Originally posted by: Maluno
	
	
		
		
			Originally posted by: RobCur
correction, having good contact with heatsink it runs cool
having bad contact with cpu, the heatsink is very hot. now how can a heatsink be hot if the contact is good??? that is retarded.
		
		
	 
Ok... *correction*
--Thermal paste, whether present or not, has absolutely no effect on the ability of the heatsink to disperse heat that has already been TRANSFERRED to it.  The use of thermal paste will help increase the transfer of thermal energy between the cpu and itself, and thus the heatsink will be more heavily "loaded", and it will be hotter.  This is not in any way a bad thing, however, in fact if the heatsink is hot, it is a good thing, it means the heat is being conducted away from the cpu and the sink can do its job.  
If there is NO thermal paste, then the heat will not be transferred as efficiently to the heatsink from the cpu, and thus the heatsink will have a lesser "load", so it will be cooler, yet the cpu will be hotter, because the heat cannot transfer from it to the heatsink.  Thus, a cool to the touch heatsink on a processer that runs characteristicallly hot is something I would personally be worried about.
*whew*