Thermal paste

[hmartinsfilho]

Good evening! I've bought an AMD FX-6300 and I wish to know if already have thermal paste in its heat sink. By this way, all new processor, in a first installation, doesn't need thermal paste?
Thanks.

[DaveLembke]

All CPU's need thermal paste added unless the heatsinks already came with thermal paste applied to bottoms. When swapping a CPU or heatsink I always remove the old and apply new.

[Calum]

Most retail CPUs will have thermal paste pre applied to the heatsink, in which case you wouldn't need to apply new paste.

[Rapidrob]

If you find out the CPU needs heat sink compound, ( missing) it's hard to beat the silver type over the regular white paste. The silver paste really helps dissipate heat into the heat sink. I have used it for many years and would use nothing else on my CPU's.

[aden]

If you find out the CPU needs heat sink compound, ( missing) it's hard to beat the silver type over the regular white paste. The silver paste really helps dissipate heat into the heat sink. I have used it for many years and would use nothing else on my CPU's.

I'll second that. My processor temp dropped 10 degrees c when I switched to silver compound and stayed fairly low even when overclocked.

[Calum]

The difference between brands and types of paste is quite small.  It's more about how you apply it.
See here for a test including toothpaste, lipstick and butter.
There were 10 degrees separating the absolute best and worst compounds tested, and you can see most are bunched together, meaning the difference is statistically insignificant.  A silver based paste is in the top 3, but so are non silver based pastes.  It comes down to preference and price at the end of the day.  I bought a big tube of Arctic Cooling MX-2 which I like, it does the job, tests within the top 5 or so results normally anyway, and it's easy to work with.  It's also non conductive unlike silver based pastes, and easier to clean.  I hate using AS5.

[Computer_Commando]

I have a large tube of GC Electronics Silicone Super Heat Sink Compound, Type Z9.  Used for high power audio transistors.
Newer dries out or gets hard; still made today.  Seems to work as well as Arctic Silver 5 & a lot easier to clean off.
http://www.alliedelec.com/search/productdetail.aspx?sku=70159792#tab=specs

Need more?
http://www.alliedelec.com/search/productdetail.aspx?sku=70159755