I thought thermal paste application didn't matter much until last week

I used to just put a pea-sized dot in the middle of the CPU and call it good, thinking the heatsink pressure would spread it fine. Then I had a client's gaming rig with a Ryzen 7 5800X that was hitting 95C under load, even after a repaste with my usual method. I watched a video from a tech channel that did a proper spread test with a dozen patterns and temps. I tried the 'X' method with Arctic MX-6, making sure to cover the whole IHS, and the temps dropped to 82C in the same stress test. The difference was just making sure the paste actually reached the edges of the chip. Has anyone else seen a big drop from switching up their paste technique?

3 comments

3 Comments

susanb347d ago

My old laptop ran cooler after I cleaned the dust.

kimr747d ago

Yeah, cleaning out the dust makes a huge difference. I propped my old one up on some bottle caps for better airflow too, and it helped a ton.

elizabethmason7d ago

Had the same thing happen with my 5900X. Switched from a dot to a thin spread with a spatula and dropped like 10 degrees.