how much thermal paste for an i5 2400k

you know i do my research and i got people telling me to do 2 different things

apply it on thick with a business card, or put a few small small beads in the shape of a cross


my cpu heatsink will be the CM 212 hyper.

any thoughts on this?

thanks a bunch! computer parts are coming in today and i'm hyper!

also whats a safe temp for it on max load?

mid 70's C ?

throw a line down the middle of the cpu (slightly away from each edge) about the length of 2-3 grains of rice..

Now you have 3 things

edit: line is vertical.. btw

Ask 3 people get 3 answers.



I personally prefer the spread method. As long as you use any of the 3 methods properly, you're ok. Use a good heatsink, and just pick one. You can always do it again if you're not happy.

Usually it's either line, blob, or spread evenly on the surface. Don't do crosses or anything like that as it gives uneven coverage.

Normally I'd just say to use whatever method will give you even (but very thin) coverage, but the Hyper 212+ has direct contact heatpipes on the heatsink face with significant gaps between the copper and aluminum, so I would make sure to get those filled in as air gaps are bad.

As for max safe load temp, the PC will start to throttle itself or shut down around 100C, but you don't want to be anywhere near that. I have a Hyper 212+ myself and mine hits around 71C at max load. You're probably fine as long as you stay under the mid 70s

There are several ways to apply the paste but my opinion is the only ones that are wrong are the ones that recommend more than a pea sized amount. I have experimented with many methods and none have really show much difference.

The last one I did was an exposed heat pipe Xig on an i5 and I ran thin beads on the pipes and a dab in the middle. It works; nuff said.

I cut my teeth on this with the Pentium D's and tried just about every technique. The large grain of rice in the center of the die always seemed to work best. Most of this was xp Thermalrights though. No exposed heat pipes.

Put a thin line down each heatpipe, that's what works best for me on heatpipe direct touch type coolers.
A few little dots on the aluminum sections helps a bit too.