Thermal paste application, 8 years of doing it wrong finally clicked

I've been building and repairing desktops since 2016. Always did the pea method, never thought twice. Last Tuesday I had a customer's old i7-4790K hitting 95C at idle. Reapplied paste three times with the pea method, no change. Out of frustration I spread it thin with a plastic card, like a perfect even layer. Dropped to 58C idle and 74C under load. Same paste, same cooler, same case. I honestly thought the pea method was foolproof based on every video I watched. But seeing that 37 degree drop in about 20 minutes changed my mind completely. Is there a scenario where the pea method is actually better, or was I just unlucky with this particular IHS and cooler combo?

1 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

1 Comment

blake8429d ago

Pea method only wins when the cooler mounts with high pressure and the IHS is dead flat. Sounds like your cold plate had a slight curve and the spread just filled the gaps better.

0