# A Deep Dive into Thermal Paste Application: What It Looks Like Underneath
by Nick // Tech Illiterate
Today I want to look at thermal paste spread because this debate it never seems to die. So what I'm going to do for just a little bit of evidence and personal curiosity is I wanted to look at what the thermal paste actually looks like underneath the cooler or in this case an acrylic picture frame. Now this won't be a perfect representation of a cooler it doesn't have those grooves of a copper heat exchanger or those odd channels on the wraith prism cooler but it'll at least give us an idea of what's going on underneath there when you can't actually see what the spread looks like.
So what I'm going to do is apply the throne paste in a multitude of methods all of which were included in my best way to apply thermal paste video where I tested common methods and their temperature differences. And for fun I've added a bunch of suggestions from you beautiful people.
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## The Classic "P" Method
First up is the classic P method using a decent amount of Arctic MX4 with one half of the acrylic sheet. I did my best to apply even pressure though sometimes imperfectly. In this case we can see the paste spread pretty evenly almost covering the entirety of the IHS. This isn't bad at all obviously it's not perfect when you put your cooler down you're not going to know what it actually looks like underneath there.
So I decided just to do all of these in one pass.
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## The Rice Grain Method
Next is the rice grain method. I put a rather small amount it covers less than the P method but still not bad coverage. And now we have the line no that line is a bit too chunky let's try that again and we run out of first tube of thermal paste. It's okay that's worse but we're gonna go with that. Not bad coverage and I think this highlights the value of a steady hand which I am clearly lacking.
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## The "X" Method
Next is the X method. This is the first one that covers pretty well the entire IHS. I like that now for the pentadot this is the first one I might be worried about air getting stuck under there but as we can see it has great coverage almost identical to the X and I really like that.
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## The Butter Toast Spread Method
Now for the famous butter toast spread method. I used a plastic card to get a decent spread not a bad job but as I apply pressure on the CPU we can see here an air pocket form in the center. Now it eventually disappears but where did it go did it escape or is it just lingering in there? It's hard to tell I have no idea if that bubble's actually gone but who knows. And the coverage otherwise is great obviously I mean you spread this over the entire H I has it better be good right. Except for that little tiny spot in the bottom so overall I think the spread method is is good right but it comes with that little issue of possibly getting the air gaps trapped in there which leads to a suggestion we have from alien kitten but we'll get to that later in this video.
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## The Tiny Dots Method
Our final standard is the tiny dots. To see what it looks like when you apply too little thermal paste no surprise it leaves us with a small circle which is going to be fine. I guess we already found out you don't need thermal paste at all so it will survive but you're not going to get the best temperatures.
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## User Suggestions: Smiley Face, Percent Sign, and More
Now to our first suggestion this one was from Pluto Zero G and that is to draw a smiley face. Not bad but air bubbles might be a problem as we see the paste close around that dry spot in the middle. Kevin Harvey says he does a percent sign and it's a quote foolproof way to get good results. Now I'm not an expert here but what I did here looks more like a failed X but either way this is definitely an acceptable application method in my opinion.
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## The Spiral, Infinity Symbol, and Square Methods
Avraham Stern suggests the lack of a spiral is a shame so let's give it a go now. The final spread here looks great but it looks like a bubbles paradise and until we figure out where those bubbles actually go I'd steer clear of the spiral. Extinct Turtle says do an infinity symbol lol and that's good enough much like the spiral. Good spread but you know bubbles spark not thinks we should try a square for funsies. I don't think the shape I made has a name but whatever it is it spreads pretty well.
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## The Alien Kitten Method
Finally the one I referenced earlier from alien kitten which is to spread a thin layer over the IHS and then add a small dot to prevent the air bubble issue let's give it a try. And there goes the second tube of MX4. The spread the dot winner winner chicken dinner. This is definitely better than just buttering the toast once you butter to the toast you got to put a little dollop of jam on there and I know that makes me sound like an old man but I like it so don't bother me but yeah this is good this is one of the best ones maybe even the best. It still looks like it can get bubbles in there but it's definitely better than doing it without the extra dot.
