Saw a post about thermal paste application that made me rethink my whole method

I was scrolling through a hardware forum last night and someone said you should never spread thermal paste with a card, just let the cooler press it down. For like 10 years I have been using a old credit card to spread it even across the whole CPU. I always thought I was being thorough, but apparently you can trap air bubbles that way. So I tried the pea method on a build for a friend's gaming rig in Seattle last week. The temps dropped by 5 degrees on the first test. Made me wonder how many other little habits I have that are actually wrong. Has anyone else found a common tip that turned out to be outdated or just plain bad advice?

2 comments

2 Comments

kelly_nelson9529d ago

That pea method is a real game changer honestly. I started doing it about two years ago after watching a build video from a guy in Portland who tests like 50 different CPUs with various methods. He showed thermal paste spreading under a glass plate so you could actually see how it pushes out to the edges. My old credit card method was probably putting down way too much paste too. I used to do a thin layer across the whole IHS and then a dot in the middle on top of that, which was basically overkill. Now I just do a single pea sized dot right in the center and let the cooler do its thing.

julia_lee28d ago

Wait, is it really a "pea" sized dot though? I mean I see guys online calling it a pea but a lot of them are actually using way more than a real pea would be. Like a dried pea from a can is super tiny, maybe 3-4mm across. But I've watched that same Portland guy's video and his dot looked more like a green pea pod size honestly, maybe 6-7mm. I think people confuse pea size with rice grain size and then they end up using too little. But I totally agree with you @kelly_nelson95 about the old credit card method being overkill though, I used to do that too and it was such a mess. Idk maybe I'm just overthinking the size thing but I've seen too many folks put down barely any paste and then wonder why their temps are high.