Did My Q9400 Stock Fan Come With Thermal Paste

[ckaz]

I think so, but I just want to be sure before I fire up my system. The fan looks like it came with something, but do I need to buy anything extra, or am I set with what came with it, whatever it is. Also, I ended up having to RMA my motherboard, so is it alright that whatever is on the copper part of the bottom fan (I do think it is some sort of thermal compound) has already smeared all over my actual CPU, but now its going to have to sit there, fan and cpu separated, for a little while. Will it dry up or anything like that?

 

[gkay09]

^ It is not a thermal paste but a thermal pad...they are actually junk and it better be replaced with a good thermal compound like the AS5/ TX-2/ MX-2/ NH1...
It would overall reduce the temps by atleast 2-3 degrees or even more...
But make sure you clean the CPU and the HSF and apply the thermal grease properly...

 

[jsc]

Yes, it will dry out, but that really doesn't matter. Always clean the old stuff off and replace it with new thermal compound whenever you remove a heatsink.

Isopropyl alcohol - not rubbing alcohol which may have lanolin in it - and a piece of (clean) coffee filter work nicely to clean the old stuff off.

Suggests for applying the thermal compound:
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=170&Itemid=1&limit=1&limitstart=5

 

[apache_lives]

gkay09 incorrect its thermal paste and it of pretty high spec although yes AS5 beats it

the same stuff was sufficent in cooling pentium d's and 3.8ghz P4's with 130+w of heat - the stuff is AOK

 

[ckaz]

it seems intel really screwed me over then, because they didn't actually send over a bottle of it. It was pre-applied. Now I'm going to have to buy a new one

 

[ckaz]

can anyone give me a few links to an online site that sells some good thermal paste. Maybe a link to one of the above recommendations.

 

[Twoboxer]

The stock cooler works just fine with the little strips of pre-applied thermal material it comes with.

If you didn't remove them, just properly install the cooler and power it up. Make sure each of the four push-pins forces the two half-pins apart so that they grip the back of the mobo.

As with any new build, download and run RealTemp and watch your core temps. Do not remove any thermal protection in BIOS until you are confident you know the temperature profile is safe at stock speeds.

 

[ckaz]

so its not a problem that the cpu cooler has already been installed, then un-installed, is to be left sitting with the now smeared thermal paste for at least 5 days, and then re-installed and used without replacing or re-doing the paste?

 

[Twoboxer]

Yup its not a probem - uness you got cheeto crumbs in there or something )

 

[ckaz]

great, thanks. I would like to overclock my cpu as much as I can with its stock cooler, so lets say I decided to go with a higher quality thermal paste to compensate, could you provide a few links and models?

 

[Twoboxer]

Not me - too much folklore involved. I just buy Arctic 5 from Newegg. Dunno why really.

The "l" is fixed now . . . lol.