Easy alternative of thermal paste

Status
Not open for further replies.

dead_sincebirth

Distinguished
Dec 8, 2011
42
0
18,530
Hi, guys today i am gona tell you about how to make a thermalpaste if u somehow don't find one i have tried this and this really worked out for me.
to make a thermal paste you need following items
1. Normal toothpaste (prefferably mint)
2. Mucaine syrup which is used to treat heartburns, dyspepesia, acidity etc ( Aluminium gel , magnesium hydroxide) you can also use any milk of magnesia which should have the components i listed in the second option bracketts above.

took one half tea spoon of paste and one half tea spoon of Mucaine syrup mix them well untill a pastey substance forms now store it in an airtight bottle and keep it in ur refigurator's vegetable compartment (dont freez it). your thermal paste is ready ...

when you need it to apply just put about a little more than the pea size of this paste on the center of base of ur stockcooler or cpucooler spread its thin film all over the base (i used hyper 212 evo for experimenting) and put it on your processor gently and then fix it
note : many people apply thermalpastes directly on there processors i don't recomend this because a thermal paste consists of mettalic or silicon gels which can find there way down from the sides of processor to the mainboard causing motherboard to get short.

i used following rig for experiment:
i5,2500k @ stock values . asus p8z68-v-delux . 1600mhz corsair 8GB at xmp , coolermaster silentpro 850 watts psu , Antec 300
i used this sytem for 3 continous hours and nothing went wrong

try this have fun cheers ............. :) :) :)
 
Solution
Why revive this old necrotic thread?

If you are going to be a part of the computing realm, at least learn what you need to do it, and if you cannot afford legitimate thermal compound, don't remove your freaking stock cooler in the first place! :pfff:

We've seen all the tests claiming toothpaste, mayonnaise, lipstick, makeup, and a variety of household items worked, for a very short testing period, but not over time! because they dried out, no tester told you what happened after that point was reached!

Be smart, not stupid, when it comes to thermal compound, it's protecting your hardware!

joedastudd

Distinguished
Feb 19, 2007
433
0
18,810
Are you sure? Toothpaste is an abrasive, rubbing (to apply or remove) it on a smooth surface will remove or damage the surface. The same way it removes dirty from your teeth.

How long have you tested it for?
How does it compare to retail pastes?
 
While I would never recommend using a home brew thermal paste, I would be interested in seeing some comparison numbers.
OP, assuming you are not out for a troll, feel like posting ambient, idle and load temps with your thermal concoction and further with at least one further real thermal paste?
If possible, include screen shots of your temp monitoring program...
 

mathew7

Distinguished
Jun 3, 2011
295
0
18,860
I would not reccomend such substitues. I would say your mixture is comparable to uneven metal-to-metal contact. My reasoning:
1. thermal paste is designed to penetrate the smallest cracks so it replaces air (thermal isolator)
2. toothpaste contains sand, which will keep the heastsync from making metal-to-metal contact. Thus the heat is transfered though the paste. (at least too much thermal paste still contains metal to aid in heat transfer)

Metal-to-metal contact is best, but no surface finish is perfect.

3. longevity: thermal pastes are tested and guaranteed to resist years after application. Only mechanical shocks would deteriorate the link, since they loose their viscosity and cannot adapt to the new position (even shifts smaller than 1mm).

PS: just because you used it for 3 hours does not say anything. Intel has thermal throttling, which means if it reaches a certain temp, it will slow down the CPU performance, which even no-paste will keep the system running. Only without the heatsinc the CPU will reach a 2nd trigger and order a system shutdown.
 

masseybe84

Distinguished
Dec 1, 2010
154
0
18,710
Not that I would ever use anything but thermal paste considering how cheap it is but I think hardwaresecrets did a test with toothpaste in one of their roundups. It seemed to at least work. I'm sure they didn't test for long term longevity thought.
 

dead_sincebirth

Distinguished
Dec 8, 2011
42
0
18,530

bro the purpose of sharing this recipie is only to deal with worse case senarios e.g u need thermal paste but dont find one but on otherhand u also need to operate ur PC , then u can utillize this method , this method is not recomended for dailyroutine..... :wahoo:
 

dead_sincebirth

Distinguished
Dec 8, 2011
42
0
18,530


hi , firstly bro this method is only recommended for the worsecases like u dont find any thermalpaste and terrificly need to use ur PC , 2ndly the metal to metal contact is not any thing to worry about becz the milk of magnesisa contains enough metal needed to transfer the heat ... :p
 

dead_sincebirth

Distinguished
Dec 8, 2011
42
0
18,530


bro the surface of processor on which we apply thermalpaste will never get scrached after removal of homemade paste i tried this , i tested this for almost 3 hours during which i was played Battlefield and Crisis 2 in first 2 hours and in last 1 hour i converted some DVD vdeos to FLV during conversion i was also doing internet browsing ....

very next day i again used my PC for 2.5 to 3 hours with same routine ... i keept on checking the tempratures from time to time on th third consective day i just booted my Pc leave it for 2 hours after that i checked temperatures every thing was working fine and after that i turned it off de-assambeld hyper212 evo(cpu-cooler) and rubbed my paste off and then applyied a real one that time . and during my whole experiment i never experianced any issue :D
 

ngoy

Distinguished
Apr 23, 2009
139
2
18,710
I really don't see the point. If you are going to take your heatsink off, make damn well sure you have thermal paste. End of story. Brewing some concoction up that you don't know the thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, etc... of is foolhardy at best. If you look at the other reviews, there are a myriad of things that CAN be used as thermal paste, doesn't mean it SHOULD be used as thermal paste. Plus you don't know if there will be a chemical reaction that will cause further damage in the future.

