Originally Posted by
Reddog99
Well, this is probably too late for you, but for anyone else with the same question, the answer is yes, you do need to use new thermal grease on the CPU. You need to first remove the old paste or pad from the cpu & heatsink, and clean the surfaces with alcohol, then apply the new grease very sparingly.
Don't do that unless you want to ruin your machine. First off thermal grease is different
from thermal paste and is used for temporary fixtures during prototyping and etc. You
shouldn't use "thermal grease" on a machine you're going to button up and use daily
over a long period of time.
Next "thermal pads" need direct contact to the material and applying additional paste is
highly inadvisable!! Clean the two surfaces with acetone (not alcohol!!!) and replace the
pad with a new one.
Now, thermal paste may be used INSTEAD OF a thermal pad if you would like and will
behave the same. Just be very careful not to put too much on. Although by looking
at your included photo I would highly recommend using a pad!
Again, do NOT use both pads and paste together and do not use "thermal grease" unless
it's just for a few weeks or months or something.
EDIT: Thermal Paste is also sometimes called "Thermal Compound".