Preapplied thermal paste?

[elvigy]

I'm refurbishing my system and as part of that have ordered a new mobo/CPU/CPU fan. The fan I ordered says it has preapplied thermal paste on it. Is this enough or do I need to add a little extra? I'm scared to add too much since, obviously, I don't want to end up with a big gooey mess. 8O On the other hand, too little might be even worse.

If I do need to add a little more, I have some left from my previous system build, which would make that thermal paste about 2 years old. Does it last that long? It still looks OK, but not sure if it ages. Of course, it's still on my CPU so maybe age doesn't matter.

 

[Mondoman]

Don't add any extra. It's *very* hard to apply too little, and every bit more decreases the heat transfer away from the CPU.

 

[elvigy]

Good to know. Thanks guys!

 

[Yrusoad]

yes, remove the pre-applied with a dull peice of plastic, clean with alcohol and cotton swab, and put the AC5 on. Dont even use the pre-applied because it may have accumulated dust and debris in storage; mine was.


Edit: And old paste will be fine if it has been stored tip down in a cool place (lower than room tempeature)

 

[Mondoman]

...Dont even use the pre-applied because it may have accumulated dust and debris in storage;...

Almost all new coolers should be fine; many have a removable protective plastic strip over the pre-applied compound.