Yes, You Can Use Toothpaste As Thermal Paste

[@Psykomancer]

I did that a few years ago after moving and forgetting to pack thermal paste. It worked rather well for a couple of months and then one day my PC overheated. After that I scraped out the dried up toothpaste, but I got permanent scorchmarks on the IHS.

[@CCCC-tq8yo]

Wow

[@IgatIT]

Same here 😂 so dumb

[@prapanchpv1123]

Same. But mine dried up in a week. I used it on a fanless laptop🤡

[@raulgalets]

yeah, same. it works but it dries fast.

[@Mr.Morden]

I wonder how well different toothpastes do? We need a toothpaste roundup review. LTT Labs? 🧑‍🔬👨‍🔬👩‍🔬🧪🔬

[@c0wbxy]

What about Thermal Paste as Toothpaste?

[@zhotpotrecipe]

RIP Teeth

[@BrainBustr]

U could try it bro😂

[@DecayedPage]

You can do everything at least once

[@arko3822]

Exhales cool air

[@HisokaXTv]

😂😂😂😂

[@Not_That_Chris]

As a biologist, I can say life is quite literally mostly filling holes

[@jessicaindagarage3244]

ah hell nah stop fuckin the fish 😭

[@blueburger4]

Honestly.....this is somehow perfectly accurate lol. Electrons fill holes.... air pressure..... matter.... everything is filling holes. A psych major would say it emotionally as well. The obvious 😉...light....even magnetic fields. EVERYTHING is filling holes

[@blueburger4]

I.e. Entropy

[@Not_That_Chris]

@@blueburger4 exactly! even on a big scale, you shove food in your food hole, air in your air holes, etc.

[@terrapinflyer273]

😂 Tell that to MO Dept of Transportation...

[@FARLANDER762]

I have found that 5 years is a pretty good replacement time frame for most thermal paste renewals. Most people don't flog a computer like hardcore gamers so it doesn't dry out too fast.

[@TooBokoo]

Hell, I just redid my OG XBox thermal paste last month, which I bought at launch in 2001. Despite being pretty dried out and stiff, I only dropped a couple of degrees after testing with my new application of thermal paste. That's quite a testament to the original stuff.

[@sihamhamda47]

Even it can last a bit longer in lower power laptop CPUs, like Ryzen U series, Intel Core U series, and most Intel Celerons

[@DragonProtector]

@@TooBokoo dude that is insane

[@TooBokoo]

@@DragonProtector Truly. I had to scrape it off and it almost had the consistency of old, dried, crumbling cement, but those temps were still pretty in check. Probably could've just let it go another few years. Lol

[@DragonProtector]

@@TooBokoo truly crazy

[@anubhavmuku96]

LOL I can confirm this works too! I once had to use it to cool my 3 leg inverter setup for a 1600W continuous brushless driver. It was at an international event too. xD Worked like a charm. Also reason was: I FORGOT! ALL THE 10 TUBES HAD BOUGHT AS REDUNDANCY! Luckily, the local refreshment stall had that and sunblock, worked out.

[@Omig12]

Can we take a huge minute to appreciate how thorough but quick to get to the point this video is? I finished watching went to the next recommended one and then realized how good this one was so I came back to give the like and provide this comment.

[@alexixeno4223]

Love that you just turned an old ltt video into a tech quickie. Great use of information

[@davo768]

I guess that is why I am having a massive déjà vu feeling while watching this video then reading these comments and then writing this comment.

[@Ieatcrumbs]

I just upgraded from Colgate whitening strips to Colgate baking soda and peroxide. Frosty mint finish that turns into a very thermally conductive powder afterwards.

[@ekarolak]

I once had to use toothpaste to test friends CPU. He brought me his PC with loose CPU cooler, but I did not had any thermal compound around so I tested if it still works with toohtpaste under heatspreader :D Works like a charm

[@yasu_red]

I've done this a few times but I'd only recommend doing it with low power components. It worked fine for me on a 15w laptop CPU and old dual core Athlon CPU despite having a huge overclock from 2.2 to 3.95ghz though

[@magetime29]

I love seeing all of the different comments of what people have used for alternatives. I might throw in my story too then! I had a time I had to reapply paste but ran out. I ordered some but it was going to take a week to arrive so to test the system and make sure it was at least working I grabbed one of my jars of Vegemite and used that for a temporary thermal compound and it worked well enough. The pc smelled a bit funny for a short bit after to the surprise of no one.

