Should I use Thermal paste for a liquid cooled CPU?

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You should always use thermal paste with any cooler, liquid or not.
Thermal paste just conducts heat from your CPU to your cooler, as the metal on metal thermal conduction isn't great, so without it, not very much of the heat will make it to your cooler, causing your CPU to overheat badly.
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Benab3

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Jan 12, 2015
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You should always use thermal paste with any cooler, liquid or not.
Thermal paste just conducts heat from your CPU to your cooler, as the metal on metal thermal conduction isn't great, so without it, not very much of the heat will make it to your cooler, causing your CPU to overheat badly.
 
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inveriti

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Oct 1, 2008
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Always use thermal paste, regardless of whether it's active or passive, air or water. The paste is necessary to transfer heat from the CPU to the heatsink. Without it, your CPU will overheat within a minute or two of turning on.
 
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SR-72 Classified

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Nov 10, 2016
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you need something to transfer the heat from the Integrated Heat Spread (IHS) to the cooler's heatsink, thermal paste is that thing. without it your CPU will overheat and that can damage it.

liquid coolers are not very much different from air coolers. they just use a different way of getting rid of the heat.

you MUST use thermal paste.
 
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Jeff Kaos

Jeff Kaos

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Apr 6, 2014
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To elaborate a little on this: even though the CPU and Heatsink look super smooth there's tiny, microscopic "hills and valley's" on their surfaces that thermal paste fills in.
 
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Jeff Kaos

Jeff Kaos

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Apr 6, 2014
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Just remember: when you apply the paste use only a pea sized drop directly in the middle of the cpu. When you press the heatsink onto the chip when you install it that will cause the paste to spread evenly over the chip. Sometimes I'd twist slide the heatsink a little when I pressed it onto the chip to spread it around but it's not really necessary. And pea sized drop. Never more, never less.
 
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SR-72 Classified

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Nov 10, 2016
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i prefer using the credit card method, lets me sleep peacefully at night.
 
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