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## Final Thoughts
Personally though after seeing all these results I'll probably be going with the X method because it's great spread there's no real worries about air bubbles. I mean all that said like we know this doesn't really make a difference anyways let's remember that like it doesn't really matter if you haven't seen it go watch that video I made about this but before I commit to the X method for one last time I'm going to use the P method with some Arctic Silver to discover if it really needs to break in. Do you really need break-in time? If you want to see that video subscribe and please leave a like.
This has been Tech Illiterate my name is Nick. Thank you for watching marker let's go and for fun I've included a bunch of suggestions from some of you beautiful people gotta get hot here.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: entoday i want to look at thermal paste spread because this debate it never seems to die so what i'm going to do for just a little bit of evidence and personal curiosity i wanted to look at what the thermal paste actually looks like underneath the cooler or in this case an acrylic picture frame now this won't be a perfect representation of a cooler it doesn't have those grooves of a copper heat exchanger or those odd channels on the wraith prism cooler but it'll at least give us an idea of what's going on underneath there when you can't actually see what the spread looks like so what i'm going to do is apply the throne paste in a multitude of methods all of which were included in my best way to apply thermal paste video where i tested common methods and their temperature differences and for fun i've added a bunch of suggestions from you beautiful people first up is the classic p method using a decent amount of arctic mx4 with one half of the acrylic sheet i did my best to apply even pressure though sometimes imperfectly in this case we can see the paste spread pretty evenly almost covering the entirety of the ihs this is not bad at all obviously it's not perfect when you put your cooler down you're not going to know what it actually looks like underneath there so i decided just to do all of these in one pass next is the rice grain i put a rather small amount it covers less than the p method but still not bad coverage and now we have the line no that line is a bit too chunky let's try that again and we run out of first tube of thermal paste it's okay that's worse but we're gonna go with that not bad coverage and i think this highlights the value of a steady hand which i am clearly lacking next is the x this is the first one that covers pretty well the entire ihs i like that now for the pentadot this is the first one i might be worried about air getting stuck under there but as we can see it has great coverage almost identical to the x and i really like that and now for the famous butter toast spread method i used a plastic card to get a decent spread not a bad job but as i apply pressure on the cpu we can see here an air pocket form in the center now it eventually disappears but where did it go did it escape or is it just lingering in there it's hard to tell i have no idea if that bubble's actually gone but who knows and the coverage otherwise is great obviously i mean you spread this over the entire h i has it better be good right i mean except for that little tiny spot in the bottom so overall i think the spread method is is good right but it comes with that little issue of possibly getting the air gaps trapped in there which leads to a suggestion we have from alien kitten but we'll get to that later in this video our final standard is the tiny dots to see what it looks like when you apply too little thermal paste no surprise it leaves us with a small circle which is going to be fine i guess we already found out you don't need thermal paste at all so it will survive but you're not going to get the best temperatures now to our first suggestion this one was from pluto zero g and that is to draw a smiley face not bad but air bubbles might be a problem as we see the paste close around that dry spot in the middle kevin harvey says he does a percent sign and it's a quote foolproof way to get good results now i'm not an expert here but what i did here looks more like a failed x but either way this is definitely an acceptable application method in my opinion avraham stern suggests the lack of a spiral is a shame so let's give it a go now the final spread here looks great but it looks like a bubbles paradise and until we figure out where those bubbles actually go i'd steer clear of the spiral extinct turtle says do an infinity symbol lol and that's good enough much like the spiral good spread but you know bubbles spark not thinks we should try a square for funsies i don't think the shape i made has a name but whatever it is it spreads pretty well and finally the one i referenced earlier from alien kitten which is to spread a thin layer over the ihs and then add a small dot to prevent the air bubble issue let's give it a try and there goes the second tube of mx4 the spread the dot winner winner chicken dinner this is definitely better than just buttering the toast once you butter to the toast you got to put a little dollop of jam on there and i know that makes me sound like an old man but i like it so don't bother me but yeah this is good this is one of the best ones maybe even the best it still looks like it can get bubbles in there but it's definitely better than doing it without the extra dot personally though after seeing all these results i'll probably be going with the x method because it's great spread there's no real worries about air bubbles i mean all that said like we know this doesn't really make a difference anyways let's remember that like it doesn't really matter if you haven't seen it go watch that