CPU Gel - What Is It & Do I Need It?

I told my friend yesterday that I had bought a new motherboard and a new CPU and he said that before I set everything up I need some sort of CPU Gel. This was the first I'd heard of it so I'm just curious as to what it is and whether I need it or not.


HK

 

CPU thermal paste.....yep, you need it!

Heat being the major killer of CPU's, it enables the heat transfer from your CPU, to the heatsink

All CPUs should have either some thermal grease or a type of pad on them.
If yours has neither then you need it. It only takes a very small
amount.
To get an idea of how much , press your finger against a glass. Notice
the ridges in your finger. Think how much grease it would take to just fill
in the voids. Almost none at all.
The grease is not a very good heat conductor, but it is beter than the air gaps. You want to just fill in the air gaps between the processor and heat sink. One application of the grease will normally outlast the useful life of the processor.

Spread it thinly and evenly taking care to cover the entire top surface of your CPU!

Recommend Arctic Silver 5

Regards...

 

Artic Silver 5 is very good but you need to be extermely careful not to get to much on or it may drip down onto processor and short it out as it contains metal. A spot about the size of a grain of rice then spread thin with a credit card is usually sufficient. There is also an Artic ceramic type thermal paste that is very good. Most heatsinks are coming with a pad already attached. I used the pad and have very good temps. However the pads downfall is if you have to remove the heatsink it has been said that you could actually pull the processor apart. I've read that to remove you should run and heat up processor then remove from socket and use a hairdryer on low temp to warm up pad and carefully pull apart. Any other thoughts on this?

 

Yes, I've heard about CPUs being broken while removing them. The guy said it was due to the hs weight but the too sticky pad sounds logical.

 

Artic Silver Ceramique is almost as good as AS5, and is completely non conductive, making it safer to use.

You still don't want to use too much though.

 

Link for installing Thermal Paste AS5

http://www.articsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm

Link for installing Themal Paste ASC

http://www.articsilver.com/ceramique_instructions.htm

 

However, if you are buying a Retail CPU and don't plan on overclocking, the thermal pad/paste that comes with the CPU will be sufficient.