[SOLVED] Thermal paste question

[Cloudless666]

I just purchased a new Cooler since my last one stopped working. It’s only been half a year since my first ever build. My cpu already has Thermal paste on it. Should I clean it and reapply a new layer or is the thermal paste on it good enough?

 

[punkncat]

clean and reapply

 

[taeioum]

In every case: clean. As soon as thermal paste is applied, the cooler is set down on the CPU and the cooler is taken off again, it needs to be reapplied.

If you'd skip reapplying, it can cause air bubbles to form, which can significantly decrease cooler performance as there is less contact between CPU and cooler. Meaning your CPU will run hot, which in turn causes the CPU performance will go down.

 

[CountMike]

I just purchased a new Cooler since my last one stopped working. It’s only been half a year since my first ever build. My cpu already has Thermal paste on it. Should I clean it and reapply a new layer or is the thermal paste on it good enough?

Depends on the cooler, some like Cooler Master, Arctic and Noctua make and use own paste which are at the top for quality and uniformly applied.
In that case all you have to clean is CPU