Question about cooling

[DataSnake]

My new computer will feature a Phenom II x4 945 on a Biostar A870 AM3 motherboard. I am on a tight budget not planning on overclocking (otherwise I would have gotten the Black Edition), so the stock cooler should work. My questions are:
1. Is the stock cooler compatible with socket AM3 (one review on Newegg said it was AM2 only)?
2. Does it come with some sort of thermal paste or will I need to buy some Arctic Silver separately?

 

[rvilkman]

1. It's an AM3 socket CPU, so it would be logical that cooler also fits an AM3 socket. So yeah it would be odd if it doesn't come with a cooler that fits AM3 boards.
But of course you can always be sure and get the 955 BE anyway. The cooler is decent and the $10 difference is not that much, especially since there has been lots of sales lately where you have gotten it for the same price as the 945.

2. There is a layer of silicon paste or thermal tape attached to the bottom of the heatsink so yes it comes it's own paste.
However, if you get a tube of artic silver you can probably do like 20 cpu's with it. And they do have a reasonably long shelf life.

 

[DataSnake]

Best answer selected by DataSnake.