Arctic Silver

[Tyranastus]

Howdy. A couple of people may remember a week ago or so I was getting ready to order all the parts for my new computer. Well... Today I have it. And I am halfway through putting it all together, but I've run into a problem. A confidence problem. The issue I'm facing, is that someone mentioned that I need to use Arctic Silver as it acts pretty much as the heatsink for my CPU. Is this true? I don't remember using anything of the sort on my old computer build and never ran into any issues...

Is Arctic Silver a necessity?

[Vayshan]

No. But a cooling paste (if that's the correct name for it in english) is required if you're using a custom heatsink. Never place it bare-metal down on the CPU. A CPU that came with a heatsink shipped (a boxed version) usually has the paste on it already, you just need to remove that thin plastic film that covers it and place it on the CPU. Arctic Silver is a brand, a good one too, but it does not necessarily need to be Arctic Silver.

[Tyranastus]

No. Just standard heat sink that came with the intel cpu. Does that apply only to custom heatsinks? Or in general to the heat sink?

[Belloc]

Arctic Silver is nice, but not necessary. As long as the heatsink is properly applied to the processor with thermal compound, you'll be fine.

[Vayshan]

No. Just standard heat sink that came with the intel cpu. Does that apply only to custom heatsinks? Or in general to the heat sink?

Well does the heatsink that came with it have a paste-like substance on the contact side? In general every heatsink needs to have a heat conducting adhesive to optimally (or as good as) transfer the heat from the CPU to the heatsink. A shipped heatsink that came with the CPU (as far I know from personal experience) already has it applied and covered with a thin protective plastic. A aftermarket one usually does not have it pre-applied.

[Fedexkilla]

All cpu's come with a container or two of thermal paste with them, in addition my Noctua came with some as well.

[Tyranastus]

All cpu's come with a container or two of thermal paste with them, in addition my Noctua came with some as well.

Well no... It didn't. It's an Intel 2500k, with the stock cooler. And there was no form of thermal adhesive/paste of any description...

[GG you got me]

Well no... It didn't. It's an Intel 2500k, with the stock cooler. And there was no form of thermal adhesive/paste of any description...

The paste is pre-applied to the stock cooler. Just stick it on and marvel at the horrendous design of the plastic mountings for the cooler. If you switch to an aftermarket cooler at some point, most come with pre-applied patches that occasionally are good and occasionally are bad. Research what is on it, remove it if it's junk or over-applied as it often is.

As far as what brand you go with, there are plenty of choices and most of them work about the same. Arctic Silver isn't the "top dog" of thermal pastes itself even, it's just very popular.

[Vayshan]

Well no... It didn't. It's an Intel 2500k, with the stock cooler. And there was no form of thermal adhesive/paste of any description...

Then you would need to get some. Arctic Silver is a good choice, but not necessarily the only one. Sure it is not pre-applied to the heatsink already? If you see buttnaked metal on the contact side, then it is indeed not there.

[Tyranastus]

Alrighty. Well, I removed the heat sink, which I had previously fitted... It turns out I'm inattentive. It had some form of adhesive paste type stuff on a little pad type thing already attached to the heat sink. So, it would appear I didn't have a problem to begin with. Thank you muchly guys. Any other issues and I'll post here.

[Cows For Life]

Not remembering what state the goo was in when I initially bought my CPU, I'm tempted to say you might have to re-apply after installing and uninstalling the heatsink.

[Deleted]

Yeah all heatsinks comes with paste pre-applied or in a container on the side.

[Cilraaz]

Alrighty. Well, I removed the heat sink, which I had previously fitted... It turns out I'm inattentive. It had some form of adhesive paste type stuff on a little pad type thing already attached to the heat sink. So, it would appear I didn't have a problem to begin with. Thank you muchly guys. Any other issues and I'll post here.

At this point, you should really get some new thermal compound. Once the heatsink is applied and removed, reapplying it only introduces air pockets, which will stop proper thermal transfer and raise your CPU temperatures. Any time the heatsink is removed from the CPU, thermal compound should be cleaned and reapplied.

[Tyranastus]

Okee dokee. I will take the advice and grab some new thermal compound for the heat sink.. What is recommended to remove the old stuff?

[GG you got me]

Isopropyl alcohol with a coffee filter over the top of a q-tip has always worked very well in my experience. Dab the qtip-covered with the filter in a little bit and gently massage off the old compound.

The coffee filter prevents any of the cotton from separating from the head of the q-tip, the q-tip itself basically just acts as a form-factor. You can find isopropyl alcohol at any drug-store.