Am I using Too Much Thermal Paste?

[imtiax]

I built a Rig a month ago and used the Cooler Master Thermal paste that came with my hyper 212 evo.

I used that thermal paste twice.

Once for building this rig, and used the rest on an older computer I took apart.

The tube is now empty.

It was a 3.5G tube.

 

[A Bad Day]

How much thermal paste did you put on? Anything more than a large pea shape dot is excessive.

 

[Duzzi]

If the temperatures are normal in full load(not above 80 C but this is for my cpu with a stock cooler and not OC'ed, i don't know which one you have) , you are using enough.

 

[Guest]

You used way too much

 

[Deleted member 217926]

3.5 grams of thermal paste usually works for at least 10 or 12 applications. It's not toothpaste. The goal is to use as little as possible.

If you use too much it will come out the sides when the cooler is fixed to the motherboard. Hopefully it's not conductive because if it comes out and gets on the motherboard it can cause shorting if it is. I'm not sure of the exact model of the paste to check and see. Hopefully someone else will post here that knows.

 

[imtiax]

Now I see why my idle temps are like 40C. I dont have some comming out teh side. I'll replace it ASAP.

Thanks!

 

[mildgamer001]

if it squished out from the sided of the heatsink/cpu connection, there is probably too much.you only need a little drop on each heatsink.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Follow the paste manufacturers guidelines for applying any paste. Since different pastes are different thicknesses ( viscosities ) no single method of application is correct.

Artic Silver even has different application methods for different CPUs based on a chip's individual thermal profile.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Clean the old stuff off with a coffee filter and some 91% rubbing alcohol.