A question about paste

[Balognajones]

Hey LTT gang,

I've been watching a lot of your build videos and, when you are building a desktop pc from scratch, you never use thermal paste. Having never built a pc myself, I was wondering why you usually skip this step. Do new cpu's with heatsinks already come prepasted? Is it unnecessary for new hardware? Should i assume it's happening off-camera?

Thanks!

[JB25304]

When they use AIOs, many of those already come with paste already applied.

 

A few times, they have used alternatives such as IC Graphite thermal pad.

 

Spoiler

https://www.amazon.com/Innovation-Cooling-Graphite-Thermal-Pad/dp/B07CKVW18G/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=IC+Graphite+thermal+pad&qid=1569460942&sr=8-2

 

Other times, they either probably just skip it or they play a video with them applying it when there is a mishap.

[Fasauceome]

21 minutes ago, Balognajones said:

Do new cpu's with heatsinks already come prepasted?

yes, nearly all new coolers have the paste applied already

[Firewrath9]

6 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

yes, nearly all new coolers have the paste applied already

Noctua would like to know your location, as well as cooler master, and cryroig, and arctic, thermalright, and thermaltake.

AFAIK all of those companies don't come with stock paste, they have a tube or packet.

Noctua includes NT-H1, and Cryorig includes CP7/CP9/CP15.

[Founders]

It's still needed and as others have mentioned some come with TIM (thermal interface material) pre-applied or include a small tube for one or two applications. You're joining two surfaces together with small imperfections, the TIM fills those imperfections in for better contact between your cooler and your CPU's IHS (integrated heat spreader).