Thermal paste for CPU

[shady]

I have an Intel Quad Core 9300 (Retail) and I'm going to be doing my first build tomorrow. I was just getting the pieces together, and I have a question.

From reading articles on this forum, I was expecting to have to apply thermal paste between the CPU and the heatsink, but according to the CPU instructions, this isn't necessary, and the motherboard instructions imply that you only need to apply Thermal Interface Material if you purchased a separate CPU heatsink and fan assembly.

Is this correct? Do I not need the thermal paste?

[DarkPacMan77]

Use the thermal paste, that's the bottom line.

Many processors that are sold at retail include their own thermal paste or "pad". Generally speaking, the included paste is not as good as Arctic Silver 5, for example.

-DarkPacMan77-

[shadowpr]

I'm going to disagree with pacman on this.

Unless you're going to overclock, just use the retail heatsink, and leave that thermal pad on it. Don't bother using another thermal paste.

[liambl]

To put it simple, the heatsink that comes with a retail CPU will have a square of thermal paste, usually grey, on the bottom. This is all you need, just install the CPU, removethe protective cover off the heatsink and clip it on, no additional paste necessary. In terms of using thermal paste in general, this is a must otherwise the air gap between the CPU and heatsink will interfere with heat transfer.

[TwoRails]

As stated above, just use the "stuff" that come with the retail unit. It's designed for that setup and works fine.

[Cricket]

And if you have a retail processor and replace the thermal pad on the stock heatsink with thermal paste, you'll void the 3 year warranty.

Cricket

[Nathan7056]

Most pre-applied thermal paste will be fine. My stock Intel heatsink decided to stop holding right not long ago, had to buy after market arctic cooling. I used pre-applied compound and i run idle under 30c usually (Core 2 Duo 6600 2.4GHz)

[shady]

Thanks for the answers.
I'm not going to be overclocking so I'm sticking with the retail heatsink supplied with the CPU.
I'll continue with the instructions given with the CPU then.


Today's the day for my first build. The wife is out for the day, so no distractions.

[shadowpr]

Good luck with it.

Take your time, and youshould be fine. If you have any problems or questions, then just ask, and we'll be able to help you threw it.