Oh, good grief not true. Go check out Techspot's article.
You mean the article that reads "We're not sure if Cooler Master is joking with this tweet. It seems pretty likely due to the ridiculousness of the claim (and it's an amusing joke if so)" ?
They go on to say "that would imply that the rest of their tweet is serious -- the bit about the new design making thermal paste easier to apply, to be specific. If the company does feel that way, we can point toward plenty of PC enthusiasts that might disagree."
Which only makes Techspot look like idiots, because Cooler Master's own website recommends spreading thermal paste manually on
every single one of their thermal paste products. But even so, at least they opted to hedge their bets by suggesting perhaps it was a joke, despite the fact they didn't do their due diligence by, you know, actually checking.
I really don't know why the tech press and enthusiasts are so in love with this ridiculous "pea method is best" thing. It's not as if even the manufacturers agree on this completely, but it did pique my curiosity to see how much they disagree, so you know what? I did some digging. Through the magic of *basic google searching* I have found a great deal of relevant information.
1 - Marketing Mentions specifically "Thanks to its excellent spreading properties, there is no need to manually spread NT-H2 before installing the cooler", implying Noctua believes thicker compounds should be spread manually.
2 - Intel's instructions are to use substantially more compound than most enthusiasts, specifying the entire "pillow pack" be used. This is presumably to ensure adequate spread in single-application environments where cleanup is not a concern)
3 - EK Specifically mentions that their other recommended thermal paste, TG Hydronaut, requires a manual spread due to it's "higher density". Since EK Hydronaut is actually less dense than EK Ectotherm, I presume this to be an error and Viscosity is meant here.
4 - Note that the cheaper product does not include an applicator - Corsair's paste has been poorly reviewed and is known to be a rebranded bulk compound with unimpressive specs, so I contend that this product's application method is determined by price, not performance
As you can see, "Thin Spread" is by far the most commonly recommended application method, being recommended by manufacturers for 37 products out of 53 (38 if including Conductonaut) whereas dot method is recommended by only 8 manufacturers outright, two of whom recommend both methods for different products. Two manufacturers specifically mention that the viscosity of their paste makes manual spreading unnecessary, alluding to it being necessary for other pastes of different viscosity.
Disclaimer - I put anything that included an applicator down as a "Thin Spread", because otherwise said applicators were being included without the intent of their being used. No manufacturer's actual install instructions actually contradicted this, as most manufacturers including applicators either specify a spread explicitly, or provide no instructions for install and presume the user knows what to do with an applicator.
Also note Arctic Silver's unique "tinting" method, which is both a spread *and* a vertical line method, fitting neither commonly recommended application method perfectly. If this is considered a spread method then 40 products of 53 come with a recommendation to spread the paste, not dot method.
To detour from this however, and to get back to the point of the thread, which is "Did btarunr miss Cooler Master's sarcasm" - I present this,
from CM's own product information PDF:
Something tells me that CM's social media isn't exactly given carte blanche to directly contradict their product pages, so perhaps we should assume they weren't doing so?