Thermal Paste/Grease

[Rex Francorum]

I am building a new PC (first time) and I received today the processor (Intel Pentium G4560) with a stock cooler who has layers of thermal protection. I read everywhere that I need to add thermal paste/grease, but is it the case even if the cooler has some of it?

[Barrister]

Grats!  Building a new computer is kind of fun, kind of exasperating, and very educational.

Much of the advice on building systems out there is aimed at people trying to wring every last bit of performance out of their PC.  As such they'd definitely recommend some kind of fancy thermal paste.  But you're running a Pentium with a stock cooler.  The stuff on that stock cooler should be fine.

[viper37]

I am building a new PC (first time) and I received today the processor (Intel Pentium G4560) with a stock cooler who has layers of thermal protection. I read everywhere that I need to add thermal paste/grease, but is it the case even if the cooler has some of it?

High end CPU, like i5 or i7, that you want to overclok, and will use another, better fan or even liquid cooling, then you would need another thermal paste.  But for a G4560, the stock cooler will be enough.  When it starts making noises, simply replace it with another stock cooler, or buy a better one with some thermal paste then.

[DontSayBanana]

I generally hit any CPU with thermal paste. If the processor came with some pre-applied, I don't trust that the coverage has stayed consistent in transit (or that they're using decent thermal paste), so I always scrape off any that's already there and do it from scratch.

Thermal paste is also the reason I keep a stash of old gift cards, since they make excellent tools for spreading the paste evenly.