If you are planning on overclocking your computer, try to get thermal paste composed mainly of silver, copper, or gold. These are the most conductive metals commonly used in thermal paste.
If you’re building with brand new components, try not to touch the heatsink surface or the surface of the CPU. Even if your hands are clean, you’re still transferring oil from your skin to the surface, which can reduce its ability to transfer heat.
Thermal paste is designed to fill in the gaps and imperfections on the surfaces that you are joining. Since modern production techniques cannot make surfaces without imperfections, thermal paste will always be necessary. Even if the surfaces of your components seem to be completely flat, there are still tiny surface imperfections that will trap pockets of air, reducing the heat transfer. For this reason, it’s best to always use thermal paste.
There is no need to spread the paste for circular coolers, as the pressure of being applied will spread it evenly across the surface. Alternatively, you can place your thermal paste in an ‘X’ pattern across the chip, although make sure to only use a tiny amount as you’ll be covering a greater area than the ‘blob method’.
As heat is applied, the paste will become thinner and spread more towards the edges. This is why using a small amount of paste is important, as a little goes a long way. Tighten the heat sink from each corner a little at a time. For example turn the top right screw twice, then switch to two turns on the bottom left, before moving the the top left, then the bottom right, and continue until all screws are tight. This will allow for even pressure for both the component, helping to avoid damage, and even spreading of your thermal paste.
The connector is usually a three-pin plug usually above the CPU cooler on the motherboard, labelled with ‘CPU FAN’ or something similar.
The key used to enter the BIOS of your computer could vary, so check the motherboard manual. Common keys are ESC, DEL, F12 and F1
The lines method – Place two thin lines of thermal compound on the base of the cooler. The lines should be parallel and spaced so that they are each placed a third of the width of the processor. The lines themselves should also be about a third of the processor’s width in length. The cross method – This is very similar to the previous method, but the lines are crossed in an “X” pattern instead of parallel. The length and thickness of the lines should be the same as the previous method. The spread method – This is one of the most popular and effective methods, but takes a little more effort. Place a small amount of thermal paste onto the base of the cooler. Using a plastic finger protector or a plastic bag, use your finger to spread the paste evenly across the surface. Make sure to cover the entire surface that will be in contact with the processor, and ensure that you do not apply the paste too thick. In most cases, the paste should barely hide the metal underneath.
The key used to enter the BIOS of your computer could vary, so check the motherboard manual. Common keys are ESC, DEL, F12 and F1
