spencer_hayes71•24d agoProlific Poster

Thermal paste: blob in the middle vs. spread it thin? Which is actually better?

I always did the pea-sized dot in the middle on my PS5 APU but watched a teardown where a guy spread it evenly with a spatula. Which method holds up better under heavy load?

2 comments

2 Comments

williams9024d ago

Nah man, spreading it thin is asking for trouble. Pea method all the way. Every time I tried spreading I got air bubbles and uneven coverage that led to hotspots later. The whole point of pressure from the cooler is to push that blob out naturally, you get a perfect thin layer that way. Spreading it by hand is just introducing variables you don't need, especially if you're not a pro doing it every day. Leave it to the clamp to do the work.

xena_kim24d agoTop Commenter

Totally feel you on this one, it's so true that the clamp does the real work lol. I've messed up more than a few builds by trying to spread it myself and ending up with a gap that turned into a problem later. Sticking with the pea method from now on, it's just way more reliable for a clean bond.