Hey fellas so I bought parts for my friend to build his PC and when I opened the CPU box, I noticed there is no thermal paste. Is it normal? CPU is 4 core AMD. Thanks.
Yes, as everyone has said, it's pre-applied on the heatsink, although, I do HIGHLY recommend getting an additional thermal paste kit (Arctic Silver 5 + Solvent & Cleanser). Less than $10 at your local computer shop, get it, and you won't regret your decision. If you view Arctic's website, they'll give you reasons as to why not to use pre-applied grease that'll win you over.
honestly i havent had issues with the preapplied stuff...when in a hurry or just lazy to rub the old stuff off, it works good...honestly i think AS5 is overrated. any well applied goop will do the trick, and wont if you use too much. I have seen too much situations...its actually sad and funny at the same time...
I agree FuryRosewood. I use an inexpensive thermal paste and it works fine. It is very easy to use too much paste. Of course I don't overclock and push the limitations of my parts either.
The pre applied thermal interface material on the Stock heatsinks is actually pretty decent, granted its not going to be TX-3/TX-4/X23-7783D level stuff, but last i checked the thermal interface material that AMD used on their heatsinks was manufactured by shin etsu.