First build need some help plz!

I like to have thermal paste on hand anyway. I like artic silver 5
and yes I would reapply thermal paste

how bad was it smudged ? maybe you can salvage

if your not sure about it than I sugest going on you tube and lookin at a tutorial in how to apply thermal paste. This will help you determine if you need to order some which I would do anyway or if what is still on you water cooler ok

You can use it this way anyways. No harm. Thermal paste is only there to fill any voids between the 2 surfaces since they arn't perfectly flat. Although heatsinks now are so damn perfect it's pretty good. It's been proven that no thermal paste is better than too much on a good heatsink. With heat it should spread out to fill any voids. Use it as it, order some new stuff, and in the future the heat from it having been used will make it easy to remove to apply fresh stuff.

Some people also go anal about ordering a certain brand of thermal paste. They are all pretty much the same and if you're worrying about 1 degree difference your too picky. Artic Silver is a good aftermarket paste and easily available. Otherwise any paste that comes with the heatsink is good. I wish all companies would ship a tube of paste instead of a preapplied tab. I've seen people take a tube of silver paste included with a heatsink and throw it out to use their preferred brand. It's ridiculous.

Properly applied paste is better than using a certain brand. I've seen people use so much paste it oozes everywhere, makes a mess, and gets all over the socket and in the holes. Other people have rituals on how to apply it. Put a few dots and apply heatsink, make a stripe, don't use a razor blade, etc... Actually all you need to do is apply to the cpu die and spread it out with a razor blade, cardboard, credit card, etc... If you need more add a bit and spread it out. Just a thin layer then the force of the heatsink will spread it properly. If you want to avoid spillage cover all but the very edge of the CPU die to give room to spread. Do not apply any to the heatsink since the heatsink is larger than the cpu, you dont't know where the heatsink will touch the cpu. Applying to the CPU is more accurate and avoids a mess.

Don't worry. Don't listen to all the people in the forums being anal about thermal paste. Just use your cooler as is and you'll be fine. Replace it anytime you wish as it gets old and dry and fresh stuff should be applied annually anyways. Don't worry about not enough compound, it's fine. Heatsinks are such high quality you don't need much paste if any at all. And too much is not really a big deal, it'll just ooze out and make a mess.