Best Thermal Paste Method

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Guest

Guest
I have tried to find the best method to apply thermal paste, but not everybody all agrees on one right method to spread thermal compound. Whats the best way to apply thermal compound? How much paste do I put? A pea? A grain of rice? Some say to spread the paste with a credit card or spread it by putting a plastic bag over your finger and use you finger to spread it. Some say to put a "pea", an "X", or a line of paste over the cpu without spreading it and immediately screw in the heatsink? I have seen many people argue over which method is superior. Whats the best way?

Thermal Paste I'm using: Arctic Silver 5

CPU I have: Intel Pentium Dual Core E5300 2.6 ghz