See Vid CLAMP METHOD Pros: - No air bubbles trapped, ensuring BETTER heat transfer Cons: - May not cover the border areas of the heat spreader, especially the corners. SPREAD METHOD: Pros: - Will cover 100% of the heat spreader, ensuring more surface area contact for MORE heat transfer. Cons: - May trap air bubbles. THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS: 1 - Apply a very very small amount of TIM around the border areas of the heat spreader, but make sure to leave a lot of "gap lines" all round - lines going from the center to the border. 2 - Use the clamp method (2 grains). Pros: - Full coverage of heat spreader - as the small amount of spreaded TIM will cover the border area, and the clamped TIM will fill the center.This ensures that we use all the surface area available for MORE heat transfer - No trapped air bubbles in the center of the heat spreader (where it counts), as there is room for the air to escape (tanks to the TIM "gap lines" we left in step 1). This ensures BETTER heat transfer. Cons: - May trap air bubbles in the border area where we spread the TIM. But that's not significant because: the centre has no trapped air (and that's the most important area), and it's better to have TIM (with some air bubbles) in the border area than no TIM at all in the border area (clamp method). Conclusion: MORE and BETTER heat transfer.
best way i have found, is too let the heatsink force the TIM out evenly under its own weight, then i rotate it 360 in both directions, which forces all the air out, aswell as applying a light downward pressure. PRO's Keeps the amount of TIM used low It works with no air trapment CON's if your case is annoy and small not allowing to rotate the heatsink in the manor i suggested and use.
When the TIM is distributed it usually take the shape of a circle, so even if you rotate the heat sink, it won't spread the TIM any more.
