New PC, do I need Thermal paste?

[SneakyStuff]

Just get ceramique, it's SO much easier to apply, you just put a drop on the slug, smush the heatsink on, and you're done. Ceramique allowed me to overclock, so it was a good buy in my case.

 

[chuckywang]

It depends if you're satisfied with your comp's performance. If you are, then don't bother. If you want to squeeze more juice out of it, then go wild.

 

[SimsFreak]

So do I just remove it with I knive or something then clean it with the alcohol?

 

[Goi]

Why would you remove it with a knife? This isn't rocket science. You just need to remove the old paste with some alcohol and reapply new paste evenly, as thin as possible, on the cpu core(i.e. the metal plate that will be in direct contact with the base of the heatsink). It's as simple as that.

 

[everman]

Do not use a knife or any other sharp object! Usually a plastic credit card works great if you need to scrape off dried thermal compound. Of course that is used with alchohol and a few Q-tips as well.

 

[SimsFreak]

Well if it was rocket science there would be some cool thing that does this for me lol. So just rub it off and throw it away in the trash, a paper towl would work?

 

[islandtechengineers]

hey hey.... on cleaning up the old paste.... head to your drug store and get a bottle of anything with 99% (or 100% if possible) isoproply. regular rubbing alcohol can damage things. then if you like the 99 or 100 % isoproply solotuion, startt looking into alcohol injecting your car.

if you setup comes with a pad, then you shouldnt have to go with the paste over the pad (given the fact we're hoping the manufacture ISNT going to provide a cheap pad product to ruin their rep). use the pad.; sometimes i'm a little waste full and just want the best, so i would go the a artic paste over the pad (thats just me though).

When cleaning the old paste off = use your head = your working with delicate equipment. try to use a soft cloth and nothing that will scratch and dont use a lot of force in hopes of NOT damaging anything. Just go with the flow and clean it off.

 

[Chau]

im planning on getting a ECS and athlon xp 2800+ combo at fry's, the xp 2800+ is RETAIL and comes with the heatsink/fan.. i was wondering if i would need to put thermal paste on it? or if the retails already comes w/ a pad on it or somthing?

thanks

 

[Budman]

Originally posted by: Chau
im planning on getting a ECS and athlon xp 2800+ combo at fry's, the xp 2800+ is RETAIL and comes with the heatsink/fan.. i was wondering if i would need to put thermal paste on it? or if the retails already comes w/ a pad on it or somthing?

thanks

The retail heatsink comes with a pad,unless you plan on removing your heatsink later you should use the pad AMD provided.