Tape vs. paste when cooling CPU chip?

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foycur

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When I bought my Pentium 4 socket 478 chip and installed it into the MOBO, I just used the stock heatsink and no paste (this was before I was educated on building systems). I'm sending my mobo back to ASUS for a problem with the Ethernet, but when I reinstall it I want to use thermal paste. I read somewhere that Pentium 4's came with some kind of 'tape' on the back of the processor so paste isn't needed. The chip, at it's hottest, runs at 36-40C. I don't mess with overclocking (not yet, anyway :hotbounce ) and I don't seem to have any system stability problems. I've had the chip for about two years now, so something seems to be going right. So, questions....

1. Is paste better than thermal 'tape' when it comes to cooling?
2. How the hell do I even know I have thermal 'tape' on the back of this chip? Does it look like literal tape?
3. If I do decide I want to use paste, do I remove the tape first and how do I do it?

Thanks!!!
 
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