Question Too much thermal paste?

[Risa928]

Hi, I am building my first pc but I don't know if I've put too much thermal paste. Is this much ok or should I wipe of the edges?

https://imgur.com/a/3j433ST

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

Most thermal paste is non-conducive, so it shouldn't harm your CPU. However, that is too much because it ran off onto the edges. You wouldn't want it running off into your motherboard socket. That could cause problems. You can clean it off with isopropyl alcohol and cotton swaps and/or Q-tips being careful not to damage anything.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

That's WAY too much. You only need enough to fill the microscopic pits and scratches in the surface. Any more simply acts as an insulator.

 

[geofelt]

It is surprising how little you actually need to do the job.
A single small drop in the center will spread out under heat and cooler pressure to fill in pits.
With lga1700 processors like yours the cpu die is longer. A single drop will spread out in a circle but may not cover the top and bottom of the die where the hot parts are.
Noctua also recommends a smaller dot in the corners for lga1700:

How should I apply the NT-H1 or NT-H2 thermal paste onto the CPU and how can I remove it?

Applying thermal paste Both our NT-H1 and NT-H2 are easy to apply and generally don’t need to be spread out manually on the CPU. However, our recommendations differ slightly from paste to paste and from CPU size to CPU size, so please refer to o...

faqs.noctua.at