Too much thermal grease?

[Rob Black]

I recently purchased a ZALMAN CNPS7700 hoping to get my CPU temperature lower, however after installing this heat stink my temps didn’t improve. Could it be that I applied to much thermal grease on my CPU? How much should I apply on my CPU? (it’s a LGA775 P4 3.2GHZ) should I apply a small amount? or a lot? Smudge it all over? Any help would be appreciated

 

[Arcygenical]

You really want a layer as thin as possible, as per the directions. On Capped processors (one with the metal top, called an IHS if you really wanted to know) you should apply about a dab of grease a tiny bit larger than the size of a grain of white rice... right in the center of the processor. Place the HSF onto the proc, then you can either attach it for good, but you might wanna take it off, and check to see how far the grease has spread on the top of the processor, the thinner and wider the spot the better.