i7 870 thermal compound question

[idata]

When I bought my i7 870 the retailer didn't have any thermal compound in stock but told me that the processor came with thermal paste for first use.

When I installed the fan I noticed it had three lines(?) on the contact surface. My brother suggested that this was the thermal compound.

Have I been informed correctly? Does the processor come with thermal compound for first use. I ask because the installtion quick guide that came with the processor said to spread some thermal compound on the top of the processor before installing it.

Con someone confirm the the i7 870 IS a 64bit processor. I looked at the manual that came with it and didn't see any confirmation.

TIA,

louwin

[idata · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Yes the thermal compound should be on teh fan as you describe.

And yes the CPU is 64bit: http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=41315

see in teh above link under instruction set

[idata]

Thanks for your response. Can I further bother you?

My processor is running at 46 degrees, is this good, bad or indifferent?

louwin

[idata]

good to indifferent. is that in the BIOS or form the OS?

[idata]

From the BIOS. Beleive it or not my SSD failed after 3 days of use so I couldn't load Windows. I got a DISK BOOT FAILURE. I have since reloaded Windows 7 but why did it get lost in the first case, is my question. Have to try to get the SSD swapped out.

Thanks for your responses.

louwin