How To Apply Thermal Paste - IFixit Repair Guide

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Introduction

Application of thermal paste is essential to keep the processor cool and happy. Follow this general guide to reapply thermal paste after removing a heat sink or CPU during a repair. For more advanced directions, specific to your CPU, check out Arctic Silver's page of application methods.

To apply thermal paste to a phone, follow this guide.

What you need

1. Step 1 Overview

   

   • Thermal paste is responsible for conducting heat from the processor to the heat sink. Reassembling a computer without applying thermal paste will cause the processor to overheat, resulting in permanent damage.

   • Before applying a new layer of thermal paste, you must first remove any old thermal paste from both the processor surface and the heat sink.

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