Quote Originally Posted by 'Ozbert',index.php?page=Thread&postID=67900#post67 900
EDIT: Oops, Sikerdebaard replied with exactly the same advice while I was typing my reply ^^

How much thermal paste are you using? If you use too much, it'll act as a thermal insulator rather than a conductor.

When I apply paste to my CPU's, I put a tiny spot about the size of a matchhead on the CPU die, and then use the straight edge of a plastic card to spread it out into a thin smooth layer over the whole surface.

For Core 2 CPU's, the metal cap on the CPU is quite large, so you'll need more than a matchhead sized dollop, but it still needs to be smoothed out into a thin layer.

This has always worked well for me.
I hate to pick nits but this is misleading. If you use any of the good quality brands like Arctic Silver or the OEM stock stuff that is thermal PASTE (as opposed to thermal GLUE), you should never experience this problem as long as your motherboard, CPU cooler mounting adapter and heatsink are all within proper spec. When I install these things, I just put a blob in the middle, spread it out to about dime-size and then push the heatsink straight down onto it while I'm attaching the mounting spring/clip/screws/etc. I've been doing that since I started working at Compaq in '98 and I've yet to have a CPU experience a thermal bloom due to bad thermal conductivity. I had one device fail on me due to heat once but it was because the paste I was using was old and had lost its viscosity and, thus, developed an air bubble in the middle of the CPU's thermal block. Once I added some newer paste to it and re-mounted it, things were fine again.

Just my experience. For the lurkers, if you know enough about this subject to be confident in understanding the ramifications of paste quality, this is probably not news to you. If the above doesn't make sense, you may be better served to have it done by a professional.