What's the "Goop"?

I have never actually used AS/Phase pads or anything, and this is actually my first SOCKET type CPU (Last one was a Slot A Athlon Classic ,lol.)...

I was just wondering, when I was cleaning my heatsink a bit with some air; I accidently touched the bottom... And I quickly removed my finger as I know the consequences and noticed I had some strange gunk on my finger... It wreaks with the smell of like, burning plastic almost. And it's clay-like...

I've never seen this stuff before to tell you the truth, what is it?
Oh and it's gray...ish...

It's probably thermal grease to increase the heat transfer from the chip to the heatsink. You can clean it off and put some AS5 or ceramique on it if you want to.

wait i thought he just said he didn't use any as or anthing....

Did you build that computer?

and i'm a tad confused? you were cleaning the hsf on which pc? the slot or socket A one?

if its grayish and soft and it stayed on your finger, i'm going to say it's probably some sort of thermal interface material. I.E. Arctic Silver. Even with your Slot system it really is a good idea to have some kind of TIM there, you'll notice a big drop in temps.

Can you clarify?

He hasn't used it before, but any cooler I've seen comes with at least a thermal pad.

I use a razor blade to scrape off the pad on the heatsink, then clean it off with some isopropyl alcohol. Let it dry and then apply a thin layer of AS or whatever on the core.

I use lighter fluid, then alcohol, because it completly disolves the pad. Also, if you dont have a realy flat base, you risk frying your cpu by not using any.

yes, every HS i have ever seen had some sort of TIM on it, though everone had those cheap thermal pads...

I think that that "goop" is your thermal pad

ps: always use a TIM! you do NOT want to fry your chip

That sounds like the TIM (Termal Interface Matieral).

Here is an article on how to properly remove it, (with links on TIM application), as now you need to clean and reapply it. Any questions just ask here.
http://overclockers.com/tips1116/