Hi i need help. I have just brought an AMD Athlon 64 bit 3500+ socket 939 and a motherboard to go wid it. I have put the processor in the motherboard and want to attatch the heatsink that come with it. But i dont know wether i need to add any of the thermal paste or not? on the bottom of the metal heatsink it has a little pad on it already. Can someone please help! Thank You Mark Haynes

All you need is the pad! Do not use both!!!

No if you already have a pad on the heatsink then don't use anything else because the more you add stuff between the heatsink and processor the less heat that will escape. That is why when you don't have a pad and they tell you to use thermal paste they tell you to apply it paper thin.

You can remove the pad if you want to and use thermal paste instead, but if you're not doing heavy overclocking, it's not necessary. "...but in my defense, it was dark, I was drunk, and it was delicious!"

If you remove the pad, you void the AMD warranty.

Badboy is correct !!! Removing the pad will void the warranty, as the posts say if you are not going to OC the rig leave all as is. If you are going to mess with OC than I would siggest you look at a very good aftermarket HSF. But agian doing so will void warranty. IF IT AINT BROKE, DONT FIX IT

remove the pad...if ur cpu goes...amd will say it was ur falt that u static shocked it or somthing so basicalty the warenty is crap anyway. removing the pad and using thermal past will prolong the life of ur system and will give better preformance.