video i made about this but before i commit to the x method for one last time i'm going to use the p method with some arctic silver to discover if it really needs to break in do you really need break-in time if you want to see that video subscribe and please leave a like this has been tech illiterate my name is nick thank you for watching marker let's go and for fun i've included a bunch of suggestions from some of you beautiful people gotta get hot heretoday i want to look at thermal paste spread because this debate it never seems to die so what i'm going to do for just a little bit of evidence and personal curiosity i wanted to look at what the thermal paste actually looks like underneath the cooler or in this case an acrylic picture frame now this won't be a perfect representation of a cooler it doesn't have those grooves of a copper heat exchanger or those odd channels on the wraith prism cooler but it'll at least give us an idea of what's going on underneath there when you can't actually see what the spread looks like so what i'm going to do is apply the throne paste in a multitude of methods all of which were included in my best way to apply thermal paste video where i tested common methods and their temperature differences and for fun i've added a bunch of suggestions from you beautiful people first up is the classic p method using a decent amount of arctic mx4 with one half of the acrylic sheet i did my best to apply even pressure though sometimes imperfectly in this case we can see the paste spread pretty evenly almost covering the entirety of the ihs this is not bad at all obviously it's not perfect when you put your cooler down you're not going to know what it actually looks like underneath there so i decided just to do all of these in one pass next is the rice grain i put a rather small amount it covers less than the p method but still not bad coverage and now we have the line no that line is a bit too chunky let's try that again and we run out of first tube of thermal paste it's okay that's worse but we're gonna go with that not bad coverage and i think this highlights the value of a steady hand which i am clearly lacking next is the x this is the first one that covers pretty well the entire ihs i like that now for the pentadot this is the first one i might be worried about air getting stuck under there but as we can see it has great coverage almost identical to the x and i really like that and now for the famous butter toast spread method i used a plastic card to get a decent spread not a bad job but as i apply pressure on the cpu we can see here an air pocket form in the center now it eventually disappears but where did it go did it escape or is it just lingering in there it's hard to tell i have no idea if that bubble's actually gone but who knows and the coverage otherwise is great obviously i mean you spread this over the entire h i has it better be good right i mean except for that little tiny spot in the bottom so overall i think the spread method is is good right but it comes with that little issue of possibly getting the air gaps trapped in there which leads to a suggestion we have from alien kitten but we'll get to that later in this video our final standard is the tiny dots to see what it looks like when you apply too little thermal paste no surprise it leaves us with a small circle which is going to be fine i guess we already found out you don't need thermal paste at all so it will survive but you're not going to get the best temperatures now to our first suggestion this one was from pluto zero g and that is to draw a smiley face not bad but air bubbles might be a problem as we see the paste close around that dry spot in the middle kevin harvey says he does a percent sign and it's a quote foolproof way to get good results now i'm not an expert here but what i did here looks more like a failed x but either way this is definitely an acceptable application method in my opinion avraham stern suggests the lack of a spiral is a shame so let's give it a go now the final spread here looks great but it looks like a bubbles paradise and until we figure out where those bubbles actually go i'd steer clear of the spiral extinct turtle says do an infinity symbol lol and that's good enough much like the spiral good spread but you know bubbles spark not thinks we should try a square for funsies i don't think the shape i made has a name but whatever it is it spreads pretty well and finally the one i referenced earlier from alien kitten which is to spread a thin layer over the ihs and then add a small dot to prevent the air bubble issue let's give it a try and there goes the second tube of mx4 the spread the dot winner winner chicken dinner this is definitely better than just buttering the toast once you butter to the toast you got to put a little dollop of jam on there and i know that makes me sound like an old man but i like it so don't bother me but yeah this is good this is one of the best ones maybe even the best it still looks like it can get bubbles in there but it's definitely better than doing it without the extra dot personally though after seeing all these results i'll probably be going with the x method because it's great spread there's no real worries about air bubbles i mean all that said like we know this doesn't really make a difference anyways let's remember that like it doesn't really matter if you haven't seen it go watch that video i made about this but before i commit to the x method for one last time i'm going to use the p method with some arctic silver to discover if it really needs to break in do you really need break-in time if you want to see that video subscribe and please leave a like this has been tech illiterate my name is nick thank you for watching marker let's go and for fun i've included a bunch of suggestions from some of you beautiful people gotta get hot here\n"
