Why does a CPU Need Thermal Grease/Compound?
Thermal compound and thermal grease are used interchangeably. It helps in cooling the central Processing Unit by withdrawing the heat away from the CPU chipset. CPU refers to the processing system as a whole that is composed of millions of tiny electronic switches assembled at a single place. The heat dissipation increases manifold when the workload upon CPU increases. Your computer system can become hot with overproduction of heat because of overclocking.
What’s the entire process?
The heat sink is used for handling the heat produced by CPU. The unevenness of wafers disallows the heat to escape. That's when heatsink comes into rescue. To increase the effectiveness of heat sink, professionals apply thermal Grease compound. Thermal grease maximizes the workability of CPU by disallowing the tiny gaps to store heat. The thermal grease ties up the heatsink and CPU component. The applied layer fills the imperfections for allowing the air pockets to travel between the heat sink and chip.
What is thermal grease made up?
Thermal grease is made up of heat conducting materials that allow it to perform better. Some of the materials allow better heat transfer which enhances the overall cost of the grease. For example - expensive thermal grease is based upon silver particles for maximizing the effectiveness. On the other hand, talking about the cost-effective thermal grease, it has ceramic and silicon-based compounds.
CPU Average Temperature:
Once the heatsink is properly installed within CPU, dissipation of heat becomes much possible. Heat is transferred upward towards the CPU fan that throws away the accumulated heat out of the system. It is advised that CPU should not be used until and unless it has the heatsink and thermal grease intact. The temperature can enhance exorbitantly to melt the components thereby making the system permanently inoperable.
Finally, CPU available in the market comes up with a separate thermal grease tube in the box. Thermal paste has an important role play in enhancing the life of the CPU. You should buy only good thermal paste which is easily available on the market at affordable price. Before buying a thermal paste, I would recommend you to read this guide about best thermal compound with buyer's guide. The thermal paste, fan, and heat sink together form major equipment that should never get ignored by the users and manufacturers.