I used to swear by thermal paste spreaders, now I just use the dot method

Last month I was rebuilding a gaming rig for a client in Austin and I had my little plastic spreader tool ready, the one I've used for like 3 years. Then I watched a teardown video where a guy with 20 years experience just put a pea-sized dot in the middle and pressed the cooler down, no spreading at all. I figured why not try it, since my old way sometimes left air bubbles near the edges anyway. The temps after 30 minutes of stress testing were actually 2 degrees cooler than my usual spread job, which shocked me honestly. I was always convinced that manual spreading gave better coverage, but the pressure from the cooler does the work more evenly than I ever could. Now I just tell every client that less is more when it comes to paste, and nobody's come back with overheating issues. Has anyone else switched techniques after years of doing it the stubborn way, or am I the last one to catch on?

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finley_roberts2716d ago

Pea sized dot has always been the move, that spreader was just extra work.