I have just installed an i7 920 cpu, I used the stock thermal paste that was already on the cooler, it appeared that there was nothing protecting the thermal paste like a plastic film or something so i just installed it, now i'm paranoid there was a plastic film on and it's gonna stuff my cpu but i don't want to have to take it off just to check and have to reapply thermal paste
do yourself a favor, buy good thermal paste like arctic silver 5 at the very least, take off all the stock garbage (trust me, it's garbage), clean the chip and the cooler well with high % rubbing alcohol, and apply a very thin, even layer of AS5 (or whatever) to the chip ONLY, then mount the heatsink. You will be surprised at how much your temps drop. Especially if you use a good after market heatsink. I run a Q6600 at 3.6ghz and use a Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 with 2 120mm fans, with MX-5 thermal paste. It idles in the 30's and at full load never breaks 60 C.
Hi Murdercity. I have the same processor on a Gigabyte EG41MF-US2H mobo and have been trying to overclock. However as soon as i stress the machine it just crashes to the blue screen of death. Would you share with me some info on how you have your q6600 at 3.6ghz, i am very keen to know. PM me if you like.