Thermal Paste on Sandybridge-E

[SilverChenbi]

So I tried googling this and I haven't been able to find a result so I thought I'd go ahead and ask the community. I've looked though previous generations of CPU dies and they have cores centered around the middle. Some examples and pictures are below:

Intel Gulftown:

Intel Nehalem:

Intel Sandybridge:

AMD Deneb:

So you've probably noticed that all the cores are usually centered for each die. However what did AMD and Intel do with their latest generation? Put the cores out on the edge.

AMD Bulldozer:

Intel Sandybridge-E

This lead me to speculate that the tradition pea size in the middle is no longer the best method for applying thermal paste. As I have a LGA 2011 chip, I will need a larger than pea size application to cover as much of the surface as possible. This doesn't apply to Ivybridge since they it looks almost similar to Sandybridge die. So now people of hardforums, how should we apply thermal paste to these two chips to make sure that the paste spreads over the highest heat generating areas of the cpu? I just thought of this as I was about to apply thermal paste to my new watercooling rig but now I want to test it out and I want to hear others opinions too! Should we apply two lines near the side for Sandybridge-E? Should we apply 4 small dots for the Bulldozers? I'll test it out and post it. Feel free to post your own results too.

 

[Silent Knight]

AFAIK,the die is roughly the size of the green rectangular area in the middle:

So a pea size application is still enough to cover that area.Besides,the die doesn't makes contact with the heatsink directly but through the IHS so it still comes down to your personal preference.Although you might need bigger than pea size application to cover the larger IHS of the SB-E.

 

[Dantrax]

I've never used a pea size, I've always used an X shape. But with the size of the 2011, I used an X with 2 additional small horizontal & 2 vertical lines radiating from, but not touching the X's center. I even put small dots of tim between the outside edges of the lines. I talking thin lines & small dots of tim. When I removed my Archon to swap it with my Noctua NH-D14 I had a perfect even coating without any over run of tim. I also removed & checked tha Noctua after mounting it & it was the same. I've run Prime95 for 2hrs. with a real-temp max of 78C with my cpu at 4200MHz (42x100) & my ram at 2133 MHz, with 1.64vdc & 11/12/11/36/1t timings. Me likey I used Phobya Tim.

 

[cantonknees]

i know the going general consensus is to use the pea method these days but tonight i was bored and was doing some reading and research whether if there is an absolute best method. turns out there still really isn't a best method but pretty similar results across the board, whether its the pea method or spreading.

my testing results? did a few mounts of each and the pea method and the spreading method got me the exact same results nearly, within a 1c difference or equal. this was still on oldschool as5 and a waterblock (apogee xt rv.1)

no matter what your method, as long as you're not doing too much or too little, you should be fine and within a 1c difference assuming consistent mounts.

sandy bridge/ivy bridge are both retangular strips down the middle and i bet the 2011 is the same. why not do a couple test mounts yourself to see? use a cheapo TIM if you have some spare laying around just to see if there is a temp difference.

 

[Dantrax]

Or you could look at this- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyXLu1Ms-q4 -it's pretty interesting & there's an mx-2 version as well.