How much thermal paste is too much/ too little

[sethbattery]

I used a little over 3/4 of this tube of thermal paste for the installation of one CPU, is that too much?

 

[asoroka]

Way too much.

All you need is a drop in the centre (size of a small pea), its just meant to fill the gaps between the two metal surfaces.

 

[ElectrO_90]

Many youtube videos on how to use paste.
It shouldn't be oozing out of the sides all over the motherboard.
The problem you may have is, if you remove the cpu and the paste gets on the pins, you could have some big problems. So if you are going to remove the paste DO NOT remove the CPU.

 

[jimthenagual]

 

[sethbattery]

Way too much.

All you need is a drop in the centre (size of a small pea), its just meant to fill the gaps between the two metal surfaces.

The tube that I used about 3/4 ths of I'm pretty sure is meant for a single installation, the tube is less than an inch long

 

[sethbattery]

Many youtube videos on how to use paste.
It shouldn't be oozing out of the sides all over the motherboard.
The problem you may have is, if you remove the cpu and the paste gets on the pins, you could have some big problems. So if you are going to remove the paste DO NOT remove the CPU.

So if I just run the comp and carry on I won't likely have any long-term problems?
Also I checked without removing the heatsink and all the thermal paste is still on top of the metal surface of the cpu, none has dribbled out past that

 

[mdd1963]

The typical little tube comes with enough for 8 installs, IMO....

 

[asoroka]

Your thermal solution is non optimal.

Here is a good article on how thermal paste works.

https://www.techpowerup.com/articles/134

Essentially you have the risk that your CPU is going to run hotter than it should.

In the worst case if the paste gets on your pins it can cause a short

 

[ElectrO_90]

If none has glooped over the side, then maybe he is correct in assuming that his was enough for 1 use.
Normally 3/4 of a tube would be everywhere.

 

[sethbattery]

So the tube was a 1.5mg I believe, none of the paste had left the metal surface of the CPU, but it seemed excessive so I cleaned off the existing paste and applied a more conservative amount. I got a bit on the metal cpu housing while cleaning but I cleaned it off and made sure that all the paste stayed away from the socket while cleaning and of course left the cpu in the socket while cleaning up the paste.

 

[asoroka]

ok so now do a load and memory test to see how your thermals hold up.

 

[Jason H.]

just like the photo the mod posted.