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On June 13 2011 09:41 Dracolich70 wrote:
Use a credit card to distribute the thermal paste, and as others have said, it is very important that the layer is thin, else it is counterproductive.
No. Don't try to spread it yourself. Putting the CPU cooler on top of a small dot of it will do quite nicely, without pulling any off.
The two flat surfaces squeezing it together, without having to separate does the best job you'll get at home.
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I did this "operation" recently and it's just scarier than it actually is. Simply take your cpu dice, wipe the old paste off with a residue free cloth (can be find in car shops) and rubbing alcohol, wait 5 min for the alcohol to evaporate, place the cpu back into the socket, drop a pea-sized drop on the center and install the cooler. The sheer pressure of the cooler will distribute the paste where it needs to go.
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On June 13 2011 09:59 JingleHell wrote:Show nested quote +On June 13 2011 09:41 Dracolich70 wrote:
Use a credit card to distribute the thermal paste, and as others have said, it is very important that the layer is thin, else it is counterproductive. No. Don't try to spread it yourself. Putting the CPU cooler on top of a small dot of it will do quite nicely, without pulling any off. The two flat surfaces squeezing it together, without having to separate does the best job you'll get at home. You can't guarantee that the layer will become thinly distributed that way. I guess with practice it will be alright, but you would need to do a slight rubbing motion to distribute the paste better.
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On June 13 2011 10:25 Dracolich70 wrote:Show nested quote +On June 13 2011 09:59 JingleHell wrote:On June 13 2011 09:41 Dracolich70 wrote:
Use a credit card to distribute the thermal paste, and as others have said, it is very important that the layer is thin, else it is counterproductive. No. Don't try to spread it yourself. Putting the CPU cooler on top of a small dot of it will do quite nicely, without pulling any off. The two flat surfaces squeezing it together, without having to separate does the best job you'll get at home. You can't guarantee that the layer will become thinly distributed that way. I guess with practice it will be alright.
If you put your CPU cooler on properly, and don't put too much paste on, it will. If you try to spread it yourself, it's too easy to leave gaps.
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On June 13 2011 10:30 JingleHell wrote:Show nested quote +On June 13 2011 10:25 Dracolich70 wrote:On June 13 2011 09:59 JingleHell wrote:On June 13 2011 09:41 Dracolich70 wrote:
Use a credit card to distribute the thermal paste, and as others have said, it is very important that the layer is thin, else it is counterproductive. No. Don't try to spread it yourself. Putting the CPU cooler on top of a small dot of it will do quite nicely, without pulling any off. The two flat surfaces squeezing it together, without having to separate does the best job you'll get at home. You can't guarantee that the layer will become thinly distributed that way. I guess with practice it will be alright. If you put your CPU cooler on properly, and don't put too much paste on, it will. If you try to spread it yourself, it's too easy to leave gaps.
agreed. the best thing to do is just squirt a pea sized amount, put the heatsink in, and snap/screw it in. pretty much designed in a way that when you push the heatsink into the cpu this way it spreads the best way possible.
if you spread it yourself you cant ensure you put an equal layer. the only way to do that is putting too much which is also not good.
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On June 13 2011 10:30 JingleHell wrote:Show nested quote +On June 13 2011 10:25 Dracolich70 wrote:On June 13 2011 09:59 JingleHell wrote:On June 13 2011 09:41 Dracolich70 wrote:
Use a credit card to distribute the thermal paste, and as others have said, it is very important that the layer is thin, else it is counterproductive. No. Don't try to spread it yourself. Putting the CPU cooler on top of a small dot of it will do quite nicely, without pulling any off. The two flat surfaces squeezing it together, without having to separate does the best job you'll get at home. You can't guarantee that the layer will become thinly distributed that way. I guess with practice it will be alright. If you put your CPU cooler on properly, and don't put too much paste on, it will. If you try to spread it yourself, it's too easy to leave gaps. Not with a credit card. It's pretty easy, and it does practically the same as you suggest, just with more control. You would "need" to use a slight rubbing motion with the cooler to distribute it using your method, else you risk a too thick a dot.
