Hey,
I am making my first computer, and today I just got my motherboard and CPU. The CPU comes with "a thermal solution", or thermal paste, and I was wondering should I use that thermal paste when I set up the computer or should I buy brand new thermal paste because I shouldn't trust anything in the CPU box other then the CPU?
Thanks.
PS.
Sorry if it sounds like a noob question.
Buy new thermal paste. The included paste is servicible, but not the best you can get.
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Thermal-Compound-Roundup-January-2012/1468/5
A great comparison of a LOT of different thermal pastes. This is from January 2012, not sure if there is a newer one but this should be a good place to start.
FYI, I use MX-4, didn't really research much, just asked my friends what they were using/liked, I'm happy with it.
First of all: there is no such thing as a noob question. The internet just has too much haters :P
From your post i guess you bought a boxed CPU, they always come with something they call a stock cooler (most of the time it already has thermal paste applied on the botom of the cooler).
The short answer to your question would be:" yes you could use this cooler and/or thermal paste".
The longer answer:"I do not know how much money you have to spare, but my brother uses this stock cooler from the box and his CPU is at around 50 degrees Celsius when IDLE (far too high if you ask me). You should look for a 25 - 40$ CPU cooler with a 5$ tube of thermal paste (something like a scythe mugen III cooler and a tube of arctic silver thermal paste).
Remember! The search for parts and solutions is part of the fun.