Too much thermal compound paste?

[nanowatt]

Hello everyone one my question is simple.Is there any chance to damage the cpu by applying too much thermal paste over it?

 

[Godlygamer23]

No. Unless the temps went above the limit because of the thermal paste. But the actual act of doing it will not cause harm.

[nanowatt]

No. Unless the temps went above the limit because of the thermal paste. But the actual act of doing it will not cause harm.

But will affect the performance?

[Volbet]

Well, if the thermal paste you are using sin containing metal it can short out the CPU or motherboard if it is spread out so much it comes in contact with parts it shouldn't be in contact with 

[Godlygamer23]

But will affect the performance?

Yes. Eventually thermal paste starts to act as a heat insulator.

[mvitkun]

not the cpu but if you apply too much thermal paste when the heatsink is installed it may spread it and cause it to flow into the socket,and if it does the motherboard is pretty much a cute little paperweight.

 

and if you apply too much thermalpaste and it causes bad contact with the processor and heatsink then it may cause the processor to overheat and throttle down,if it throttles down you will lose performance.

[mgsstar]

If you apply too much thermal paste it may cause poor heat transfer because like Godlygamer23 said it starts to act as an insulator. In order to have the best heat transfer, you would need to apply a thin layer. The pea/line method are good methods in applying thermal paste.