Do I need thermal paste?

K

known12345

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 17, 2007
Messages
311
I have a q6600 and an IP35-E and a TRUE120. Idle temp is about 35C (oc to 3.0, stock voltage), ambient room temp is about 78 though drops to 65 during night. I dismantled my comp a few days ago (also to reorganize wires b/c got fan controller) because I got some heat sinks to possibly replace the mosfett cooler that came with the board. Anyway I removed the TRUE and cleaned up the thermal paste but just as I had removed the stock mosfett cooler. I noticed that there were another of those "2 legged square black blocks" located in back of the RAM and a couple closer to the Northbirdge. I will try to upload pictures if I can but apparently my camera isn't connecting to this comp and since I dismantled my other comp I may not be able to post pictures.

Anyway I want to put back my comp in working order so I can test whether they contribute to high PWM temps on my board. I will shine a fan on the ones near the RAM sticks and if PWM temps drop ill put the heat sinks I got on them. So I am wondering if I can put back my cpu heat sink without thermal paste, or if I can, is it safe or can there be damaging side effects?

Also does anyone know what those "2 legged black squares" are called? Are they mosfett coolers, the mosfett, pwm voltage regulators, something else? Does anyone know if all of those, I mean that particular type of thing does a specific job such as maybe in charge of cpu voltage (I noticed they were located primarily next to the cpu socket, a few behind the RAM holders, and 2 next to the northbirdge though still within the vicinity of the cpu socket).

Edit* Hmm how to post images on here anyway?
 
I wouldnt run a CPU without paste, especially a quad core.

To post images you need to use a hosting site and link to your images
 
I'm sorry but what is a hosting site? Gotcha, won't even attempt it, but why exactly do you need thermal paste?
 
Thermal paste conducts heat, air isnt so good.
Search for image hosting on google. There are a lot of sites where you can post your images.
 
I recommend Imageshack for hosting images. The URL is imageshack.us, and they provide a very quick and easy method to upload images, as well as providing the correct code so you can just copy it and paste it into your posts. Check it out.

As for thermal paste, what it does is it fills in all the tiny gaps between the heatsink base and the surface of the heatspreader, which allows heat to be transferred along the entire contact surface. Without thermal paste, microscopic pits and gaps in the two mating surfaces prevent a uniform contact between the two from being possible and drastically limits the ability for heat to be transferred. With modern CPUs, thermal paste is necessary in order to get the heat away from the CPU at a rate fast enough to prevent it from getting damaged.
 
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