Thermal Paste vs Toothpaste

[Jacktastic-Mofo]

So, a rumor I've heard quite often is that if you don't have an thermal paste (ex. artic silver) laying around that you could use any toothpaste to get the job done.

Who would like to see me give this a go on my secondary system with the intel stock cooler?

[ThatOneRussian]

why not spend a few bucks and use somehting much better??!!!

[Guest Kloaked]

please no

[DimasRMDO]

Just use thermal paste, it's better.

Toothpaste is another option, but there's a better one....

[Oberon.Smite]

I would.

 

It's been tested before with mayonnaise, and apparently anything works as thermal paste as long as it has better thermal conductivity than air.

[SpaceNugget]

Enjoy the minty fresh sent of krest toothpaste every time you stress your computer? Save money on overpriced specifically engineered for the exact application thermal paste?

 

sounds like a win win to me.

[themaniac]

the toothpaste will fry out very quickly and isn't as good as thermal paste so dont even try

[themaniac]

Just use thermal paste, it's better.

chocolate was tested

[Jacktastic-Mofo]

why not spend a few bucks and use somehting much better??!!!

I have extra thermal paste and toothpaste lol, this would literally cost nothing.

[CameronDSetty]

I'd rather just see another video about thermal paste....

[CapricaBuccaneers]

I've not seen that particular graph before - I have to admit Pink lipstick is pretty fucking funny.

Edit: now you can "RGB your thermal compound - to match your Razer RGB accessories!"

Like the mousemat.

[Lord_Karango17]

chocolate was tested

I saw that picture, and cringed to the fact that there was production thermal paste that was worse than toothpaste...

[Lord_Karango17]

I had twice put Toothpaste on my previous GPU (Nvidia 8400GS), and both of i have to get it RMA'd because it won't even boot, i don't know how it works just fine for other people.

Maybe you put too much, and it was conductive? A cpu's IHS is quite large, so it likely won't be a problem.

[themaniac]

I saw that picture, and cringed to the fact that there was production thermal paste that was worse than toothpaste...

atleast the thermal paste wont dry out as fast

[MegaDave91]

If worse came to worst I would use it as a temporary solution until I had purpose intended thermal paste.

[vanished]

What about just liquid gold?  You'd have to be quick squishing down the cooler onto it because as soon as it hardens, you'll want to make sure that's the position everything it going to stay in

 

Also, hopefully that won't heat up the chip too much as is

[Lord_Karango17]

atleast the thermal paste wont dry out as fast

I would hope there were advantages to using that thermal paste

[vanished]

Here's another idea - that chart showed the test of "no thermal paste" as being pretty poor but not unusable - what if you were able to polish both surfaces so well that you didn't need any at all, and it actually worked?

[Megahurt]

It would work, but I wouldn't trust it for more than a day or two.

[Lord_Karango17]

Here's another idea - that chart showed the test of "no thermal paste" as being pretty poor but not unusable - what if you were able to polish both surfaces so well that you didn't need any at all, and it actually worked?

At the microscopic level, there would still be imperfections, which is why thermal paste is used. It would likely be not very bad at all though...

[vanished]

At the microscopic level, there would still be imperfections, which is why thermal paste is used. It would likely be not very bad at all though...

Then you're not imagining my level of polishing  I mean it would be flat under an electron microscope

[Mr.McMister]

I've never tried this, but in theory you could use finely ground up pencil lead as a homemade alternative to thermal paste. The graphite from the pencil lead should be highly thermaly conductive and work excellently if a very thin layer is applied. The big issue I see is that it is also electricaly conductive and with no grease of any kind to trap it in place some might get out from in between short any exposed contacts it gets to.

[iamdarkyoshi]

I've never tried this, but in theory you could use finely ground up pencil lead as a homemade alternative to thermal paste. The graphite from the pencil lead should be highly thermaly conductive and work excellently if a very thin layer is applied. The big issue I see is that it is also electricaly conductive and with no grease of any kind to trap it in place some might get out from in between short any exposed contacts it gets to.

perhaps add a tiny bit of some form of oil. I had always wondered what would happen if you made thermal paste from etch a sketch powder, which is finely powdered aluminium

[vanished]

perhaps add a tiny bit of some form of oil. I had always wondered what would happen if you made thermal paste from etch a sketch powder, which is finely powdered aluminium

Probably depends strongly on how finely