is it compulsary to add thermal

[abhayv]

I yesterday removed my cpu heat sink si I have the dried thermal paste on it
So can I put in back my heat sink with the dried thermal.
Or is it compulsary to add new paste

 

[manez]

You risk damaging your cpu if you don't add a new layer.

You should not even try it.

 

[Casey Stadick]

You should definitely remove the old and add new thermal paste. The paste dissipates heat through bonding between 2 pieces of metal. The old thermal paste will not touch the cpu cooler at all locations anyway...