Arctic silver is generally considered one of the best pastes.  They may supply a small plastic stick (or use the back edge of a plastic knife) to help you spead a dab on the cpu.  You want to cover it completely to maximize heat conductance to the fan 'heatsink', without any contamination of dirt (or splinter from a toothpick or ice cream pop stick).  I apply as thin a coat as I can.  Since cpu's come in different sizes, it's hard to say how many you can install from one tube.  
Paul Hachmeyer  
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From: Personal Computer Hardware discussion List [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tom Waddell [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 1:46 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [PCBUILD] Using Artic Silver

Need to know how to apply artic silver. Bought it based on recomendation here. Was told to follow directions. No directions on box or on web site. Bought new AMD chip. Is it recommended to replace the heat transfer paste on fan base with artic silver? How many cpu's will 3.5 grams of artic silver cover?

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