WEBVTT 00:00:00.199 --> 00:00:07.160 I know the idea of putting toothpaste on your expensive CPU seems like a meme but 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:11.960 there are definitely situations where you can find yourself in a pinch your 00:00:09.960 --> 00:00:16.359 system is overheating at 2 a.m. and the local 7-Eleven doesn't stock standard CP 00:00:14.280 --> 00:00:20.480 cooling supplies obviously so if you're faced with an emergency and you don't 00:00:17.880 --> 00:00:24.519 have any spare thermal paste on hand what can you use instead to answer it 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:28.480 helps to understand exactly how thermal paste works when you apply thermal paste 00:00:26.760 --> 00:00:33.920 to the top of your CPU and then put your heat sink on top of it the paste fills 00:00:31.320 --> 00:00:38.120 in microscopic cracks in both the CPU heat spreader and the bottom of the heat 00:00:35.800 --> 00:00:42.280 sink as you apply pressure like some kind of weird cyber Oreo that would be 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:47.280 really hard to eat and would also kill you but damn that would taste good 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:50.360 filling in these cracks eliminate small air gaps that can prevent heat from 00:00:49.160 --> 00:00:54.600 effectively flowing out of your processor and into your cooler but 00:00:52.480 --> 00:00:59.239 there's more to a good thermal paste and to life than just filling in Holes the 00:00:57.320 --> 00:01:03.399 materials that make up the thermal paste need to be thermally conductive or heat 00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:07.520 will have a hard time flowing through it regardless of how well it eliminates air 00:01:05.600 --> 00:01:13.040 pockets thermal paste often contains metal oxide compounds that are good at 00:01:09.600 --> 00:01:15.080 conducting heat but not electricity this 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:19.840 way they'll cool off your CPU without posing a risk of shorting out your 00:01:16.840 --> 00:01:21.799 components if you have a spill there are 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:25.960 liquid metal thermal solutions that conduct heat more effectively than metal 00:01:23.640 --> 00:01:30.799 oxide thermal paste but unfortunately they're also electrically conductive so 00:01:28.320 --> 00:01:35.280 most enthusiasts sacrifice a few degrees and just use the thermal paste since 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:39.399 it's safer and easier to apply but are there easy to obtain materials that have 00:01:37.240 --> 00:01:43.320 the same properties as thermal paste we'll tell you right after we thank 00:01:41.079 --> 00:01:47.439 vulture for sponsoring this video vulture provides high performance Cloud 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:52.040 servers bare metal storage and managed kubernetes at a fraction of the cost of 00:01:49.560 --> 00:01:56.920 big Tech in less than 60 seconds you can bring your own ISO or deploy Windows or 00:01:54.240 --> 00:02:01.520 Linux from over 25 server locations worldwide for low latency infrastructure 00:01:59.399 --> 00:02:06.840 wherever needed also there's vulture Talon Cloud GPU allowing Debs to deploy 00:02:04.280 --> 00:02:10.560 fractions of virtualized NVIDIA A1 100s to handle even the most advanced 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:16.800 workloads try vulture today and receive an exclusive 30-day $150 code for new 00:02:14.640 --> 00:02:20.720 signups at the link below to answer our original question you actually can use 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:24.480 toothpaste in a pinch although you probably want to mix it in with 00:02:22.239 --> 00:02:28.319 petroleum jelly like Vaseline to prevent it from drying out too quickly but 00:02:26.440 --> 00:02:33.560 here's the thing it's kind of a crapshoot how well any given toothpaste 00:02:30.840 --> 00:02:37.160 will perform with your particular setup some of the ingredients in toothpaste 00:02:35.400 --> 00:02:40.560 can actually be decent conductors of heat but it's not going to be as 00:02:38.680 --> 00:02:44.760 effective as what's an actual thermal paste not to mention that toothpaste 00:02:42.239 --> 00:02:48.440 contains fluoride which has a corrosive effect great for cleaning teeth but 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:52.920 plaque build up in ginger viice is less of a problem for heat spreaders they're 00:02:50.360 --> 00:02:57.720 lucky another popular option is diaper rash cream containing zinc oxide since 00:02:55.560 --> 00:03:01.680 zinc oxide is a common thermal conductor found in actual thermal paste it's not 00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:05.360 the worst option if you happen to have it on hand and it won't dry out as 00:03:03.799 --> 00:03:09.480 quickly as many other thermal paste Alternatives but even so it won't stay 00:03:07.920 --> 00:03:13.040 the right consistency for more than a few months and that sounds like a long 00:03:11.440 --> 00:03:16.720 time but thermal paste is designed to last in your system for years before it 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:20.680 might dry out just think about all the pre-built computers sold to folks who 00:03:18.760 --> 00:03:24.000 don't even know what thermal paste is they're probably never even going to 00:03:22.440 --> 00:03:27.720 crack open their machines let alone experiment with slopping hygiene 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:31.560 products in there plus the general public tends to hold on to their PCS for 00:03:29.799 --> 00:03:35.159 longer than enthusiasts and Gamers since they aren't as interested in upgrading 00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:40.200 to the latest tech to play the latest AAA game there's a reason that putting 00:03:37.760 --> 00:03:44.720 unusual substances on CPUs has largely stayed in meme territory most commonly 00:03:43.239 --> 00:03:48.760 suggested alternatives to thermal paste tend to dry out prematurely surprisingly 00:03:47.200 --> 00:03:53.239 the best alternative we tested on our sister Channel liance detectives was 00:03:50.599 --> 00:03:57.040 plain yellow mustard of all things but despite the fact it cooled our CPU off 00:03:55.120 --> 00:04:01.360 fairly well it dried out by the time we finished our testing so bottom line any 00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:04.680 thick wasy material that doesn't conduct electricity could work all right if 00:04:03.319 --> 00:04:09.720 you're having some kind of overheating emergency and need to use your PC 00:04:06.840 --> 00:04:13.120 briefly but just get yourself some spare thermal paste one good quality tube will 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:18.440 have enough paste for several applications and costs less than 10 bucks just take it out of your monthly 00:04:16.600 --> 00:04:21.440 mustard budget thanks for watching guys if you like this video hit like hit 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:27.120 subscribe and hit us up in the comments section with your suggestions for topics 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:27.120 that we should cover in the future