Boxed P4 question

[Wipeout667]

Hey folks,

A friend of mine just picked up a retail boxed P4-1.6. Looking at the heatsink/fan, it doesn't appear that it came with thermal compound... just this adhesive dark grey "pad". So, should I peel off that pad and slap on some arctic silver? Or is there something I'm missing here... ?

 

[Jwyatt]

The gray pad is the compund. Its good for one install and thats it. If your not going to OC it. Leave it b

 

[cockeyed]

As already said, the pad is a one shot deal. The pad is easily damaged, even during installation. Personally, I took mine off of my P4 and used some Radio Shack heatsink compound, as I have more confidence in this. My P4 1.6a runs generally around 38C deg.

 

[Nate420]

I too say rip that pad off. Even if you don't plan on overclocking right now, you might in the future. If and when the time comes that you want to change HSF, or just need the little extra cooling that a compound would provide, it'll be much harder to clean that melted pad off the core and HS than if you use a normal compound like Arctic silver from the start.