Is thermal compund really necessary

[Greatmaw]

Ok I'm part way through my endeavour into buying/building my very first PC. Here's the specs:

AMD athlon64 3700+ San diego
Leadtek 6800GT TDH 256mb
1GB Corsair twinX (2x512)
A8N-Sli mobo
160GB Seagate HDD
Sony DVD+-RW Dual layer
NZXT Nemesis Elite case
XP Pro

Ok now as I'm pretty new at this and never tried to replace any parts in my curent PC and all I was a bit unsure at first but after about a month of research etc I think that I will be able to do it.

I really have 2 problems:
1. Is it really absolutely necessary to use a thermal compund even with reasonably good cooling? Noth the chip is a 3700+ san diego.

2. This question has actually been answered but I am still a tad confused. My graphics card has a single power plug port thing on it. They gave me a Y cable with the single end attaching to the Card. The double end has 2 plugs that connect to the Power supply cables now do I need both these plugged into the PSU cables or just leave one free? I just dont wanna leave one free in case it damages the card through insufficient power or something

Thanx guys!

 

[Sprooty]

yes you do need it.. cant u afford a $10 tube of AS5?

 

[Apokalipse]

no actually you don't. all it does is fill the tiny gaps between the CPU and heatsink. your CPU will run completely fine without it, it will just run a little bit lower in temperature if you do have it.

 

[Greatmaw]

Sorry should have been more clear . I do have the money for a tube of the stuff but as i live in a fairly rural town i don't have anywhere to buy it straight from the shelf and to order it would delay my pc building another week or so (including time to process orders and cheque clearance etc.)

Any ideas on the power for the graphix card?

 

[Apokalipse]

what power supply to get?
anything from Antec, Thermaltake, Enermax, OCZ, Cooler Master, Seasonic or Ultra that's at least 420W, preferrably 450W or more

 

[j4ckaL]

I have a question, if you order a CPU that comes with a heatsink and fan does it come with the heatsink already on and thermal compound applied or do you have to apply the compound yourself?

 

[Apokalipse]

usually it comes in a tube. it would probabbly wipe off if it came ON the heatsink. plus you would only get enough for one use of the heatsink.

just put a little bt on, not much, and press the heatsink down, squashing it around. you don't want it think.

 

[TheRecluse]

I have a question, if you order a CPU that comes with a heatsink and fan does it come with the heatsink already on and thermal compound applied or do you have to apply the compound yourself?

it would make it hard to place the cpu into your mobo if it came like that...

 

[Apokalipse]

oh, I just realised he meant having the heatsink already on the CPU.

heatsinks actually clip onto the motherboard, they just contact the CPU

 

[Flanker]

I have a question, if you order a CPU that comes with a heatsink and fan does it come with the heatsink already on and thermal compound applied or do you have to apply the compound yourself?

it would make it hard to place the cpu into your mobo if it came like that...

Retail CPUs come with the processor and HSF. The HSF is seperate from the processor. You first install the processor onto the motherboard. After that is clipped down, you take the HSF (it has stock thermal tape on the bottom) and clip it down over the processor. The HSF itself clips onto the motherboars. When the HSF is down, its making contact with the processor (or atleast, its supposed to). If you put the HSF on and then take it off, some of the thermal tape will have rubbed off on the processor .