Should I apply thermal paste to me new CPU before installing?

Get the thermal paste, unless you want to buy another cpu real soon. Did you get a new cpu cooler? Some of them have thermal paste already applied, but check first. I would not run the system without thermal paste on the new cpu.

1. Never run CPU with out thermal paste. Just run down to a Radio Shack and they have thermalpaste there ($3-5 which is kind of over priced)

2. If your HSF doesn't come with paste then only will you need thermal paste.

You paid for a qx9770, and call others superficial and wasting money?  

Get the paste. It's $1.99, and will drop temperature quite a few degrees. Surface of modern cpus and heatsink contact plates aren't as smooth as older ones. You need the paste.

Yes, it fills the imperfections on the CPU and the Heat-Sink providing much better heat dissipation.

It is not Glue or adhesive as many refer, its a filler.

If you bought a retail pack Intel cpu, the cooler that comes with it should have some thermal interface material pre-applied. It will look like three strips of grey material. It will do an adequate job.

can u be any more ignorant? ur telling this guy to risk messing up his CPU in the long run (which probably cost him $100+) for a measley $5? even if thermal paste was not essential for actually running the CPU (as u claim), its been proven to lower CPU temperatures. its worth the $5 for the temp. drops alone.

It is called thermal compound. It is designed to conduct heat, not electricity, and also not dry out after extended time. It is used on all heatsinks to fill the imperfections between the heat source (CPU) and the heatsink. It is also used on power transistors, power electornics, etc... not just for computers.

The OEM processor from Intel does not include a heatsink/fan combo and only has a 1 year warranty. The retail version does include the factory Intel heatsink/fan and comes with 3 year warranty. This also inclides a pre-applied gray thermal compound pad covered by a pink sticker. Peel off the protective plastic and you have thermal compound pre applied. This is addequate, however not as good as the real stuff. So many people will scrape off this pad and put their own compound.

You must be careful when scrapping off the compound not to scratch the heatsink too bad. The point is to have a perfectly flat surface and use as little compound as possible to fill any little voids. When applying compound use a razor blad and apply a very thin layer on the cpu. When the heatsink is mounted it will ooze out the compound and sit properly.

If you have an aftermarket heatsink it should have been included with a small tube of compound. 95% of heatsinks come with a small tube. However yours may have not. If you don't have any compound don't worry. Monitor your CPU temperatures in the BIOS or software and make sure your CPU doesn't get over 55'C or so. You don't really need the compound, it just helps.

Too much compound will make things worse by causing a thermal barrier since the compound conducts heat worse than the direct contact of heatsink to cpu. But a little compound is better cause it will fill the voids and provide thermal conduction where there was none before. Just a very thin layer. You can get away with none, but you want sime to avoid overheating your cpu which will reduice its life and may cause instability issues. Also it's required if you want to do any sort of overclocking.

Any local computer shop should have some compound for you to buy. If not they have some in the shop and can give you a bit to do a 1 time shot. Just put a bit in some plastic wrap to bring home.