The last time I installed a CPU in a socket it ws a P75 and no there was no need for Thermal Paste or Heatsink fans. I've always had my CPU's and RAM preinstalled so I didn't get anything DOA. So I'm installing an X2 this afternoon. How much TP should I use? Just use a little bit of paste on both of the cores? I think this will be a little faster then my old P75 Linux machine.