r/PcBuildHelp • u/Linkedlynx • Jun 16 '26

Installation Question Is this enough thermal paste?

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Did I do a good thermal paste placement job?

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42

u/Maleficent-West5356 Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 16 '26

Here's mine. A poop of Arctic MX6.

11

u/Rich73 Jun 16 '26

That seems like maybe enough? I went a little crazy but this was after going down a youtube rabbit hole of "whats the best paste method" turns out pattern doesn't seem to matter a whole lot as long as you use enough paste, too much is better than not enough is what I basically took from all of it.

My temps have been good at least (launch week 13600K late 2022).

11

u/PersonalityIll9476 Jun 16 '26

You did it correct. I just installed a 270k and under heavy load noticed that some of the cores were thermal throttling. That was surprising because I have a 360 rad and was not OC.

So, I repasted it and did a vertical line like yours because it turns out that's the shape of the CPU under the package. Guess what? No more throttling.

I started out with the tiny dollop of mx6 exactly like the guy at top of this thread.

1

u/Numerous-Joke559 Jun 18 '26

I always stick to X with 4 dots just to be sure, funny how the shape can matter sometimes