Just realized I was using thermal paste wrong for 5 years

I was at a shop in Austin last month and an old tech showed me that pea size is actually too much for LGA 1700 sockets. He said i was basically spreading it like butter when you should just let the cooler do the work. Has anyone else had a facepalm moment with something this basic?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_joseph1d ago

Dude you were spreading it like butter? That's hilarious lmao. I mean I get it though, I used to think you had to cover the whole thing like you're frosting a cake or something. That old tech is right though, the cooler does the work. Pea size is the standard but honestly even that can be too much on some sockets like LGA 1700 where the die is shaped different. I remember my first build I put a huge glob on and it squished out the sides like a toothpaste explosion. Looked like a disaster but it still worked somehow lol.

emma_dixon701d ago

Wait have you actually seen thermal paste squeeze out and short something out? I always hear people freaking out about it but I've never seen it happen for real. I mean I get that it can technically happen if you use something conductive like liquid metal, but regular paste seems pretty safe even with a big blob. Did you ever check temps on that first build after the toothpaste explosion? I'm curious if it actually ran hotter or if it just looked ugly. Some of those horror stories make it sound like you'll fry your whole system but my experience says it's way more forgiving than people act.

the_joseph1d ago

Man that toothpaste explosion story hit close to home. I did the same thing on my very first build back in 2018 with a Ryzen 2600. Used a whole line like I was frosting a damn cupcake. Squeezed out everywhere, got on the motherboard pins somehow. I was sweating bullets for a week. Temps were actually fine though, like 70c under load which surprised me. So yeah you're right, the stuff is forgiving even when you screw it up royal.