I know the idea of putting toothpaste on your expensive CPU seems like a meme but
there are definitely situations where you can find yourself in a pinch your
system is overheating at 2 a.m. and the local 7-Eleven doesn't stock standard CP
cooling supplies obviously so if you're faced with an emergency and you don't
have any spare thermal paste on hand what can you use instead to answer it
helps to understand exactly how thermal paste works when you apply thermal paste
to the top of your CPU and then put your heat sink on top of it the paste fills
in microscopic cracks in both the CPU heat spreader and the bottom of the heat
sink as you apply pressure like some kind of weird cyber Oreo that would be
really hard to eat and would also kill you but damn that would taste good
filling in these cracks eliminate small air gaps that can prevent heat from
effectively flowing out of your processor and into your cooler but
there's more to a good thermal paste and to life than just filling in Holes the
materials that make up the thermal paste need to be thermally conductive or heat
will have a hard time flowing through it regardless of how well it eliminates air
pockets thermal paste often contains metal oxide compounds that are good at
conducting heat but not electricity this
way they'll cool off your CPU without posing a risk of shorting out your
components if you have a spill there are
liquid metal thermal solutions that conduct heat more effectively than metal
oxide thermal paste but unfortunately they're also electrically conductive so
most enthusiasts sacrifice a few degrees and just use the thermal paste since
it's safer and easier to apply but are there easy to obtain materials that have
the same properties as thermal paste we'll tell you right after we thank
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signups at the link below to answer our original question you actually can use
toothpaste in a pinch although you probably want to mix it in with
petroleum jelly like Vaseline to prevent it from drying out too quickly but
here's the thing it's kind of a crapshoot how well any given toothpaste
will perform with your particular setup some of the ingredients in toothpaste
can actually be decent conductors of heat but it's not going to be as
effective as what's an actual thermal paste not to mention that toothpaste
contains fluoride which has a corrosive effect great for cleaning teeth but
plaque build up in ginger viice is less of a problem for heat spreaders they're
lucky another popular option is diaper rash cream containing zinc oxide since
zinc oxide is a common thermal conductor found in actual thermal paste it's not
the worst option if you happen to have it on hand and it won't dry out as
quickly as many other thermal paste Alternatives but even so it won't stay
the right consistency for more than a few months and that sounds like a long
time but thermal paste is designed to last in your system for years before it
might dry out just think about all the pre-built computers sold to folks who
don't even know what thermal paste is they're probably never even going to
crack open their machines let alone experiment with slopping hygiene
products in there plus the general public tends to hold on to their PCS for
longer than enthusiasts and Gamers since they aren't as interested in upgrading
to the latest tech to play the latest AAA game there's a reason that putting
unusual substances on CPUs has largely stayed in meme territory most commonly
suggested alternatives to thermal paste tend to dry out prematurely surprisingly
the best alternative we tested on our sister Channel liance detectives was
plain yellow mustard of all things but despite the fact it cooled our CPU off
fairly well it dried out by the time we finished our testing so bottom line any
thick wasy material that doesn't conduct electricity could work all right if
you're having some kind of overheating emergency and need to use your PC
briefly but just get yourself some spare thermal paste one good quality tube will
have enough paste for several applications and costs less than 10 bucks just take it out of your monthly
mustard budget thanks for watching guys if you like this video hit like hit
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