Overheard a guy at Micro Center say thermal paste is a scam

He was telling a friend you can just use toothpaste in a pinch because it's all about filling microscopic gaps, not conducting heat. Has anyone here actually tried that or is this guy going to ruin his motherboard this weekend?

2 comments

2 Comments

aarons3611d ago

Oh yeah, the whole "toothpaste is a legit thermal paste" thing is a classic. I actually let a buddy talk me into trying it on an old i3 build years ago and it worked fine for like a month before the temps started climbing and I found crusty white powder everywhere. That guy is probably going to be fine for one weekend but he's definitely cleaning chalky toothpaste out of his cooler on Sunday.

linda_butler2811d ago

Another angle nobody's talking about - toothpaste is slightly abrasive. That's literally how it cleans your teeth. So while he's gaming this weekend, he's probably micro-scratching his CPU heat spreader. Maybe not a big deal on a cheap chip but that surface is never gonna be perfectly smooth again.