Cooler Master MasterGel Regular Thermal Paste
Thermal paste (also known as thermal grease or thermal compound) is a substance applied between the processor and the heat sink. You can buy small tubes of thermal paste at electronics stores, sometimes accompanied by a small shovel-like tool called an applicator.
When you’re building a PC, you’ll need a tube of thermal paste for your PC to run smoothly. Some CPU heat sinks come with thermal paste pre-applied to it so you can install it and go.The role of thermal paste is to help transfer heat away from the CPU and into the heat sink. The heat sink then expels the heat away from the hardware. This keeps the CPU cool, especially when it’s hard at work processing tasks.
You may think that thermal paste isn’t as essential in a PC build than the processor or power supply. While a computer will boot without thermal paste, the problem will be keeping it alive while you use it!
Without thermal paste, there isn’t optimal heat transfer between the CPU and the heat sink. As such, the CPU gets a lot hotter than it would be if you had used paste. If the CPU gets too hot, it will overheat; this results in stuttering from throttling, blue screens, and random shutdowns.
While buying thermal paste is the least exciting part of a computer build, it’s a must-have. It allows the heat sink to do its job better and protects your computer from burning out and shutting down.
If you’re wondering if you need thermal paste because you’re worried about messing up your brand new expensive processor with gray goop, try getting a heat sink with paste pre-applied. The paste may not be the best kind on the market, but it does make installation easier.