How should I be applying thermal paste?

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=170&Itemid=1

Carefully because it's electrically conductive(contains silver).
http://www.arcticsilver.com/methods.html
Curing time for optimized temps is ridiculously long 200hrs.

AS5 is popular, but not necessarily the best.

These responses are very helpfuls

^Not sure if that is meant sincerely or in sarcasm.

I'll assume sincerely.   There are a lot of brands out there, and many perform very close to one another, so it comes down to preference in most cases.

Well I heard the coolermaster 212 comes with thermal paste itself, is the one that comes with it electrically conductive?

Also is thermal paste really required? Can I just slap the cooler on without it? This is my first build and I dont want my computer to explode or anything

TIM shouldn't be conductive...some is 'mildly' like some AS products, but you are only using a tiny amount anyway...and it should ONLY be applied to your IHS and cooler. If you put on that much that it oozes out the sides and onto your board...you are using about 100x too much.



Not 'required' but very strongly recommended. The IHS and heatsink are not perfectly flat or exact matches for the other (unless you lapped both surfaces...voiding the warranties of both). Thermal paste (TIM...thermal interface material) fills in any microscopic voids between the 2 surfaces and allows more efficient heat transfer...air does not transfer heat effectively.

Just for add, the TIM that comes with the Hyper 212+ is pretty basic, if you want see good results with the cooler use AS5 or something better.

Use MX-4

I prefer ceramique over as5 as it can be removed a bit more easily and is a lot cheaper in my country while performing the same.