Did I apply my thermal paste incorrectly?

[Ali_76]

I bought a arctic silver 5 yesterday to replace my stock thermal paste in my h60 water cooler as i was replacing my defective 6600k with a new 6600k. My idle temps BEFORE were around 25-30 degrees and now its literlly a stable 35 . I used the line method to apply the thermal paste and booted my pc with new cpu,psu and it worked. Any tips on how to get it lower because am not gamign on it just yet as i dont have a gpu, but i expect my temps to be full load over 65. The h60 is cabable of 21 degrees

 

[Ecky]

21c is less than 70F. Most people keep their houses warmer than 70F, and your CPU cannot be cooler than the air around it. 35c is about what I'd expect as an idle temperature, and is very safe. 65c is relatively cool as a load temperature too, and also very safe.

 

[Revound]

I suggest using the pea/dot method as the cores are grouped in the middle of the CPU and therefore provides the best coverage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2MEAnZ3swQ

In theory though as shown in the above video as long as cores have sufficient coverage, difference in temperature should be minimal at best between line and pea.

You also need to keep in mind that an idle temperature difference of 5c is small enough to be caused by other variables such as a higher ambient room temperature. It may very well be also that the newer 6600k is operates marginally warmer than the old one as with all processors during mass production not all are created equal in regards to efficiency in thermal dissipation and could certainly contribute to the 5c difference.

If the temperature difference is bugging you I suggest trying the pea method as shown in the above video.

Be sure that you thoroughly clean old thermal paste from both the processor lid and bottom of the H60 with TIM clean before applying new paste.