An overheating scare got me to change my thermal paste habits

I used to put way too much thermal paste on CPUs, thinking it would help with heat transfer. I saw other techs spreading it thick and figured that was the right way. Then I fixed a PC that kept shutting down from high temps. After cleaning and applying my usual glob, the problem got even worse. I checked online and found out extra paste can block heat instead of moving it. So I cleaned it all off and tried just a small dot in the center. The CPU temperature dropped a lot, by about twenty degrees. Now I always use the pea-sized method and it works every time.

2 comments

2 Comments

tara7931d ago

I did the same thing once and my CPU looked like it had a toothpaste accident. Turns out you're just making a little heat-resistant mud pie in there. What's the weirdest thermal paste mess you've ever cleaned up?

sarah_patel251d ago

Oh wow... so the "more is better" rule really backfired this time. Gotta love when the fix is literally using less of the thing.