To spread AS5 or not to spread?

So up till now, I usually use a credit card end and try to "scrape" the as5 until it's pretty even. But of course no matter how much I do it, it'll never be perfectly flat.

Then on the other hand, I think the way computer manufacturers do it is to just squeeze a droplet of thermal grease onto the center and put the heatsink on. That must explain why the grease is always so circular when you take the heatsink off.

So, my question, the scraping method makes it flat but leaves small air bubbles, would it be more efficient to just squeeze an amount of as5 onto the center and put the heatsink on? It'll spread itself plus no air gaps in between.

 

i suppose you could do it either way, just as long as you check to make sure the entire core gets covered with the AS 5. i've always used the spread method myself, and never had a problem with it.

 

I used to do the credit card spread, but I have found that it really doesn't make much difference and It's kind of a pita. So now I just squirt a rice-sized drop and let'er rip. Either way is perfectly fine.

 

About how large is the gap between the cpu and heatsink anyways? I'd imagine something like half a millimeter if a rice sized drop is enough to be spread out to cover the surface. (I hope your rice size isn't some non standard rice =p)

 

LOL. The gap is pretty small. Id say nanometers. And I use the standard Uncle Bens white rice as a guide.

 

According to arctic silver, you're supposed to put it on a line parallel to the length of the rectangular chip below the plate... (sorry if that was confusing, hit link)

note: for dual cores

http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appinstruct/as5/ins_as5_intel_dual_wcap.pdf

 

Yea, desktop cpus are huge. The cpu's in our laptops are like 1/4 the size if not less. But interesting idea nonetheless.

 

i just put a small drop on, put the heatsink on slide it as much as i can in a clockwise motion and then tighten the screws.

 

So you skip the whole scraping it flat, and just put the heatsink on with a little twist at the end kind of like crushing ants under a brick? Sorry for my rather violent description but that Notre Dame Disney cartoon scene came to mind when the priest dude crushed the ants in one scene. x.x

 

LOL. Yes. Just like squashing ants. Due to the way my laptop is built and the way the heatpipe fits, it makes it hard to use the "twist maneuver", so I just put a little blob(referring back to the rice thing again) on the center and push it down. It seems to work fine that way as well. But in the past I have done it the same way n00d recommended.

 

I've usually read that since the AS5 is used to fill in the slots and tiny areas that the heatsink and CPU have small areas of room between the two, you want the heatsink and CPU to the spots that need it, that means putting the dab in the middle, pushing down (not too hard), and it will spread out evenly. That's the method I use.

Actually, you may not to do this so much with laptop heatsinks, since you know it works, but a good method to do when installing a CPU is to put your AS5 on, put the heatsink down, screw it in or just push down a bit, then check to see it's making good contact. You'll know if all the AS5 is spread out in a circle evenly. If not then you might have problems, if it is even, then screw her in and let her rip (no pun intended )

 

You know, if you misread one character of AS5 this thread title sounds like an episode of Oz... =)

 

Wait a minute... are we talking about Arctic Silver???....... I have to go edit my previous post

 

To tell you the truth I totally misread it..lol I just had to see what the hell was on this post.
But since we are on the subject of Arctic Silver 5, I always remove the heat sink very carefully see how the distribution of the "AS5" went and carefully reapply if needed,just be careful and go a little easy on the AS5, it's easier to add some more than take off and start from scratch again..GOOD LUCK!:
Wait my answer sounded totally gay!

 

After you've already pressed the heatsink down, lifting it back up would make it uneven wouldn't it?

 

Well I just see how the spreading went and adjust accordingly, If you get a nice distribution of the AS5 you just do the same exact thing.
I'm sure you know you don't want too much or too little.
Personally I am a little bit of a perfectionist and want to make sure I do it right so double checking works for me.