moron question: Do I need thermal compound w/ a retail AMD CPU and heatsink?

[DOOManiac]

Here's a really dumb noob question to arouse your scorn:

I'm getting a retail boxed AMD X2 4400+ and will be using the CPU fan/heatsink that comes with it (no OC'ing for me). I think w/ my P4 I didn't need any thermal compound, as there was this gel... stuff.. on the bottom of the heatsink. Is my memory fuzzy, and if not does the X2 CPU have a similar setup, or will I need some thermal compound? And if so, what is good these days?

(Sorry if this should be in the cooling thread, it was kind of a 50/50 choice so I put it here)

Thanks!

 

[Bobthelost]

Ships with it. No need.

 

[stevty2889]

Yep, the retail heatsink comes with a thermal pad, so no need for it. The stock heatsink is actualy pretty decent even if you are overclocking, I am using the stock heatsink with the stock thermal pad to run my 4200+ @2.618ghz.

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: stevty2889
Yep, the retail heatsink comes with a thermal pad, so no need for it. The stock heatsink is actualy pretty decent even if you are overclocking, I am using the stock heatsink with the stock thermal pad to run my 4200+ @2.618ghz.

What he said. You get a fairly decent thermal pad, and the HSF gets the job done.

 

[DOOManiac]

Thanks guys

 

[lenjack]

Don't put yourself down...it is not a moron question.

 

[imported_Seer]

It's actually not a thermal pad. It's past, almost looks like duck tape. I heard from somewhere it's "high quality Shin Etsu" (thats a brand im guessing), but I don't know how much stock I would put in that.

 

[Furen]

I haven't paid close attention to a retail heatsink recently but I was under the impression that is WAS thermal paste, not thermal tape. It is supposed to be Shin Etsu stuff (dunno about high-quality, lots of company make both good and crappy products).