Thermal Paste- Instructions And Applying

[CheezPizza12345]

- Hello everyone

i have noticed that I have been asking a lot of questions, so I will try not to ask that many. CPU Thermal Paste is a vital part of the build, but one thing I had been debating about since I made it, and this applies only to aftermarket coolers, because on stock coolers, you don't have to apply any. I am a bit afraid to rub the paste around, because of the fact that I do not want to get any inside the socket. My question is that is it okay to simply put the paste in a pea size clump in the middle of the CPU and let it spread on its own as the fan gets tighter, or should I actually spread the thermal paste before putting the fan, and still tightening it?

Here is a better explanation of what I want to say. As the fan, or as the metal on the bottom of the fan gets tighter, and more compressed onto the CPU, there becomes little to no space in between, therefore, the thermal compound is going to spread around and become smaller around the cpu as the space becomes more dense. Should I spread out the compound prior, or should I just leto the compound spread when in coming in contact with the fan?

Thanks

 

[LucoTF]

Do NOT spread prior, let the weight of the heatsink spread it for you. You will get air bubbles if you spread prior.

 

[KyleADunn]

http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Thermal-Paste-Application-Techniques-170/

This sheds some light on the matter!

 

[DubbleClick]

Do NOT spread prior, let the weight of the heatsink spread it for you. You will get air bubbles if you spread prior.

Which usually still results in slightly better cooling performance, unless you did it wrong.