Edit: Here is your method described:
"Next, squeeze out a dot of thermal paste directly onto the center of your CPU. Your dot should be about the size of a BB (as in, what BB guns shoot), or a little smaller than a pea. Next, take your cooler and press it straight down onto the CPU so that the thermal paste spreads evenly in all directions. If you feel comfortable doing it, you can use a very very slight rubbing motion as you press down on the cooler to help spread the paste better."
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Uhm, I never use a rubbing motion, for one. I just tighten down my CPU cooler. Even pressure from tightening down the screws to the same tightness.
A rubbing motion with a credit card, and small bits of the paste will stick to the card, or there will be waves in the top, and you'll end up with little divots. I've tested this. It doesn't leave any kind of even pattern.
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On June 13 2011 09:41 Dracolich70 wrote:
Use a credit card to distribute the thermal paste, and as others have said, it is very important that the layer is thin, else it is counterproductive.
Bad idea, just set the heat sink on top of the dot of paste you applied and turn slightly left/right and you're done.
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On June 13 2011 10:36 Dracolich70 wrote:
Not with a credit card. It's pretty easy, and it does practically the same as you suggest, just with more control. You would "need" to use a slight rubbing motion with the cooler to distribute it using your method, else you risk a too thick a dot.
Why would you need to use a rubbing motion when you have two flat surfaces pushing together causing the paste to spread evenly(since it obeys the laws of physics).
Don't listen to anyone who tells you to spread out the paste with a card or using similar methods unless it's recommended by the thermal paste manufacturer. With pretty much all coolers using the dot/line technique is the best way to do it.
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I use the dot/line method and let the pressure of the heatsink spread it. You can use a credit card or utility blade if you want tho. Whatever you feel most comfortable with really, as long as it's on there AND in the right spot AND in the right amount AND ends up spread evenly it doesn't really matter how you get it there. 
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The only coolers it's useful to pre-spread some past is with direct contact heatpipes and thats only to scrape it into the valleys created by the pipes, you still need to put 1 or 2 rice size blobs aswell.
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Just a dot in the center put the heatsink down onto the cpu straight and slowly tighten the screws alternating between them. The cpu itself is small the thing you see is the headspreader so a dot in the center after pressure is applied will cover the important parts just fine without any any gaps if you did it correctly getting the heatsink firmly down on it at roughly 45-55psi is optimal although who the hell can tell how much pressure is down on it.
The dot is smaller then a piece of corn or a pea and a little larger then a grain of rice.
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51556 Posts
i personally use a microfibre cloth + nail polish (mothers) to clean paste.
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On June 13 2011 16:46 GTR wrote:
i personally use a microfibre cloth + nail polish (mothers) to clean paste.
Sure, sure...
Application is easy; just put a pea-sized drop of the pased in the center of your CPU and put the heatsink in place. As for removal, it seems alcohol or acetone works so it's up to your preference and availability.
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nail polish/acetone is will remove organics, but it also leaves a organic residue. You should use high concentration alcohol afterwards to remove any residues by acetone. Otherwise, just use alcohol to clean your cpu surface.
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On June 13 2011 16:46 GTR wrote:
i personally use a microfibre cloth + nail polish (mothers) to clean paste.
should be scentless which is harder to do, it's much easier to get 99% rubbing alch it's also not as harsh on the cooler but it will take a ton of rubbing with a microfiber cloth
acetone is quite harsh imo
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i bought a arctic cleaning kit (from the same poeple who make arctic silver)
its real nice, theres 2 eye dropper bottles, i think one is alcohol and one is xylene but im not sure. It poilishes it up real nice with 0 effort, all you need is a cloth/ wipe without lint to help wipe if you need to, althoguh the second component pretty much evaporates on its own.
if your gonna be seating your own heatinks you might as well invest in this stuff i rekon, its not like its expensive or anything.
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EPT
