A Stupid Mistake?

[braeji]

I've just bought a new motherboads and when i was rebuilding I came across some sticky stuff on the CPU Chip and on the bottom of the HeatSink, I immediatly though "what dodgy bastards that i bought the computer off" and i rubbed it all off (thinking they were to lazy to properly remove stickers...

And now i am thinking quite a few years back when i first built a PC i asked someone if it was meant to be there, and I'm thinking they told me that It Is meant to be there, I don't quite remember.

Could someone please tell me, Was It meant to be there?

and if so whats It called and where can I get some more? (I'm thinking Ebay)
or is there some household item that will do the job just aswell?

thanks very much.

 

[RHochstenbach]

Welcome to HWF :)
That stuff is called Thermal Paste, which is required to help transferring the heat. You should be able to get it from any computer store (I'd recommend Artic Silver, which works great).