I got all my parts for building my PC. I got an i5 6500 with can MSI board but no video card. The i5 came with its own cooler. I want to know if I should use thermal paste or not. I read that its not needed if you don't have a video card. Is this true?
Absolutely not! Thermal Paste between the CPU and CPU Cooler is an absolute must. The factory cooler is not very good, but it should have paste pre applied. Thermal paste on the CPU has nothing to do with a graphics card. You have to have thermal paste.
i agree with essenbe you need thermal paste between the cpu and cpu cooler what does thermal paste has to do with graphics that guy was probably trolling you
Thanks guys. Now, I got thermal paste that's about 5 years old. Do you think its still good enough to use?
hmm 5 years old im not sure about that if it was me i would buy new thermal paste but if its working why not use it
When I buy a CPU or replacement cooler [finned heat sink and fan] I always buy the little tube of Arctic Silver. A few dollars spent will prevent much more cost later if the CPU overheats. The tube will do a few or more installs.
If you are going to use the Intel cooler (which I can't recommend) it has thermal paste pre applied.
It's just not very efficient, but a lot of people use them. If you don't push the computer real hard, it will probably be OK. If all the parts are new, it should be OK. You shouldn't need to clean of any older thermal paste. Just make sure the plastic 'legs' are completely secured. There should be no movement of the cooler once it is secured.
If paste is pre-applied it probably has some protection on it, maybe just thin plastic, make sure you remove it. Just couple of days ago I heard from a guy that bought factory assembled computer with that protector left on and was badly overheating.
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