I applaud your willingness to experiment, but most people are just going to wonder why bother.
 

dead_sincebirth

Distinguished
Dec 8, 2011
42
0
18,530


Bro u r right to sme extent i knew the chemical reation will occur but it will not damage ur cpu's upper metal plate the paste when comes in contact with the milk pf magnesia which is a base keeps on competing with the the Alkaliene based toothpaste, because the milk of magnesia is a liquid and toothpaste is a semisolid paste the reaction usually goes in between them due to increase in solubility for eachother and easily invading properties of both bases to each other . on other hand CPU thermal plate is a solid and is made up of aluminium this is still the most popular metal used in making colddrink cans beer cans and toothpaste tubes .aluminium is being used widely due to its nonreacting nature during normal conditions with the chemicals around him, and this is because it has a god gifted property which enables aluminium to cover it self with a layer of aluminiumoxide when aluminium comes in contact with air and aluminium oxide is a very nonreacting substance and it prevents the corrosion of aluminium.. i hope u will be satisfied by now........ :wahoo:
 
Quoting from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_oxide

Aluminium oxide is an electrical insulator but has a relatively high thermal conductivity (30 Wm−1K−1[5]) for a ceramic material. In its most commonly occurring crystalline form, called corundum or α-aluminium oxide, its hardness makes it suitable for use as an abrasive and as a component in cutting tools.[4]
Aluminium oxide is completely insoluble in water. However it is an amphoteric substance, meaning it can react with both acids and bases, such as hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide.

The bad words that I can see Miss Hoover are:
Electrical insulator
suitable for use as an abrasive and as a component in cutting tools
and Sodium Hydroxide,
I work in a manufacturing plant that makes Toothpaste amongst other fine products, and I dispense Sodium Hydroxide to be used in guess what?
yup,
Toothpaste,
so, recap here,
Aluminium, Sodium Hydroxide, water and Oxygen
I'll stick to my regular brand of thermal paste I think :)
I don't care how popular Aluminium is anyhow, I watercool and try to avoid the damn stuff as much as possible :p
Moto
 

dead_sincebirth

Distinguished
Dec 8, 2011
42
0
18,530

bro the purpose of sharing this recipe with u guys was that to make a thermalpaste at home it does not ment that u should have to follow it in normal conditions just go through the whole discusion from my recipe till this reply u will notice tht thousands of time i kept on repeating a same sentence that this reciepi can be helpfull when no thermalpaste is around and u need to use ur pc , it does not means that u should be using my recipi as a full alternative to the thermalpaste..... got my point ?
 
I get the point, you are providing information and I fully applaud that in itself however,
I can make a very good Napalm substitute from household ingredients, shall I share the recipe so that people who may not be gifted with common sense can make it?
I agree with Ngoy's point fully, if you are screwing around with your heatsink/Waterblocks, you have the necessary tools and materials ready before starting,
Moto
 

InvalidError

Titan
Moderator

I saw that comparison a few days ago. I was a little surprised that chocolate was the only thing that fared worse than nothing at all. Of course, I was quite surprised to see chocolate suggested as a TIM in the first place!
 
What a waste of time. By the time you do all that you can go to an electronics store like Staples, BestBuy or Radioshack and pick up some really cheap thermal paste that cost less than all that junk. It would be foolish to use something other than real thermal paste on your CPU.
 

xywolap

Honorable
Feb 23, 2013
1
0
10,510
If it's past midnight and stores are closed and your little project is sitting there waiting to be fired up... use toothpaste.

I slapped a C2D together late last night and without thermal paste it was running very hot.... applied a very thin film of toothpaste and temp dropped 25C !!

It is a workable solution to get you out of trouble but as a permanent one...???
 

darkspartenwarrior

Honorable
Jan 15, 2013
323
0
10,810
Most gelatin or silicon based pastes or puttys will work ok(lipstick among others), comparable to lower end pastes like AS5.

The only concern with these kind of homebrews is the ingredients aren't made for computers, meaning sometimes they will damage the fine heatspeader or heatsink. It's better to wait for real paste, IMO.

Best is NT-H1 or TX-2, CoolLabratory is great too if you're hipster.
 

Nirupam06

Honorable
Jul 7, 2013
2
0
10,510


I agree to wot you said sir, using anything is not the thing using it technically correct is the thing, because the matter is not only just to fill the gap between the metal surfaces but it is to meet the correct requirement of it. And only making it usable will not work, performance matters bro......
 

Nirupam06

Honorable
Jul 7, 2013
2
0
10,510
I agree to wot you said sir, using anything is not the thing using it technically correct is the thing, because the matter is not only just to fill the gap between the metal surfaces but it is to meet the correct requirement of it. And only making it usable will not work, performance matters bro......
 
Status
Not open for further replies.