This is new to me. I've found that a lot of Intel CPUs have pre-installed thermal paste on the cooler. I had just bought some Arctic MX-4 after hearing so many good things about it and seeing all of the great performance it had to offer. I'll go ahead and assume that the MX-4 will be far superior to the stuff Intel has already put on their coolers? Or should i save myself one application and use the pre-installed paste? When i saw comparison videos, there were some insane differences between MX-4 and the comparison pastes. Which themselves were already pretty well-known. I'm of course all for having my hardware run as cool as possible.
if you want better cooling you're way better off not using the stock intel cooler. but you will still see improvement if you use the actic MX, thought i imagine it's negligible
Yea you won't notice a difference using the stock air cooler. Use the paste on basically everything else tho. Unless you just want to use it. Sometimes its a good feeling to have completed the task yourself. As easy as it is it is still arguably one of the most "nerve racking" part of your first couple of builds.
Oh, alright. I suppose i'll save myself an application of my MX-4, then? But please, in all honesty, tell me it wasn't a waste to buy it, anyway? I sure hope the MX-4 formula will still be relevant even 6-7 years from now.
definitely not a waste. If you ever end up getting a better cooler than the stock one you'll want to put some better paste on it than the pre-applied stuff. And since thermal paste is so cheap and it's only a few more $$ to get the better one I don't think it's a waste at all. This few extra $$ is an actual performance upgrade instead of something aesthetic.