Adding paste when fitting

[Ed]

I've only ever bought processors with separate copper coolers and needed to use CPU paste but I'm currently building one now and it's a retail Pentium. The stock heatsink appears to have 3 strips of dried paste on. The fitting guide also states you place the CPU in the board then whack the cooler on. Can anyone shed some light on this? Do I need paste or not?

 

[benjo]

Nope, it's pre-applied

No harm in cleaning it off and applying your own stuff though.

 

[Ed]

Thanks benjo.

 

[matt100]

no you don't need better paste, you need a better cooler and better paste!