Used to swear by thermal paste spread method until a $15 PS3 repair job changed my mind

I always did the credit card spread until I got thermal compound between the capacitors on a 90nm PS3 last month. Now I just do a pea in the middle and let pressure do the work, anyone else find the spread method actually causes more problems?

2 comments

2 Comments

linda_clark7d ago

Is it really that big of a deal though? I've been spreading thermal paste with a credit card for years on all sorts of chips and never had a problem like that. Maybe you just used too much or pressed too hard, you know? A little bit of compound between caps isn't the end of the world unless it's conductive, and most modern pastes are non-conductive anyway. I get that the pea method works fine for most people, but calling the spread method a problem feels like overthinking it to me.

robinc667d ago

Oh man @linda_clark, I always just do a pea in the middle and let the cooler squish it flat, never had issues that way.