Is Arctic Silver Needed or Helpful for P4 2.26 with Retail HSF?

[poohhairt]

I'm using a P4 2.26 in my new system. I won't be overclocking now, but I probably will in the future. Would it be helpful to use arctic silver with the stock heat sink and fan? Is it even possible, or does the HSF come installed?

Thanks,
Aaron

 

[LastRide]

The heatsink does not come installed.There is a thermal pad that they use for cooling the cpu.Its attached to the heatsink already so all you have to do is put the CPU in and put the Heatsink on top and clamp it down.the retail HS and fan surprisingly work good even when overclocking a little.If you want to overclockmore I recommend peeling off the thermal pad and use arctic silver and buy a better heatsink and fan.Putting arctic silver on your CPU and retail HS is not a bad idea either and will cool the cpu 2-3C even if your not overclocking.Just don't forget to peel of the thermal pad and throw it away.Clean it up good and use arctic silver 2 or arctic silver 3. On the heatsink you put on Arctic silver where the cpu makes contact and then your rub it off.On the CPU you put a very thin layer coated all around evenly without covering the little hole you will see,work around it.The instructions show you how to do it.You can even check arctic silver's website and you will see how its done.