Need a little help.....

I am building a new pc for the first time in many years.It is a Soyo dragon p4,with a Box p4 1.6 chip.I sure could use a little help with 2 questions.
1).The Soyo mb manual says "This mb supports non-box cpu's.Heavier cooling fans require a cpu support stand".I am not sure what this means.The mb has a large square plastic frame attached to the mb that appears to be used to attach the fan support bracket,but not sure if its already installed,why a note telling you to install one?..

2).There is a square patch of thermal compound already attached to the underside of the heatsink.Some of it was apparantly scratched off during packaging.I am wondering if I shouldn't remove all of it,and re-apply some more compound myself......
It has been a long time since I built dx/2 486 pc's,and I am somewhat behind the times.Any advice would be very much appreciated.I am ready to start assembly.........Thanks..........

If ya don't ask..How ya gonna know.

1) You've got a boxed p4 with it's own (non-heavier) fan? Why worry?

2) Ideally, you would scrap off the compound and use some artic silver or similar.

Yes,I have already purchased it.
The "non boxed cpu" statement in the manual still confuses me.The fan that came with the cpu is plenty heavy.I dont guess that I have ever ran across a cpu stand...............Thanks for the replies.....

If ya don't ask..How ya gonna know.

For my personal use,I don't think that I would really notice the difference.I don't plan on overclocking,and I have always had exceptional performance,and reliability with Intel.I have nothing against AMD cpu's,and competion will only make them both better,but if everyone only bought AMD,then we would eventually wind up with a one chip maker scenario.......

If ya don't ask..How ya gonna know.

Maybe it means that the motherboard manufacturer knows that the boxed CPU p4 fans are too heavy ('motherboard supports ((only!?!)) non-boxed fans') And your heatsink won't work well if there are gaps between it and the CPU.

I just installed a P4, and the one thing that is different is the retail boxed heatsink. Be sure it's seated and square on the cpu when you move the levers over to lock it in place. I had to do it a second time before it was seated correctly. Also, don't use any thermal paste, or you may void the warranty if yours is a retail boxed cpu. Also, be sure to use the square 4 pin 12 volt connector off your power supply if the mobo requires it. Some do and some don't.

Yeah,everything worked.The cpu stand was already installed,that was the confusing part.The heat patch had to be removed,it was partially scratched off during packaging.....

If ya don't ask..How ya gonna know.