How to Apply Thermal Paste – Boost Your CPU Performance Easily

How to apply thermal paste? It’s about preparing the CPU before applying thermal paste: first, remove the old paste from both the CPU cooler and the CPU, then apply the fresh paste and avoid common mistakes during application that mostly noobs do. If you are not confident with applying the paste, go with a pre-applied cooler and avoid thermal throttling headaches.

The shape, size, and inside layout of the modern CPUs have changed a lot. They have more cores and sometimes different types of cores. Many CPUs now use chiplets and hybrid designs. Because of this, the hot spot is not in the middle anymore, the heat zones can be all over the chip.

In this article, we have given a general guide that you can follow to apply thermal interface material for most CPUs to move heat from the CPU to the cooler and keep your system cool. Moreover, we have separately mentioned the method to apply thermal paste for some specific CPUs models to make this guide more helpful for most users.

A traditional thermal paste for CPU is a highly conductive material which is used to move heat from the processor to the cooler or heat sink without letting it get trapped into any hole. The surfaces of the CPU and the cooler look flat, but there are many tiny gaps where air gets trapped and blocks the heat transfer from the processor to the heat sink. 

Thermal paste closes up those air gaps so heat flows straight into the cooler to prevent the system from overheating.

Most gamers rush toward using a bottleneck calculator to figure out what is bottlenecking my PC. Are bottleneck calculators accurate is not always guaranteed because these tools cannot detect system throttling. If your CPU or GPU is overheating, the calculator may still show that your system is balanced, which makes gamers question, are bottleneck calculators accurate?

The main point is simple. First, check your system temperatures. If they are high, fix the cooling issue. Once your temperatures are stable and there is no throttling, then evaluate your system balance to see if there is a real bottleneck.

Learn How our PC Bottleneck Calculator works

There are two ways: either use a cooler with pre-applied thermal paste and skip all the precautions and care required to apply the paste manually, or apply the paste manually. We have outlined the general steps for applying traditional thermal paste, as well as the specific methods for certain CPU models.

Cooler with Pre Applied Thermal Paste

If you want the easiest option, buy a CPU cooler that already has thermal paste on it. Many modern coolers, especially liquid coolers, come with paste already applied on the metal plate that touches the CPU. This paste is added by machines, so it is spread evenly and works well with any CPU the cooler supports. Cooler companies do this properly because they do not want their products to fail.

If you are not trying to push extreme performance or overclock your CPU, using this pre-applied paste is completely fine and safe. Just remember one very important thing to pull the plastic cover off that protects the paste before installing the cooler.

If you ever remove the cooler after installing it, you must clean off the old paste from both the CPU and the cooler. After that, apply a new thermal paste. And if your cooler does not come with paste already applied, then you will need to learn how to apply it yourself as we have guided in the next section.

How to Apply Thermal Paste – General Method

Super Short Thermal Paste Guide

• Remove cooler; wiggle gently if stuck.
• Wipe off old paste with paper towel.
• Clean remaining residue with isopropyl alcohol.
• Use cotton swabs for edges around CPU.
• CPU stays in motherboard during cleaning.

Apply New Paste

• Use either method:
  • Spatula: small blob → spread evenly.
  • Dot Method: small blob → cooler pressure spreads it.
• Tighten cooler screws in a cross pattern for even pressure.
• Reconnect fans/pump cables.

Final Checks

• Boot into BIOS to check temps.

Lets discuss in detail:

In general, applying the paste requires a few steps. The process starts by removing the CPU cooler and removing the old thermal grease. There are many different cooler mounting designs depending on the manufacturer. Most AIOs have four thumb screws holding them down. If yours is different and you’re lost, check the manual or look online.

Sometimes the cooler’s stuck even after unscrewing it. That’s just the old paste bonding the surfaces together. Wiggle the cooler a bit and it’ll pop off.

When you remove the cooler, clean the paste right away so if your cooler is set down wrong or tipped over, the thermal interface material will not get on other parts of the system.

Wipe off the paste with a paper towel and try to clean off all the excess. Now, apply a small amount of isopropyl alcohol on a fresh tissue and wipe the surface again so that any leftover paste is completely removed and the surface becomes completely clean.

Next is to clean the CPU. Don’t remove it from the motherboard. Just clean it with a dry paper towel to remove the bulk of the paste. Clean the edges of the CPU and the tight areas with the help of cotton swabs. Lastly, shine the surface of the CPU with a tissue damped with isopropyl alcohol.

Time to paste. There are tons of paste brands. You can use any trusted brand and apply it by following any of the two methods below.

The first method is to spread the paste with the help of a spatula that comes with the paste. Place a small dot around 3 to 4 mm in the center of the CPU integrated heat spreader and slowly and evenly spread the paste across the surface. Do it carefully and calmly to spread an even layer. Otherwise, with an uneven layer, there will be large gaps and heat will not conduct effectively, and your system will start heating due to increased temperature. Remove the paste from the edges with a cotton swab.

The second method is the more trusted and the perfect one. It’s called the dot method. Place the same small-sized blob of paste in the center and don’t use any spatula. Instead, lower the cooler onto the CPU and press it gently. Once it makes contact with the CPU, don’t lift it again. Screw it using a cross pattern, tightening a little at a time. If your cooler has two screws, just alternate them.

Once it’s all in, plug in your fans, pump, and power connectors. That step is easy to forget. Power on your PC. If you want to check temps quickly before booting, enter the BIOS with Delete during startup. 

Here, it’s all about how to apply thermal paste correctly.

How to Apply Thermal Paste for CPU- Intel LGA115x CPU or LGA1200

Older Intel CPUs have a smaller surface, with most of the important stuff right in the middle under the heat spreader. So, just plop a 3–4mm dot of paste in the center, same deal as with the AMD AM5 CPU.

How to Apply Thermal Paste on an AMD CPU (AM5)

AMD’s AM5 socket and Ryzen 7000-9000 CPUs are chunkier and heavier than the old AM4 ones. But the heat spreader has two cutouts on each edge, so the surface for moving heat is kind small. For these Ryzen chips, just drop a 3–4mm dot of paste right in the middle.

Read More: Ryzen 7 vs i5 – Ultimate Gaming & Productivity DOMINATOR

• The most common noob mistake is the paste amount. Just a tiny dot, like a pea or a grain of rice is enough. Too little paste will not cover the CPU properly, and if you apply too much paste, then it has higher chances to spill onto the motherboard or reduce performance.
• After you apply the amount, then don’t spread it by hand. This way, air bubbles get trapped in the paste surface and can reduce performance. The better way is to let the cooler do it. With the cooler pressure, the paste spreads evenly.
• If you have removed the cooler, then apply fresh paste. Don’t reuse the earlier applied paste because by removing the cooler, air gets trapped in the paste and it can fail in the long run. So whenever you remove the cooler, always clean the earlier paste before applying the fresh one.

Thermal paste for CPU is one of the important hardware components that helps protect your system from thermal throttling. It’s a kind of greasy material that you apply between your CPU and the CPU cooler, either manually or simply use a cooler with pre-applied thermal paste. If you want your system to keep performing efficiently, you should replace the thermal paste after a few years or when upgrading the CPU. And to check overall system performance balance, you can always use a bottleneck calculator to see if anything else might be limiting your PC.