Heatsink Re-install

hey guys so im taking off the heatsink on my T60 to try and replace the fan... once i put it on though was wondering should i put thermal paste on the thermal pads or just the CPU area.

this is the heatsink im using

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51sYdWbdKlL.jpg

 

Thermal pads look alright, you need to put thermal paste only on CPU.

 

do NOT use thermal paste AND pads at the same time. it would be a mess and it wouldn't cool properly.
just leave it as it is. looks ok. paste only the cpu.

 

that isn't much past in the picture, you need a rice grain size dot of quality paste like as5 or mx2.

 

Oh yea i plan on puting more thermal paste down for the CPU (and cleaning off the old paste) just picked up some AS5 so i hope that works ok. That picture was just as an example though now that i look at mine its pretty close. there are small square indentations on the pads where the GPU is.

 

so i just pulled it appart and cleaned/re did the thermal paste with AS5... temps seem to be hovering around 50C for the CPU and GPU under light use which is much better then the 87C before.

i noticed a dent in one of the thermal pads (left side) which you can see in the picture i took... is this a problem?

also should i put my system under full load to cure the thermal paste i just applied, or does it not make a difference?

 

Load or no load the paste will do it job to remove the heat better then the old paste which by this time is hard and brittle which could cause a CPU meltdown. As to the picture well I think it should be ok. I know for my dell that had thermal pad they tore off when I removed my heatsink combination and I just thermal paste the location where my thermal pad used to be and wow that take and put out alot of heat when the fans go. I think the change to a thermal paste in my situation help keep the heat down but warmed up my laptop and table top where the heat vents out.

 

As you know, the purpose of thermal pads/paste is to maximize thermal conductivity from the surface of the CPU die to the thermal pad/paste and finally to the heatsink, where it will be mechanically cooled by a fan. Adding thermal paste to a thermal pad will actually lower the efficiency of the heat transfer as it will have to transfer through a thicker substrate. If thermal pads were originally used in the cooling system, keep using them as the HSF assembly was designed to give 1-2mm of clearance between the HS and the CPU die. Of course you can also switch to paste if there is enough contact.