Do I need thermal paste?

[OoJoeyoO]

I have just bought a new bundle and am putting together but there is no thermal paste. I don't even know if I need it as there is a weird grey bit on the connection. ? Should I use paste? Should it be in the box? Help please.

Thanks

 

[x-st]

Wasn't there any paste included with your CPU cooler?

 

[Jokester]

It sounds like there is pre-applied to the bottom of the cooler?

 

[andicole0]

Wasn't there any paste included with your CPU cooler?

I suspect that will be the 'weird grey bit on the connector'.
Andi.

 

[OoJoeyoO]

Thanks. That's what I thought. Just wondered if there had been some super conductive material invented for it

 

[ilc72]

I have just bought a new bundle and am putting together but there is no thermal paste. I don't even know if I need it as there is a weird grey bit on the connection. ? Should I use paste? Should it be in the box? Help please.

Thanks

Generally it’s recommended to replace the pre-applied Thermal Paste on Coolers as you don’t know how long it’s been around, get some Arctic Silver 5 or Kryonaut Hydronaut or something similar.

 

[lee32uk]

Generally it’s recommended to replace the pre-applied Thermal Paste on Coolers as you don’t know how long it’s been around, get some Arctic Silver 5 or Kryonaut Hydronaut or something similar.

Assuming it hasn't been sat on a shelf for 10+ years then I don't see the need to replace the stock paste as it will be fine.

 

[ilc72]

Assuming it hasn't been sat on a shelf for 10+ years then I don't see the need to replace the stock paste as it will be fine.

It very much depends on the Cooler, not all manufacturers are created equally! If it was a Corsair AIO then I wouldn’t bother, but with other manufacturers your mileage may vary.

 

[freddie64]

What cooler have you got? As ilc72 said some have very good thermal paste.

I would get a tube anyway incase you ever need to reseat the cooler at some point.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut High Performance Thermal Paste - 1 Gramm= £4.99
• 1 x Noctua NT-H1 Thermalpaste (2.5g)= £6.95

Total: £14.68 (includes shipping: £2.74)
​

 

[lee32uk]

It very much depends on the Cooler, not all manufacturers are created equally! If it was a Corsair AIO then I wouldn’t bother, but with other manufacturers your mileage may vary.

You have good paste with the majority rather than the minority, unless you are buying some unknown brand. Corsair are not anything special compared to other main players.

Anything from the likes of Noctua, BeQuiet, Arctic, Alpenfohn, Alphacool, NZXT etc will be perfectly fine with the stock paste. Actually Noctua include the NT-H1 linked above with their coolers.


If you were overclocking and wanted the lowest temps then something like the Thermal Grizzly above would be a good shout. Looking at the initial post it doesn't seem like the op is going to be overclocking, so unless he has managed to ruin the pre-applied paste then he will be fine. No real need to spend an extra £8 for something he doesn't need.

 

[Shaddow1086]

If your unsure, best to just get some thermal paste. Would hate to ruin an expensive bit of kit because of £10 worth of thermal paste.

 

[Jokester]

Able to take a pic of the bottom of the cooler?

Personally, if you're not overclocking, removing the existing paste to add something else isn't worth it.

 

[ilc72]

Able to take a pic of the bottom of the cooler? Personally, if you're not overclocking, removing the existing paste to add something else isn't worth it.

Surely that depends on the CPU, the way some motherboard manufacturers have implemented Precision Boost Overdrive on Ryzen the TDP of the processor can be easily exceeded and fed too much voltage. Also a 9900K can get toasty at stock let alone overclocked.