Thermal Paste substitute??

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blackpearl

The Devil
There is guy in my neighbourhood who is a doctor (he is still doing his PG). He has a PC, a Celeron 2.4GHz, and he likes to tinker around with it. Last sunday he removed the heat sink to clean and since he did not have any thermal paste he applied some Ultrasound gel instead when reinstalling!! :)) For those who don't know, ultrasound gel is used when performing ultrasonography. The gel is applied over the abdomen or wherever required and the probe is ran over it. "The gel is a good conductor of waves, so it must conduct heat too", he reasoned. His reasoning is flawed, nevertheless, I went over to his place and found his PC running fine. Unfortunately, his motherboard is an old model and does not have a temperature sensor so I was not able to determine the temp. But there was absolutely no heating.

I then searched on google and found some pretty interesting results. Some people have been using all types of materials in place of thermal paste, like car grease, toothpaste and shaving creams. One guy used Savlon antiseptic cream on his Prescott processor and has actually recorded much lower temp than he had with the stock thermal paste!! Here is that thread where he has recorded his experience (its a long thread, btw)

*forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/604379.html

I found another article where several odd materials were tested alongside Artic Silver. The results are interesting.

*www.dansdata.com/goop.htm
 

wilderness

Broken In
Interesting.

The logic is that the paste should be a good conductor of heat.. Thats it, nothing else would matter. I wonder if the gel is corrosive. Normally, you wash off the stuff after ultrasound (or the next time you bath).

Ideally, the best thing to achieve is to have a perfect fit between the bottom of the fan heatsink and the top cover of the processor, with no spaces in between. Of course, that requires much skills and hence...

I somehow am not comfortable with the idea of water cooling... too much hassle while tinkering inside the case... (Thinking if overheating might lead to a blast because of the steam :) )

I like Asus's concept of a fanless board. A large heatsink runs across the side of the board and is connected via a thick metal pipe to the covering of the chip on the board.
That wont, of course, work for CPUs, since CPUs are detachable, while mboard chips are generally soldered on the board. But still, the idea is good.. Its entirely possible to have a very slow fan (low noise) and a asus-like heat sink rod that clips on the processor seat.
 

ambandla

Sup' dude, Sup'
Not sure but isn't it extremely dangerous to apply pastes that conduct electricity over a processor like savlon, toothpaste etc. Thermal paste that we use is not a conductor of electricity i think.
 
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blackpearl

blackpearl

The Devil
ambandla said:
Not sure but isn't it extremely dangerous to apply pastes that conduct electricity over a processor like savlon, toothpaste etc. Thermal paste that we use is not a conductor of electricity i think.

The processor does not conduct electricity all over its surface so there is nothing to worry about applying a conducting paste. Infact, the thermal paste is a good conductor of electricity. Anything which is a good conductor of heat is generally a good conductor of electricity.

Btw, I have no idea how this "heat pipes" work. The basic idea is to have as much surface area as possible for maximum heat dissipation. Whether the heat pipes implement some other techniques, I'm not sure.
 

Pathik

Google Bot
@ambalandla... he didnt use savlon solution... he used paste... or cream... wich has higher viscosity...
 

ambandla

Sup' dude, Sup'
sorry. It's gel that I was thinking of, not liquid. anyways. it's dangerous idea as those solutions may not last long.
 

xbonez

NP : Crysis
Cool G5 said:
If it is helping then why not use it other than the stock paste.
coz they don't last as long as real thermal pastes. i had read somewhere that though toothpaste acts as a better thermal paste than even arctic silver it lasts only about 28hrs
 

ambandla

Sup' dude, Sup'
saikibryan said:
seen that ultrasound gel...
so wat ppl r sayin
should i try????

Noooooooooo. Don't go for unconventional methods. Buy a Thermal paste. You can get branded one for 250 bucks and you can use that for a year.
 
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blackpearl

blackpearl

The Devil
saikibryan said:
seen that ultrasound gel...
so wat ppl r sayin
should i try????

ambandla is right. Use proper thermal paste. These are just temporary solutions. For long term use you will need thermal paste.
 

xbonez

NP : Crysis
that guy experimented with all those gels coz his proccy was anyways old. u won't want to try it on ur proccy unless u're planning to buy a new one soon and don't mind risking it. or if u happen to work for some magazine, u could write an article on thermal paste substitutes and experiment at ur employer's cost :) ?
 
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