Did I make a mistake by not reapplying thermal paste ?

[tonmoy6794]

Recently I build a custom new PC with an Intel core i5 4460 processor . The assembly task was done by somebody else(He is an expert in doing this type of tasks also he works in a shop relating PC assembly task).So, he fitted everything into motherboard carefully including the processor , rams and PSU .After some times (most probably 20 to 30 minutes) of the assembly, I figured out that the motherboard was not the one i ordered (LOL).The shopkeeper mistakenly gave me the wrong motherboard .So I exchanged that motherboard with my preferred ones which took 5 minutes as the shop was very near.For this reason that guy (The one who was doing the assembly task) had to open all that components from that motherboard to move them into the new one.Now my question is, as i am using stock cooler fan there was preapplied thermal paste,so will resitting twice ruin the effectiveness of the thermalpaste within this time?That guy also picked the thermal paste properly with finger that was on the processor and put it back on the heat sink . Was he right doing this ? Will it cause any harm to my CPU or will it cause any bad effect to my CPU? My idle (not completely idle , i mean watching Youtube videos, browsing websites etc) temp is around 38 to 40 degree celcious and my ambient temp is around 30 degree celcious . Are the CPU idle temps okay? I don't know about load the temperature though.

 

[Rodrigodrt]

1. Once you unseat ANYTHING that comes with pre-applied paste, you need to re-apply. Period.
2. You dont you use your finger, EVER. you clean the area pref with some Isopropyl alcohol and a cotton, to remove any 'old' thermal compound residue and you can go with a single dot application method, that is. Apply a 'rice' sized amount of thermal compound in the middle of the CPU and the pressure will spread it over around.


3. But to be honest, the way he did it will not burn anything... will at worst case make your temps go higher slightly... provided that at least the compound is where it should be... and your current temps are safe.

4. Dont listen to step 3, unless you utterly cannot do 1 and 2.