Depends, depends on how much and the CPU. On the Intel, much less of a
problem (as long as it's not creeping around on to the underside!). On the
AMD, much more problematic. The AMD core is *exposed*, and thus there are
various "bridges" that surround it. The last thing you want to do is
"short" one of those bridges because you got to sloppy w/ the thermal paste!

But having too much paste indicates another problem. The paste is ONLY
there to fill the microscopic imperfections between the mating surfaces. If
those surfaces were perfect, you wouldn't even need the paste, in fact, it
would *hinder* heat transfer. If you have so much paste on the mating
surfaces that installation causes much of it to squeeze out, it indicates
you have too much paste! Think of it this way, if we could use the paste to
fill ONLY the imperfections, that would be ideal. Every bit of paste that
*interferes* with contact between the CPU and heatsink is working NEGATIVELY
against heat trasnfer. We're only interested in preventing VOIDS between
the mating surfaces. Anything that's NOT filling the voids and is actually
*preventing* surface to surface contact between the CPU and heatsink and
thus *hindering* heat transfer, not helping.

Bottomline: The less the better, ideally zero, but since this is an
imperfect world, we need some, so use as little as possible.

HTH

Jim


"CrackerJack" wrote in message
...
What exactly is the problem if too much cpu compound is put on the
core and it gets squashed out onto the surrounding area?

Apart from looking messy, is there any real problem with this?