Thermal Paste

[quagmondo23]

I never applied thermal paste and went with the pad that came with my cpu. I want to apply some. Which is the best type? I have an air (fan) cooled computer and a 2.66GHz core 2 duo. How would i go about doing it? Would i take the pad currently there off?

 

[Geoff]

If you are running at stock speed and don't plan to overclock, then the stock pad is fine. Although if you want to, I would personally go with some Arctic Silver 5 or MX2. You would remove the existing residue off of the CPU and heatsink, and then apply a small dot about the size of a grain of rice in the middle of the CPU.

 

[larryf215]

what are you temps currently? Many times people do this and if they don't do it right, there temps go up.
You need to look at the temp now & after.