Best way to apply thermal paste?

[Cantaloupeman]

I am gonna have to use the stock thermal paste that came with my coolermaster hyper t4. I am worried about putting it on wrong though because this is my first pc build. I am scared I will put too much and it will go over the edge and short circuit and I'm also worried I'll put too little. Everyone acts like the pea method makes everything really easy but how am I supposed to know if it really is the right size. The pea method seems a bit vague.

[emosun]

2 minutes ago, Cantaloupeman said:

The pea method seems a bit vague.

that's the point

it prevents you from putting too much on , and too little. it's literally SOMEWHERE in the middle. there is no correct answer other than "sort of the size of a pea"

your best guess is our best guess. go to the store and buy a bag of peas if you want to get technical

[Unimaginative Name]

Look at his methods and then judge size

[TheRandomness]

So long as there's enough it doesn't matter.

[Mira Yurizaki]

The best way is the minimal amount needed cover where the die is. Unless you really cake the heat spreader, you can't have too much thermal paste, but you can have too little.

[Mooshi]

I use the X method myself.

[Donny_Chen]

the pea just needs to be proportionate to how large the CPU is.  Needs to coat the cpu evenly.  I wouldn't use the same size pea on a 1st gen core 2 duo than one of the larger i9's.

 

[Bananasplit_00]

ok so go buy some rice unless you have some, take out two grains, lay them down on the IHS, you want about that amount of thermal paste right in the middle, dosent matter if its a bit more but no need in using more then you need.

[LordoftheRaccoons]

Lather it in your hands and slap it on with the might of Zeus

[Cantaloupeman]

Should I take the cooler off and look after I did it the first time to see if I'm doing alright and then clean off and reapply? 

44 minutes ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

ok so go buy some rice unless you have some, take out two grains, lay them down on the IHS, you want about that amount of thermal paste right in the middle, dosent matter if its a bit more but no need in usingmore then you need.

[Bananasplit_00]

18 minutes ago, Cantaloupeman said:

Should I take the cooler off and look after I did it the first time to see if I'm doing alright and then clean off and reapply? 

if you care to spent that time instead of just testing how the system performs thermally then sure

[Cantaloupeman]

9 minutes ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

if you care to spent that time instead of just testing how the system performs thermally then sure

How would I be able to test how it performs thermally? How do you tell what temps are normal?

[Bananasplit_00]

Just now, Cantaloupeman said:

How would I be able to test how it performs thermally? How do you tell what temps are normal?

the CPU specs sheet will list a max temp, as long as you are under that you are fine. run something like AIDA 64 and it will tell you your temps

[Vegetable]

1 minute ago, Cantaloupeman said:

How would I be able to test how it performs thermally? How do you tell what temps are normal?

Depends on your CPU, but no matter what chip you have under it, that Hyper T4 should have peak temps in the 70*C range

[Cantaloupeman]

13 minutes ago, Vegetable said:

Depends on your CPU, but no matter what chip you have under it, that Hyper T4 should have peak temps in the 70*C range

What about overclocking?

 

[Vegetable]

57 minutes ago, Cantaloupeman said:

What about overclocking?

 

Well if thats what you're after, what CPU do you have? I can help out more if I know that.

[Cantaloupeman]

5 hours ago, Vegetable said:

Well if thats what you're after, what CPU do you have? I can help out more if I know that.

I have an i5 7600k

[Vegetable]

1 hour ago, Cantaloupeman said:

I have an i5 7600k

Yeah stock you should be high 60's to low 70's, and with a mild OC to say 4.8ghz you would be looking at high 70*C range.