Is thermal paste really nessessary for non-oc?

I've been talking to a friend today and guiding him through the process of replacing his motherboard. When he removed his heat sink i told him he would need new paste (because the original is about a year old), so he went up to the local computer shop to buy some. The shop assistant told him he wouldn't need paste since his processor is only 2.4ghz, so he went to the local DSE and was also told the same thing (as long as his cpu is under 3ghz). He picked up some generic white thermal paste while he was there.

Is it just me or is there something wrong with this? I've always been under the impression that thermal paste should always be used, unless your cpu is under 100mhz or something. Am i crazy or are these shops mad giving out this advice. His cpu is a p4 2.4ghz non-overclocked.

 

Strictly speaking, he won't need it. P4s just underclock themselves when they get too hot, so a lack of thermal paste will just make his computer slower.

In an Australian summer, I'd definitely have thermal paste on the CPU, regardless of how fast it is. Otherwise you just get a whole lot of air between the CPU and the heatsink, which really doesn't help.

 

Those people are kinda right. Its not nessecary (much like its not nessecary to have grip on your car tyres..).

But its ot nessescary to have AS5 or something, plain genric white goo will do fine, but it is highly reccomended to have something.
I wouldnt cout on the systems stability without it.

 

i dont think its NESSESSARY, but highly recommended
i ran my palomino without paste for several months, never experienced any probs
and palominos run damn hot, so he should be fine.
edit: typos again

 

Althought it may operate without, if it I wasn't supplied with every stock HSF (usually a thermal pad), then I would say it isn't required - but it is.

 

I pulled apart some G3s at one point. The heat sink is passive and didn't use a drop of thermal compound.

Do I think it’s necessary? Yes, yes I do.

 

Dont u mean, reguardless of how SLOW it is

id definitely recommend thermal paste due to australias temperatures most of the year round.

 

Yeah you need something there..even if its generic white stuff.

 

You defininately NEED some sort of thermal filler between the CPU and the metal heat sink. The filler fills in the microscopic gaps between the surfaces to ensure a good thermal contact.

Pretty much all modern heatsinks have a small thermal pad that is sufficient though not as good as a decent paste. However these pads should ONLY be used once. That is if you remove your heat sink you need to replace the pad or use a thermal paste.

Yes the people at these stores are mad giving out this advice.

 

That sounds very odd, i've seen the result of cpu's ran withough paste, and its sort of like a nice brown square on the heat sink and a blank screen. And i'm talking about around 1.3ghz level amd's.

 

I think for todays standards you definately need it. Especially in the Australian weather. Sure we got away with it in the P200 days (and G3 macs)

And anyone in a computer shop 'reccomending' you don't put it on is a idiot IMO. Either he is trying to get you to kill you cpu or doesn't know SFA about heat transfer.

 

alot of them dont know sh!t, i asked one if they had any low latency memory, and he said ".. u mean DDR400?"

 

Even in the G3 days, I am shocked they got away with that. I found it had a foam spacer around the core as well; this could only reduce the contact!

Contact is the key to this argument, as stated by others, thermal compound acts as a transfer medium between the die and the heat sink. Unless the heat sink emulates marine grade steel it will never be entirely flat and therefore not conduct heat as well as I may other wise due to air pockets.

I think by now I am preaching to the converted

 

Try a high end AthlonXP with a stock heatsink. no thermal paste, and tell me what you end up with.

And unless you like your P4 underclocking itself permanently, thermal paste is necessary.

 

I've had a duron 1.2GHz run fine at stock speeds for months with a completely cleaned (and un-thermal pasted) core and heatsink. Though it was used almost entirely as an internet computer, its most intensive task was probably booting up .

I would definately recommend thermal paste though, especially if you've got a tube of it lying around. Maybe someone could do an experiment, and see what happens (temps, smells, smoke... etc )?. Actually I've got a potential guiney-pig Duron 750 here ...

It seems strange why they would recommend you not getting any paste - since not only is it a strange thing to do with a high heat-output CPU of these days, but they'd be not helping the shop make a sale too - unless ofcourse they also sell CPUs too...

 

I should go up to the shop and get them to show me a demonstration of a p4 2.6ghz or something running without thermal paste and see what they do If i were a shop i would of recommended toothpaste over nothing (it was reviewed on dans data )

Anyways, thanks to this stunt they've lost a few customers.

 

Just a note and i have done it my self and that is to get a little of toothpaste and Vaseline and mix it together and use it at a temporary thing until you get some thermal paste

 

yeah ill agree that thermal paste should be used. I have run a few XPs without any thermal material between it and the HSF and never experienced any problems. I think the quality and flatness of the hs you are strapping on has a large bearing on how much thermal goop is required. Having said that, the IHS on current Pv and a64 processors aren't flat at all. The exposed core found on the socketA packaging is pretty flat though

 

If the chip you are using has a thermal spreader on it, and the sink you are using is reasonably flat (like most stock sinks are) then you can get away without paste/pad in the intel processors below 2800mhz, and AMD A64 processors below 3000+. There is enough contact area on the sink that the small pits dont matter so much.

The chip will run warmer than with paste, but it should still work. I've tested this myself a couple of times to no ill effect.

 

My God i can not beleive they would even suggest the idea of not using thermalpaste.
This day and age of speed VS heat one would like to transfer the heat away as quick as possible.
Stands scracting his head of the idea of no goo!