New Processor needs thermal paste?

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I thought you should use thermal paste with the cpu and heatsink but it does not mention it in the manual for the CPU does that mean I dont need to do it?

 

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You always need thermal paste or thermal padding. Some CPUs come with a thermal pad attached or a bit of paste already applied you can tell if you look at it.

CPUs that I get I always clean of the pre applied paste or take of the thermal padd because I fell you don't get the cooling as good so I always apply my own paste.

With each CPU I get I clean it first with either 90% isopropyl alcohol or Arti clean then apply artic silver and I always apply it in accordance with the Artic silver instructructions i.e a thin line vertically through the middle from top to bottom for core 2 duos or a line horizontally through the middle for quads and i7's etc

Then attach the heatsink and give a little wiggle before making sure it's tight (this helps spread the paste evenly over the heatspreader).

Without thermal paste or padding the cpu will overheat, a cpu can overheat to over 100 degrees c in a matter of seconds.

EDIT I have never read a cpu instruction book so can't advise wether it mentions paste or padding at all.

 

Thanks for the info I have some thermal paste so will check if the CPU already has some one this is the cpu I got http://www.ebuyer.com/product/189857 Do I defietnyl have to wipe the thermal paste that is already on before I apply my own thermal paste? what would happen if I did'nt?

 

You run the risk of burning out the CPU due to inefficient heat dissipation.

 

OK cool, So I have to check carefully to see if they have already put some paste on and if they have wipe it off and apply my own cheers.

 

Err
no
thats a retail processor
which means its a brand spanking new boxed CPU and Heat sink
if you use the included heatsink it will likly have a pad on it, it is designed for the processor that came with it in the box!

if you want to use your OLD heat sink (if you have a 3rd party awesomesauce one) then you deffo need to do some cleaning and reapplying, in fact any time you take off a heat sink and put it back you should clean and reapply

but if your going stock out of the retail box, your good.. just dont overclock the damn thing, the retail stuff is not designed for it, neither the heat sink or the head pad
if you want a bit more optimal thermal dissipation, take the pad off and go for arctic silver, but don't feel you NEED to

 

too much paste = heat insulation
too little paste = can't trasnfer to the heatsink

Both = cpu death

whenever you take off a heatsink or even move a heatsink if not attached properly it renders the thermal paste in effective so the old paste needs taken off and new paste reapplied.

If the cpu does have thermal paste on it will be covered by a thin layer of selafane which obviously needs removed before you put the heatsink on the theory is that the hard paste will eventually soften up and then set this does work but as I said earlier you get better results by adding fresh paste yourself.

As Ryan said the CPU you have is a boxed one so it will have a pad on it (heatsink), I don't like these either and take them off.

 

Thanks everyone! First time I have built a computer from scratch, thats why i went with the retail boxed version hoping to make it a little easier.

Looks like I wont need to add any extra paste then, I am not going to over clock it so should be fine

 

yeah you will be fine then. you can overclock with a retail pc but only to a max of 5% which isn't worth the bother anything after that and the heatsink fan will over rev and burn out.