[@magetime29]

And yes I always have multiple jars (at least 5) of Vegemite in the house as it's one of the most consumed things here

[@kOllinutube]

Mixed fresh engine oil to my fluoride free toothpaste to the ratio of 1/99 back in 2020 fall for my office computer and to this day works like well oiled machine!

[@danielyaseen]

Sounds like something Mryeester should have done, anyways great video!

[@IMX383]

yea

[@Ghoop3]

What a guy tech be beautiful

[@vzwopx]

I did this once in the 2000s because I didn't have anything else and it worked great. So great in fact, that I forgot about it until I replaced my old PC...

[@PilatuS23]

Same here. I once put it on an AMD Athlon XP 1800+ plus back in those days. Worked just fine. This is before CPU's had thermal protection, so getting it wrong would destroy it. Temps were just fine, maybe a little high, nothing crazy.

[@ciriousjoker]

0:52 this is gold

[@mason6300]

I love the minty freshness you get while crushing skulls in doom

[@chubbyadler3276]

So far, I have actually done well using lubricating greases as thermal paste, so that tends to be my goto if I don't have the right stuff on hand. I also see lithium grease also is fairly thermally conductive.

[@chadmann2724]

How do you clean it? Those blue grease rags?

[@chubbyadler3276]

@@chadmann2724 Use a degreaser, be it Greased Lightning, or Goof Off. ...though I'm talking about dabbing a bit of grease between the die and the heatsink.

[@chadmann2724]

@@chubbyadler3276 does it work better than toothpaste and vaseline? Im running an i7-4790 while browsing a single web browser tab and sitting comfortably at 35c

[@chubbyadler3276]

@@chadmann2724 Never tried toothpaste. Also, last time I used grease was on my Pentium 4.

[@xeric1953]

The answer to all these paste videos that surface every year is what Linus said a few years ago in a similar video. “Just about anything viscous will work but for how long is the real question”

[@alaskanstrat6618]

Toothpaste with a few drops of vegetable oil or a high temp cooking oil works amazingly . Used this compound for a solid month whilst waiting for my thermal paste to be delivered to me in remote Alaska :) .

[@sogerc1]

At 2 am? Well, alternatively you could go to bed.

[@BonJoviBeatlesLedZep]

There's a computer store right outside my street, I just go up there. Literally a cheap no brand tube of thermal paste is good enough for basically any consumer system. Don't need to shell out for the high end stuff.

[@IndianTrainSimulator]

I actually used a tube of Colgate to keep my old laptop cool for a few months before I could afford a good thermal paste

[@RaceSimCentral]

"There's more to life than just filling in holes" - are we sure about that?

[@techmaster170]

I used dielectric grease for my dad's pc that was over heating due to the fact his thermal paste never been changed over the course of about 8 years. He's still rocking that pc from 2010 or 2011. AMD phenom II

[@renzanfortineri196]

I used toothpaste as thermal paste both on Athlon II x4 CPU, and ATI Radeon 4850 GPU, The air cooler was stock AMD The case was wide open because my country is near equator which is very hot and humid (And I dont have AC) So I just shoot the PC using room fan And in my area, dust would accumulate FAST Thats why I usually re-cleans my PC twice a year, with or without thermal paste and idiotly, I always forgot to buy thermal paste even tho i always said "I will buy it next time" lol For those period of time (5-8 months), the paste has dried, but still works just fine The PC built since 2009 intensely used until 2016ish, The motherboard broke because unstable grounding in my house After that im using laptop until 2020ish (which, the battery also broke years later lol) And now I have new PC (Using thermal on i3 12th) But Im pretty sure, if i have the motherboard, that processor still can boot up again

[@HedgehogY2K]

0:31 hear that Xbox 360 modders. Using the penny trick requires thermal compound between the pennies in the penny trick BEFORE wrapping them in electrical tape.

