Welcome to tech illiterate.
I'm nic and today I learned how to apply thermal paste.
Now let me show you how it’s done.
You’re going to need Paper towel, Cotton swabs, Isopropyl alcohol and your favorite
thermal compound.
The first thing you’re going to need to do is clean off your CPU.
If you’re installing a brand new CPU this won’t matter.
But if you have old compound on your CPU or even if you’ve touched the top of it with
fingers or anything like that, it’s a good idea to clean it.
Make sure you have that paper towel and cotton swabs handy, grab a few of them.
There are different liquids you can use to clean the top of the CPU but I would recommend
Isopropyl alcohol.
It’s Normally easy to get and will do a good job of getting rid of the residue.
If you’re installing a new processor, nevermind this part.
However if you have a CPU cooler installed.
Go ahead and remove it.
Most are mounted to the motherboard like this Kraken X53.
Just with 4 screws that can be loosened by hand.
Yours may be different, so be sure to consult the manual if you’re unsure of what to do.
Once you have removed the mounting screws you’re going to twist the cooler back and
forth.
Mine came loose pretty easily but you might have to twist it a bit more to help loosen
the contact between the CPU and the cooler.
I’ve had that happen in the past before and I put too much thermal paste on.
But don’t worry.
Be patient, and don’t use too much force.
Once the cooler is off you can go ahead and take a DRY paper towel and wipe as much of
the old thermal compound from the cooler as you can.
Some like to go straight to using the alcohol but I have found that doing a dry wipe first
can be cleaner.
Then you’re gonna apply the alcohol to a new piece of paper towel and wipe down the
cooler clean.
Make sure it’s nice and shiny and clean.
Then put that aside and do the same with the CPU but with one minor added step.
If you don't have cotton swabs you can do this with a paper towel that’s fine.
So take the swab and moisten it.
But don’t do it too much.
You don’t want it soaking wet, dripping wet.
It won’t kill your computer if it drips on the components but if this is conductive
thermal paste and it seeps in places where it’s not supposed to be and then the alcohol
evaporates it can cause problems.
So you don’t want to have to deal with that.
So take that cotton swab and clean the sides of the CPU.
Once that's clean go ahead and give the top of the CPU one last moist wipe.
It should look super clean.
No streaks or residue.
Ready for new thermal paste.
Take your thermal compound of choice.
In this case I have Arctic silver 5.
This is a conductive paste.
You do not want to get this on your other components.
You have to be really careful.
It can actually short them out.
So please do take care.
There are different methods or styles of application but today we are going to be doing the classic
“DOT” or “P” method.
If you’ve never applied compound before, don’t be afraid to have a test run on some
paper towel.
Now apply a small amount to the middle of the CPU.
If it's the size of one of the capacitors surrounding the CPU, around that size it doesn’t
have to be perfect, then you’re probably good like I have here.
That should be just enough.
So you don’t apply too much though.
It can actually spill over from the sides of the CPU and cooler and which can cause
some issues.
Like at the very least it will be a mess to clean up when you finally replace it and at
the worst it can be creating shorts within your system and actually fry your board.
So, you don’t want that happening.
But anyways, if it looks something like this, you’re ready to put your cooler on.
Some designs might not give you the option to place the cooler straight back onto give
that even mounting pressure.
Like the stock AMD cooler for example.
Those ones you kinda put em on a bit sideways.
They work great but sometimes can end up with some uneven coverage.
Otherwise have your mounting screws handy and place it as flat as you can while applying
a reasonable amount of pressure.
You don’t have to put all your weight into this.
It’s just enough to hold it still.
Then replace your screws in a corner to another corner like a pattern.
Turn one until you feel some resistance.
Then install the opposite corner and continue until all four screws are on there.
Now at this point you can let go and you can just tighten up the screws individually in
that same pattern until they are nice and snug.
This will ensure you have even pressure between the CPU and cooler.
Be sure to plug in your fans and pump or anything else because if you hadn’t this will all
be for not.
And that's it!
You’re good to go!
So as long as your thermals are in check there is nothing to worry about at this point.
Which leads to my next video.
Showing you how to check your thermals PC temps.
I hope your Tech Literacy has improved from watching this tutorial.
I know that I’ve learned a lot of great tips from researching this video.
Be sure to like and subscribe for more videos like this one.
My name is Nic, Thanks for watching.