Found out thermal paste application matters more than I thought

Was fixing a gaming console that kept overheating. Turns out I was using too little paste, and after reapplying properly, it runs cool! How do you guys apply thermal paste?

2 comments

2 Comments

fionalee2d ago

Yeah, it's wild how much it matters. I made the opposite mistake on my first PC build, I put on way too much. It oozed out the sides when I put the cooler on, and my temps were all over the place. Had to clean the whole socket with isopropyl alcohol, it was a huge mess. What method do you use now, the pea-sized dot or spreading it yourself?

patricia_wright1d ago

Oh man, cleaning the whole socket sounds like a nightmare. Just to clarify, you wouldn't get paste in the actual socket pins, that would be a disaster. You meant cleaning it off the CPU and motherboard around the socket, right? I use the pea method now, a small dot in the middle. After my own mess, I learned less is definitely more.