# Do retail boxed CPUs come with thermal paste?



## HybridGoomba

See title.


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## sg1

*Not normally Probably if anything, just a paste pad on bottom of heatsink*

See TITLE


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## brian

they do, but it is a cheep pad. i would get new stuff


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## jdbennet

yeah thermal pad, heatsink, fan, packaging and instructions

OEM ones, well, dont.


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## HybridGoomba

Is the paste pad usually good enough for basic users though?


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## jdbennet

if you dont do overclocking and dont get under very heavy load then yeah its fine


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## sg1

I'll second that  But you still have to run it in over a few days by not leaving it on overnight etc and making sure to run for only a few hours at a time for a few days


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## HybridGoomba

sg1 said:


> I'll second that  But you still have to run it in over a few days by not leaving it on overnight etc and making sure to run for only a few hours at a time for a few days


What do you mean "run it over". 
And btw, nice way of copying me in the second post lol.


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## sg1

Well on a microscopic level , the surfaces of the heatsink and the CPU are NOT smooth. They are covered in ridges/grooves etc so the thermal paste has to work its way into the surfaces to create a good contact for heat dissapation and this is best done over the course of a few days of running and stopping the PC as the paste heats up and cools down. It's not so neccersary with higher quality pastes such as artic 5, and TBH , it isn't always done on cheaper paste types either but it CAN mean the difference between a paste doing its job efficiently or not as well


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## Twist86

HybridGoomba said:


> Is the paste pad usually good enough for basic users though?



If you run in a hotter room like I do NEVER USE STOCK PASTE!!!! My room is 80F on avg and 85-86 during 100F days and to prevent issues I always use a after market + AS5.

You will notice a 3-5c drop in temps using better paste which depending on your room temps could be helpful.


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## jdbennet

you also notice a 3-5c drop by ooening a window, which is what i do when gaming lol

hes right about the running in though. You know when you have a new car, it says not to drive it too fast for the first thousand miles or something. Same with a new pc. Over the first few days just run it for a few (3/4) hours at a time, followed by an hour or two off, and check your temps regularly. Dont do any serious gaming in that time.


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