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Alternative thermal paste (e.g. ketchup, honey,...) ?

geollum

Hi,

my question I want to ask is meant to be serious.

I found a video of a German hardware-related magazine where they wanted to see if thermal paste is necessary or something like ketchup is also possible to cool.

They used an Intel C2D E6600 and their results under full load were:

- 71°C without any paste

- 54°C Arctic Cooling MX-2

- 57°C tooth paste

- 53°C ketchup

- 55°C body-lotion

- 57°C honey

Are these results real, or could they be fake?

Linus could you reproduce this experiment?

Here is the link for the Video:

(Warning: German :))

Sorry for bad grammar, I'm not used to write in English.^^

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Could be real. Please realize that although fun to try and make a youtube video of those TIM (Thermal Interface Material) alternatives will not continue to perform in the same manner once they dry out. I would venture a guess that it is the water in those TIM alternatives which is acting as the thermal conductor. Once the water evaporates one will be left with a hot dried mess that will perform poorer than no TIM at all. I must also mention that because water is electrically conductive makes for a poor choice as TIM. MX-2 and like TIM are not electrically conductive but are great thermal conductors.

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those can be real temps, and nice alternatives. but it wont last longer than a day or 2.

don't use it, especially ketchup. you cpu will have mold on it after some time and with toothpaste you cant remove your cpu anymore :P

"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect. But actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff."

 

Dont understimate my skillsz, you might look foolish.

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Could be real. Please realize that although fun to try and make a youtube video of those TIM (Thermal Interface Material) alternatives will not continue to perform in the same manner once they dry out. I would venture a guess that it is the water in those TIM alternatives which is acting as the thermal conductor. Once the water evaporates one will be left with a hot dried mess that will perform poorer than no TIM at all. I must also mention that because water is electrically conductive makes for a poor choice as TIM. MX-2 and like TIM are not electrically conductive but are great thermal conductors.

Spot on.

You were a noob once too!

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A friend of mine did an experiment on this a few years back. His findings are similar to the ones you posted, however the alternatives did not last very long. They lost all effectiveness within a few minutes.

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Thanks for all these answers. I didn't have any intention on using it, i just wanted to know if this is possible.

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I've heard some people theorize that gold leaf or silver leaf works alot better than normal thermal paste but not sure if anyone's tested it yet....

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I've heard some people theorize that gold leaf or silver leaf works alot better than normal thermal paste but not sure if anyone's tested it yet....
it wont. it isn't a liquid so it wont make great contact (it do is better than heatsink on cpu, but not as good as thermal compound).

and its expensive, and a hell to work in/install. and it conducts like crazy :)

"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect. But actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff."

 

Dont understimate my skillsz, you might look foolish.

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My friend uses toothpaste as an alternative of thermal paste when he can't find any. I don't think it is a bad idea to use these as last resort when you really need to. But not over 2 days as Fordox mentioned.

=

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I've used liquid (gel) flux before in a pinch. It lasted about a year, and the only reason I replaced it is because I ended up upgrading the computer, and added a new heatsink. Temps weren't that great, but it was an old sempron 939 processor so it didn't get THAT hot in the first place, and i didn't need it to be ice cold.

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They can be real temps but I think you should use proper thermal paste to avoid damaging your cpu.

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  • 2 weeks later...

if you guys want me to test it just ask

If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough it will be believed.

-Adolf Hitler 

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Could be real. Please realize that although fun to try and make a youtube video of those TIM (Thermal Interface Material) alternatives will not continue to perform in the same manner once they dry out. I would venture a guess that it is the water in those TIM alternatives which is acting as the thermal conductor. Once the water evaporates one will be left with a hot dried mess that will perform poorer than no TIM at all. I must also mention that because water is electrically conductive makes for a poor choice as TIM. MX-2 and like TIM are not electrically conductive but are great thermal conductors.
What if you used an oil based solution, or even grease?
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