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FEATURED How Well Does Tooth Paste Work as a Thermal Interface Material on Quad Core CPU?

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I rigged this up earlier instead of waiting for delivery of a new Freezer 7 Pro HSF. A plastic part of the Intel HSF broke when taking it off. And so with only 3 of the 4 corners held tight, the HSF lost contact with the processor and the temps shot up over 80C. Almost threw this broken HSF away, but then thought I'd try this for fun.

Twisted the 4 plastic plungers off the Intel HSF with pliers. Put a little Colgate toothpaste (looks like gel) on the processor. Put a small honey container on top of the fan (upside down) for weight. Put a pound container of peanut butter on top of the honey container (upside down) for more weight. And strapped it all secure with cut strips of aluminum tape. :)

Temps are essentially the same as before the HSF broke. Not bad for stock quad core: 33C idle, 52C load. This Intel HSF has a round copper base that doesn't even cover all of the square Q6600 processor. And I easily overclocked this rig with the unbroken Intel HSF to 3.0 GHz. I don't remember the temps. So now I'm wondering whether to use the toothpaste again with the new F7Pro, just to see how well toothpaste actually does work for overclocking a quad core. :)
 

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We use Prime95 for temperature comparisons typically, that way everyone's load is the same.
 
We use Prime95 for temperature comparisons typically, that way everyone's load is the same.
I've used P95 a few times. Didn't see a reason to here since I watched all 4 processors being pegged at 100%. I'm burning right now with "CPU Burn-in v1.01" but it's not loading the processors, temps around 47C.
 
I've used P95 a few times. Didn't see a reason to here since I watched all 4 processors being pegged at 100%. I'm burning right now with "CPU Burn-in v1.01" but it's not loading the processors, temps around 47C.

WEI won't load it up long enough to get a real temp reading.
 
Skinnee labs has testing covering toothpaste and other joke tims...it probably won't last long like that.
At first I was just hoping it would last until I got my new HSF which comes with a pre-applied TIM. But now I'm wondering if this particular toothpaste actually could work, because it looks like it could. Of course most would think it probably wouldn't work. But I'm watching it work right now with a HSF that's not connected properly and doesn't even cover the entire quad processor. Temps go up when burning with this program and back down when at idle.
 
These have been tested before by a couple of review sites, and put a 'real' load on that CPU. :)

Thanks for the info!
 
That and the honey/peanut butter combo for pressing down on the heatsink... I wonder why he didnt just use the pushpins...

"A plastic part of the Intel HSF broke when taking it off. And so with only 3 of the 4 corners held tight, the HSF lost contact with the processor and the temps shot up over 80C."
 
Did you try this config minus the toothpaste? I wonder if it is really doing anything other than cooking?
I'd also be curious to see how this looks after a few days of use.

Also does it smell minty when you throw a load at it? ;)
 
You can buy new pushpins on ebay you know. I've seen them there before. Here's some.

That's some serious ghetto or redneck computing there. I can't believe it works.
 
Past tests have shown that it works fine for a while. It is the best when you first apply it, and it will only get worse from there.

Over time, with many cycles, the paste will continue to dry out and eventually you'd be left with only the remaining grit between the paste and the HSF, with all moisture baked off.

Real TIM is designed to hold up over time, so this doesn't happen. But for a while, most anything can work until it dries out then temps will rise the drier it gets.

Mostly, I'm impressed with the aluminum tape too. I know tinfoil can short connections, I assume aluminum tape can as well, if the shiny side bumps the wrong thing.
 
I have marked your thread as [Featured] because that is a great balancing act in combination with the tooth paste and other condiments. Bravo.
 
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