I’m really trying to be a better person this year

@@DavidWallz Me too man, we both got this. I believe you can do it, whatever your goals may be just remember that you can do anything you set your mind to. Be kind to yourself :)

No, IM Messer’s biggest fan! jk

I actually sell this stuff at my current job, IMHO you should replace the paste every time you remove the heatsink. Regarding the pad, it depends really. Regarding the thermal performance it should be fine to leave the pad on, if there is some sort of glue coating you should replace it tho

@@Kontaras987thank you

imo its not necessary just a pre caution. if you build daily then yes, but building for personal i wouldnt waste money on it. and checkout ifixit kits

Maybe a screw driver set if you want, it will come in handy not just for building pcs. Other stuff is not necessary.

Electrical engineer here. The right ESD mat can be chosen based on your application. is it going on the desk or floor? Will you be soldering on the mat? For a bench-top mat where you will just be working on computers and not soldering, a general purpose one will work. Finding one that has a connection for an ESD wrist-strap is preferred. And of course, make sure the mat is properly grounded, you can't just put it on the bench and start working. Grounding your mat to the center screw of an electrical outlet is the way to go. Also, be sure that your flooring is not carpet, as this will undermine your efforts to avoid ESD. While others are technically correct that ESD precautions are not necessary, you don't want to fry your expensive CPU or other components. An ESD event is often imperceptible at the time or after-the-fact, meaning that troubleshooting can be absolutely maddening. Furthermore, even IF you discover you zapped a chip, you still can't repair it, so you'll need a new chip (or new piece of hardware if the chip isn't replaceable). Yes, get a basic screwdriver set. Metal tweezers will help too.