New 9950 Thermal Paste

I'm getting my new 9950 Black edition tomorrow with an Asus M3A79-T Deluxe motherboard and found a tube of arctic silver 5 laying around. For now, I'm using the stock HSF that comes with the 9950. Should I clean off the thermal pad that comes with it and use the arctic silver or just use the stuff that comes on it? There is a good chance that I will use the fan for a good while. I would automatically use the arctic silver and not even post on this forum if it not be for my worry of not getting all the old thermal pad off. What would be the best way to get all the old pad off if I was to apply the as5? Thank you, Justin.

BTW, I'll probably check out the amd overdrive program.

My rig


Antec True power 2.0 430w
Asus M3A79-T Deluxe
Amd 9950 125w Black
Corsair 2gb Dominator DDR-1066
XFX http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XFX 8800GT 512MB XXX
LG DVD+-RW
Thermaltake http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermaltake Matrix

I use high purity isopropyl alcohol and coffee filters to remove old thermal paste/pads. Make sure you continually use clean areas on the filter/material or new pieces to ensure all residue is removed, then allow ample time for the surface to dry completely before applying new thermal interface material.

I didn't think that they came with the fans either but I called up newegg and because on the reviews, I saw that one person said that they were using the fan that came with it. Newegg says that it comes with one.