Why I stopped using thermal paste spreaders after a job in Austin

I used to be all about those little plastic spreaders for thermal paste. Figured they made things more precise, you know? But last month I was doing a build for a guy in Austin who runs a small video editing shop. He wanted his Ryzen 5900X kept cool for rendering. I used my usual pea-sized drop and a spreader, and his temps were hitting 85C under load. He was not happy. So I re-did it with just a dot in the middle, no spreader, and temps dropped to 75C. The spreader was actually pushing the paste uneven, creating air pockets. Now I just let the pressure from the cooler do the work. Has anyone else ditched the spreaders for good?

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1 Comment

spencer_ross22h ago

Loads of people I know just squeeze it on and send it.