I touched the thermal compound on my CPU cooler

[James165]

Hello,

I recently bought an i5 2500K processor and unpacked it. At that stage I accidentally touched the pre-applied thermal compound on the stock cooler. The thermal compound is a tiny bit smudged and clearly has my finger print in it, is this going to be a problem?



Thanks in advance.

[jason2074]

No problem AFAIK.

[Ryuk]

unless its showin any of the actual heat sink, it should be fine

[Raptor]

Yes it is going to be a problem. The fat on your fingers has now formed a layer between the CPU and the thermal grease, prohibiting heat transfer as intended by the manufacturer. It might also become hot and leave ugly marks.

I'd replace it but if you think thermal levels are acceptable after 48 hours, you could leave it on I suppose ...