Quick question - thermal paste/patches

[Joel~]

Putting my new computer together today and, about ten minutes ago, I took myself off auto-pilot and actually paid attention to what I was doing, which is when I realised that I had always left the heat-transfer patch on the stock heatsinks whenever building a machine, as well as applying the greyish thermal compound to the top of the CPU.

My question is, is it better for heat transfer to have the patch and the compound, or just the compound alone?

Thanks.

 

[worshipme]

Do not mix the two. Use either the compound or the patch, but not both.

 

[Joel~]

Thanks for that, worshipme. I'm going to go compound, then, because it would cover a larger area (in fact, the entire surface of the CPU) and be an even spread.