixjp]

Watch the first 30 seconds of this video - it is basically the best way to apply thermal paste.

 

[Dr0y]

11 hours ago, CheeseGod said:

If it's not the paste then what else could be causing my issues w heat? I don't even know If this is my issue, I just hope i don't need a new cpu. 

Maybe not enough paste in the first place and with the pump out effect now there's not enough left to make proper contact ... maybe it's also a bit less mounting pressure than what would be optimal ...

 

Also if you get high temps in prime95 then it's not relevant as it is a torture test and it's not really representative of real usage temps. 

[Stahlmann]

On 1/11/2021 at 12:44 AM, CheeseGod said:

I have kryonaut,  I'm using a dark rock pro 4 but again it's been over 2 years since I've replaced my paste. Would it be ok if I just added a pea sized portion or do I actually have to spread the Paste? 

Kryonaut is meant for LN2 Overclocking. It's not spreading very easy and will dry up very quickly. A pea sized dot in the middle will likely not spread over the full heat spreader.

 

I've had better long-term results with Hydronaut myself. With thermal grizzly products you get a tool to spread the paste while applying. I always cover the full IHS and with this method i've never had temp issues. However i did have higher temps in the past with the "dot in the middle" technique. When removed the cooler i saw that the paste didn't spread fully.

 

Generally this applies: As long as you have enough to cover the full IHS, the method of applying doesn't matter.