Stock thermal paste?

So, my barebones came with some unusual stock thermal paste. It isn't really paste, it's kind of a thing square of weird latex-y foam material (silicone i believe). The guys at bto told me not to remove this as there's a gap between the cpu and the heatsink. However, the thermal paste is really crummy and i'm getting pretty high temperatures. any options here? I put some icd7 in between the silicone junk and the cpu/gpu die, but i doubt itll make a difference.

 

I would remove the thermal paste for the cpu. There is a tiny gap, but just being a little more generous with the thermal paste takes care of it. Apply it once and then fasten down the heatsink. Take it off once to make sure you put enough on reapply the thermal paste the same way and then put it back together.

 

Theres a guide for the 1722 chassis in my sig, not sure if it can help you. Just though I would mention it anyway...

 

>.> you don't need special chemicals to remove the thermal pad they provided a credit/debit card worked just fine for me and then I cleaned it with regular rubbing alcohol.

 

I never said you have to use "special chemicals".

In fact these are my exact words: "We now have to remove the stock thermal paste. Like I said before, I used Arcticlean thermal paste remover, and then the surface purifier. I'm not sure what else you can use to remove it; again, read the instructions that came with your thermal paste."