Air bubbles in thermal paste

[spyguy]

I saw a post today that claimed air bubbles in thermal paste would explode causing damage to the cpu. Any truth to this?

 

[COLGeek]

Urban legend. When a heatsink is mounted properly, with the proper amount of thermal compound, any bubbles will be pressed away by the pressure of locking in place. Any voids left would be too small to cause harm and will disappear after a break in period.

 

[ehmkec]

Where did you see the post? Air is not explosive. Any water in air will expand as it heats up but we are only talking about a few molecules in a tiny bubble in the paste. I think the CPU case can handle that expansion. Also the flash point of any material that might get between the cpu and the heat sink would be well above 400F. Your CPU has a better chance of 'popping' open at that temp than anything else.

 

[kraelic]

Air bubbles will act as an insulator hindering heat transfer. Don't spread the paste with a credit card, just put on a pea sized blob in the center or a small X so it spreads into the corners more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyXLu1Ms-q4

 

[spyguy]

I believe I saw the post on a gamefaqs board relating to thermal paste. And yes I use the pea sized dot method and just let the block of the aio do the spreading.