AI Technology Cool Silver Thermal Interface Material

Applying the paste

Now here is were things change up for some folks. For years I have been
told, just a dab in the middle and less is more. When I read on the
box to make a big honking X on the chip, I thought to myself, Ok, Im
going to be cleaning this stuff off my board when it oozes out the
side.

I did as instructed and when on and installed the heat sink with light hand pressure.

Curiosity getting the better of me I wanted to see how the paste spread, so I pulled the cooler back off to see. I was surprised to see that it had not oozed out the sides like I thought it would. Since I didnt see any air pockets or issues when I took the cooler off I cleaned everything, reapplied the paste and installed the cooler again in the same manner.

So after I tightened it all down and ran for a day or so, I took all apart to see how the spread was. As you can see in the above image, it covered quite well. You can see the outline of the heatspreder. Lets move on to the testing.