Hey everyone! I'm almost done building my PC and I've picked up a lot of components at great prices. I still need to grab a motherboard, but I have a couple of questions before moving forward: Should I use thermal paste or thermal pads for my setup, or would it be best to use both? Also, I've been wondering about fan setups. Is there any significant difference in cooling performance between reverse and regular fans? Do I need to buy more fans, or will the ones that came with my case be sufficient? If I do need extra, how many should I consider getting?
2 Answers
Most people just go with the thermal paste from their cooler since pads can be less effective and aren’t necessary for this type of build. As for the fans, reverse fans and normal fans usually perform the same. The only real difference is the orientation or design on the outside. You can install a normal fan backwards and it’ll work just as well!
The thermal paste that comes with your cooler should work just fine! Phase change pads are usually better for GPUs or laptop CPUs without heat spreaders since they aren’t really needed on the 7800X3D. They might actually perform worse than the paste that comes with your cooler. Just stick with the thermal paste for your CPU, as regular thermal pads don’t conduct heat as effectively and are not meant for CPU cores.
So, it sounds like I really don’t need to get anything extra then?
Would they still perform the same for my specific setup, though?