Thermal paste is not necessary?

ntil yesterday, I thought the thermal paste was required (between CPU and CPU coolers).

Having received i7 processor, open the box and read the quick guide installation of Intel processor, The installation process images with text etc etc , I'm amazed it does not make use of thermal paste.

I supposed it is very important right?

Without Thermal paste between the CPU and the heatsink, it will work but not for long.

It is likely that the thermal paste is already on the radiator in the form of a colored band.

According to Intel, a substance on the radiator is the thermal paste.

Without thermal paste, no idea! The simple metal-metal contact between the CPU and the heatsink is far enough and will trigger the thermal protection of the CPU. Again, modern space heaters are often equipped with a material that serves as a thermal paste. The only drawback is that it is usable only once. At first dismantling of processors you must put some thermal paste. If the thermal paste was useless, why intel would suggest to use to improve performance of processors.

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Thermal material is used to fill small imperfections (gaps) between the CPU and heatsink.Ideally if the CPU was perfectly flat and so was the Heatsink, no thermal material would be needed. That's not going to happen so there needs to be thermal material. The Intel Heatsink/Fan will come with the paste already applied . If your heatsink has a pad pre-attached you can use that in the meantime, but I'd say chances are your temps won't be in a satisfactory range without it.