Ways to apply Thermal Paste

[Darthgary]

I usually put my finger through a bag and rub it on in a circular motion till I think its about even, using a dab about the same size as a grain of rice, of both the heatsink and CPU. Is there a better way?

[Bruneau]

You don't want the oil from your fingers on there. Clean it up good w/ alcohol and spread it around w/ something. I use a toothpick. Then I press the heatsink down to spread it evenly. I wipe the heatsink and repeat this action a couple of times till there's a nice thin layer covering the whole chip. And after I clip the heatsink down I give it a little wiggle, for good measure.

It's just my little ritual.

[MrLuigi]

I also do the baggie or plastic wrap thing too.

[Omardeth]

i found that the edge of a credit card , tab off memory holder , something with a flat straight edge works best . dab alittle on a corner and spread it even with the card . almost seethru . about as think as a sheet of paper . also i put alittle on the heatsink , the excess from the edge of the card i used to spread it on the die of the cpu , and rub it in with a soft lint free cloth . like lense cloth for glasses . just so it leave a "ghost" on the bottom of the heatsink where it contacts the die .

[Tazman]

I found that using latex surgical gloves is the easiest way than the plastic bag, that way I know I don't get any oil on the heatsink or cpu. They also work great when eating chicken wings with extra hot sauce .

As for the paste (I always use AS3), about the best I can do is with a razor blade at 45º angle. My problem is after 3 pots of coffee my hands get shaking a bit so an actual "even" layer is impossible .

Mike

[Brangwen]

Definitely the "broken-in-half-credit-card-edge!"

Keeps you out of debt too!

Brangwen

[Xeroid]

I use a piece of plastic shim stock. I usually cut my old credit cards up into leeeeedle beeeeedy pieces.

[Highlife Man]

Maybe boring but with the AMDXP configs I have set up I tried to follow the instructions found on this page: http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/...8^6678,00.html