Which is the proper way to apply thermal paste for a Quad core?

DanishDevil · Mar 15, 2011

I use the dot method. I always remove after initial application and confirm that I'm getting a good spread, and I always have.

pabloottawa · Mar 15, 2011

I gotta agree. The dot method seems to do the best job and to boot, no air bubbles. The shitty thing is, if your aim is off and the dot is not centered it won't spread evenly over the plate.

DanishDevil · Mar 15, 2011

You must have some really unsteady hands, or a really high recoil thermal paste

CrAsHnBuRnXp · Mar 15, 2011

Ive personally done two methods and both have worked out well.

I have used the dot method as DanishDevil has pointed out and I have also put a descent size drop on top of the CPU and with using a latex glove spread it out evenly corner to corner making sure no silver part of the CPU was showing. Both those methods have yet to fail me.

pabloottawa · Mar 16, 2011

DanishDevil said:
You must have some really unsteady hands, or a really high recoil thermal paste

HA! More like I'm extremely anal when it comes to this kind of stuff. Non-symmetrical things have always bugged me.... Probably the reason why I chose a car with dual exhaust

johnnyfiive · Mar 21, 2011

BB size amount, let the heatsink spread it for you. This is the method I've been using for about 14 years now.

System Name	Big Devil
Processor	Intel Core i5-2500K
Motherboard	ECS P67H2-A2
Cooling	XSPC Rasa \| Black Ice GT Stealth 240 \| XSPC X2O 750 \| 2x ACF12PWM \| PrimoChill White 7/16"
Memory	2x4GB Corsair Vengeance LP Arctic White 1600MHz CL9
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 780 ACX SC
Storage	Intel 520 Series 180GB + WD 1TB Blue
Display(s)	HP ZR30W 30" 2650x1600 IPS
Case	Corsair 600T SE
Audio Device(s)	Xonar Essence STX \| Sennheisser PC350 "Hero" Modded \| Corsair SP2500
Power Supply	ABS SL 1050W (Enermax Revolution Rebadge)
Software	Windows 8.1 x64 Pro w/ Media Center
Benchmark Scores	Ducky Year of the Snake w/ Cherry MX Browns & Year of the Tiger PBT Keycaps \| Razer Deathadder Black

Processor	i7 3930K 3.2 stock @ ~4.0
Motherboard	Asus P9x79 DELUXE
Cooling	Phanteks CPU cooler
Memory	6 x 4 Gb Kingston HyperX RAM triple channel 24GB total
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 4GB x2 SLI
Storage	1 ADATA 512Gb (primary OS) 2 X 64GB Agility 2 SSD in RAID0
Display(s)	Benq XL2420T, 24" LED Gaming Monitor
Case	Corsair Obsidian 800D
Audio Device(s)	Onboard 5.1
Power Supply	Cooler Master Silent Power 1000W
Software	Win 8.1 Enterprise x64
Benchmark Scores	They're good!!!

System Name	Big Devil
Processor	Intel Core i5-2500K
Motherboard	ECS P67H2-A2
Cooling	XSPC Rasa \| Black Ice GT Stealth 240 \| XSPC X2O 750 \| 2x ACF12PWM \| PrimoChill White 7/16"
Memory	2x4GB Corsair Vengeance LP Arctic White 1600MHz CL9
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 780 ACX SC
Storage	Intel 520 Series 180GB + WD 1TB Blue
Display(s)	HP ZR30W 30" 2650x1600 IPS
Case	Corsair 600T SE
Audio Device(s)	Xonar Essence STX \| Sennheisser PC350 "Hero" Modded \| Corsair SP2500
Power Supply	ABS SL 1050W (Enermax Revolution Rebadge)
Software	Windows 8.1 x64 Pro w/ Media Center
Benchmark Scores	Ducky Year of the Snake w/ Cherry MX Browns & Year of the Tiger PBT Keycaps \| Razer Deathadder Black

Processor	Intel i9 9900K @5GHz w/ Corsair H150i Pro CPU AiO w/Corsair HD120 RBG fan
Motherboard	Asus Z390 Maximus XI Code
Cooling	6x120mm Corsair HD120 RBG fans
Memory	Corsair Vengeance RGB 2x8GB 3600MHz
Video Card(s)	Asus RTX 3080Ti STRIX OC
Storage	Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500GB , 970 EVO 1TB, Samsung 850 EVO 1TB SSD, 10TB Synology DS1621+ RAID5
Display(s)	Corsair Xeneon 32" 32UHD144 4K
Case	Corsair 570x RBG Tempered Glass
Audio Device(s)	Onboard / Corsair Virtuoso XT Wireless RGB
Power Supply	Corsair HX850w Platinum Series
Mouse	Logitech G604s
Keyboard	Corsair K70 Rapidfire
Software	Windows 11 x64 Professional
Benchmark Scores	Firestrike - 23520 Heaven - 3670

Processor	i7 3930K 3.2 stock @ ~4.0
Motherboard	Asus P9x79 DELUXE
Cooling	Phanteks CPU cooler
Memory	6 x 4 Gb Kingston HyperX RAM triple channel 24GB total
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 4GB x2 SLI
Storage	1 ADATA 512Gb (primary OS) 2 X 64GB Agility 2 SSD in RAID0
Display(s)	Benq XL2420T, 24" LED Gaming Monitor
Case	Corsair Obsidian 800D
Audio Device(s)	Onboard 5.1
Power Supply	Cooler Master Silent Power 1000W
Software	Win 8.1 Enterprise x64
Benchmark Scores	They're good!!!

Which is the proper way to apply thermal paste for a Quad core?

DanishDevil

pabloottawa

DanishDevil

CrAsHnBuRnXp

pabloottawa

johnnyfiive