Toothpaste:Proven thermal paste IMO (short term at least)

Hi guys!!! I just finished applying toothpaste as a thermal transfer compound substitute, to my T61p GPU and CPU, i applied using the pea drop, then let the heatsink pressure do the rest of the spreading work, and let me tell you with the CPU clocked at 800MHz and GPU at stock clocks, it was a dramatic change, according to TPfancontrol i'm idling at 35C CPU, and 40C GPU, it can be a bit inaccurate, so HWmonitor says 32C CPU!! and 35C for the GPU, i've never attained temps like this when i recieved it used, i know this is just a short term solution until i get real long lasting thermal paste, but i am amazed at how well it worked, and transfer seems to be so good that temp changes related to downclocking are very fast, as soon as i went from 1.20GHz to 800MHz Max Battery plan, temps immediately dropped from 40 to 35.

Heatsink went off and back on fine, and i can tell you guys if you need a cheap substitute for thermal paste (not easy to locally buy around where i live), i beg you to use toothpaste, and just use it like you would thermal paste, i applied with the tube first but then a cuetip because i oculdn't get just a pea sized amount with the tube opening. Pea of toothpaste, then push the heatsink down on it directly and firmly, and i did move the heatsink around a little (work out air bubbles) before finally securing it with screws.

Wow.

To boot it scents your heat exhaust fresh minty! Instead of hot plastic/metal/lead/silicon

 

I think there was a review a while back that tested toothpaste against a bunch of TIMs and showed similar results.

 

I never would have thought about that! I wonder how long that toothpaste will last? Oh and is there a particular type of toothpaste that works best? TIA.

 

I wonder how long it will last before it starts to break down. And I wonder if it matters what kind/brand.

 

I think the only reason it will become inefficient is because the main binding agent is water, which evaporates, for thermal pastes i think it is silicon which will stay "moist" for a while.

 

Are you that desperate to play whatever games and hot rod your PC overclocking etc.? Seems like self destruction. lol.

 

I don't overclock... The only reason i will overclock is when i get a T9300 and see things like the pathetic X9000, which the T9300 will easily overclock to using simple software to 2.8GHz, the X9000 stock speed. For now my T7700 is actually perfect for most gaming, GTA 4 it doesn't even stumble... Any stuttering i got was from a mix of heat, too little RAM, and unoptimized GPU rendering settings. One of the only reasons i will buy a T9300 is for heat output... I find the T7700 runs quite hot for what performance it puts out and from what i hear the 45nm T9300 should run in the 60's at max temps with proper thermal paste, or at least i hope. This i think will also lessen the heating of the GPU since the heatsink is shared.

 

Wow, no cavities. I didn't think there was room for them anyway in chip dies

 

At least when you are done with applying the toothpaste you can brush your teeth with it. Can't say the same for arctic silver

 

paste or gel? haha

 

I hope you didn't use whitening toothpaste, otherwise you'll end up with a MacBook.

 

Every good household has some Arctic Silver 5, and I prefer my notebooks not to smell like mint.

If it's just for a short period of time, I'd consider to not use thermal grease at all (depending on the surfaces of CPU and heat sink).

 

Anybody tried something with a little more fat? Like olive oil or nutella (sorry for our american friends, but peanut butter shouldn't work).

 

I think fatty substances will spoil the copper heat conductivity, even though you then clean it.

 

Olive oil... Ummm, olive oil is a (compared to thermal paste) relatively runny liquid bud.