Maximum PC

Old school cpu's place a thin coat of thermal paste and the heatsink sat directly on top of the cpu.

Now today we have heatsnks that make just a bit of contact with the cpu so my question is do you still apply thermal paste over the entire cpu or just the portion of the cpu that will make contact with the heatsink?

Rice grain sized drop in the center of the heat spreader, put the heat sink on, give it a few twists, done.

To be more exact, how would you apply thermal paste to this CPU/Heatsink.

http://www.technic3d.com/review/kuehler ... tion/1.htm

Same process as I described. The theory is you put the thermal grease in the center and let the pressure of the heat sink spread it out for you. the other approach would be to put a rice grain sized down and spread it around with a credit card or a finger covered in saran wrap

I've seen video of the dime size drop of thermal and using a credit card to spread it all over the CPU, giving it a super thin layer of thermal over the CPU.

My heatsink has three heat pipes that come in direct contact with the CPU. Can't see spreading thermal over the entire CPU. Should I just thinly spread the thremal only over the part of the CPU where the heatsink connects? This is a totally new type of heatsink for me that I have ever worked with before.

21st century dude. 3 copper pipes make contact with CPU then go away from the CPU into a heatsink. 1 fan pushes and the other fan pulls air away from the heatsink and out the pc. Those old school heatsinks that sit flat on top of the CPU are done with.

What CPU cooler are you using? And are you sure it's compatible with the CPU? I have installed a dozen CPU coolers and I have never seen one where the CPU cooler doesn't cover the complete CPU. It's practically necessary to ensure the maximum amount of heat transfer.

stock Intel sinks dont. they have a circular contact area that coverts maybe 80-85 % of the cpu heatspreader. thats based on my core 2 4300 and i5 3570k Intel HSFs. not that I actually ever used them.

anyway, I use an thin "X" shape spread of thermal compound. twist it a little when its on, then tighten it down.

I should've just pulled this out from the start: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/What-is-the-Best-Way-to-Apply-Thermal-Grease-Part-1/1303/11. Granted they used a heat sink that doesn't have direct heat pipe contacts, but the theory shouldn't really change that drastically.

Google "Dark Knight II heatsink"

Wow, Latios - that is a really good article. Thanks.

Also, they had a follow up article linked on the one you posted that used a Heatsink with direct heat pipe contact - What is the Best Way to Apply Thermal Grease - Part 2. Just an FYI.

what they do not tell you is that these are all fresh applications of thermal compound, the numbers will improve as the compound cures. artic silver 5 takes about a month to cure, and includes cycling the computer on and off during that time period, leaving the machine on 24 hours a day does not help it cure.

But great cooling performance on initial application implies that it's already in an optimal-as-possible configuration. Curing would decrease the temperatures even more, but it would do it for all configurations, no?

I think that's the idea. Some compounds might cure to perform better than others, even if the performance comparison right after the application was reversed. Regardless, if you buy a good compound and apply it decently, we're debating over a few degrees, which is a moot point for most users.