[@AVKingJamesBible]

I can’t imagine “being in a pinch” so much that I couldn’t wait a day or two for actual thermal paste rather than getting TOOTHPASTE all over my cpu. 🤦‍♂️

[@HKlink]

Imagine your weekly raid starting in an hour and you tried to quickly install a new cooler only to realize they didn't ship any paste with it. You spend 20 minutes googling what to do, 10 minutes applying toothpaste as per this video, 5 minutes booting up and ordering thermal paste on Amazon, and then you have 25 minutes to log into your favorite MMORPG and get ready to raid. And then when your paste arrives, you fix it properly.

[@CoffeeKadachi]

In an era of online classes and work from home, I have admittedly done some desperate shit two hours before my exam closes out when I had computer issues. I’ve never used toothpaste on my CPU, but I can think of some scenarios that would put me in that position.

[@Pukovnik141]

Sometimes "being in a pinch" is more than few days: My first pc had Pentium 4 cpu and I had no idea about any part of pc. One time i removed cooler and found dried, grey paste (almost a powder). Some of it fell off, and i reassembled it that way with air holes. Few months later when I found out what paste is, I removed old paste and connected cooler without paste, which was better than dried paste and air gap because there was some direct metal-metal contact. It performed nicely until I found a store few towns away that had thermal paste. It was metallic particles in oil, but what can you do. It worked nicely until I decided to inspect it and metallic particles were settled on lower part of cpu ihs. I reapplied it untill I get better paste. In the mean time river broke enbankment and it got under water as well as 2 story house ( 5m of water). RIP old PC.

[@x.sleepy]

Living in unstable environments.

[@Madison_Hensley]

I still put toothpaste on my AMD Ryzen 3 2200G

[@remyb2154]

Always brush your CPU 3 times a day

[@fishrsa9046]

I used to use toothpaste on my 3ghz pentium 4 back in the 2000s. It worked great, but it had to be replaced regularly. That was fine though, because I was in and out of my case on almost a daily basis

[@CoffeeKadachi]

I’m honestly kinda confused and feel like we’re missing some part of the story here lol. Why were you routinely using toothpaste instead of thermal paste? Why were you in and out of your case on a daily basis? Wouldn’t it suck constantly remounting your cooler?

[@fishrsa9046]

@@CoffeeKadachi toothpaste cos I had it and didn't have thermal, was preteen back then so no money. Cooler was very easy to remove, old air cooler with 4 clips. In and out of the case because I found it fascinating, not that deep really

[@ImprovedTalent574]

@@fishrsa9046 same here, athlon 2 x4 641 the old fm1 socket

[@Pukovnik141]

My first pc had 3GHz Pentium 4 cpu and I had no idea about any part of pc. One time i removed cooler and found dried, grey paste (almost a powder). Some of it fell off, and i reassembled it that way with air holes. Few months later when I found out what paste is, I removed old paste and connected cooler without paste, which was better than dried paste and air gap because there was some direct metal-metal contact. It performed nicely until I found a store few towns away that had thermal paste. It was metallic particles in oil, but what can you do. It worked nicely until I decided to inspect it and metallic particles were settled on lower part of cpu ihs. I reapplied it untill I get better paste. In the mean time river broke enbankment and it got under water as well as 2 story house ( 5m of water). RIP old PC.

[@sc_cooper02]

I actually used to run toothpaste and Vaseline in my old gaming build, it ran pretty good. I did have a good cooler and it was an fx cpu but still.

[@Azarilh]

why

[@LorikQuinn]

@@Azarilh because it's fun

[@nirui.o]

Yep, I can confirm that. I just put my Crest on my expensive $20 CPU, now the CPU gives me a brighter smile every time it pops.

[@demorunnertimmedrt4432]

I got a toothpaste ad for this vid.

[@arwanabat6659]

whats the first background song?

[@khalishakhairani4795]

The first thing i know about thermal paste is why it look like a cement goop? Why not rgb thermal paste?

[@HKlink]

Here's a 2000s tech tip! Got a scratched CD/DVD? Put toothpaste on it. Let it sink in for a few minutes, then gently wipe it off with a paper towel, from the hole out towards the edge, and literally rinse and repeat until it's all gone. Huge chance you'll have removed enough material to smooth out the scratch and now you can play Twilight Princess on your Wii or whatever else you wanted to do in the mid 2000s.

[@yolohulan2837]

I'm in a country side with no pc store near me . I had to make due with tooth paste

[@saulgoodman2018]

Thermal Paste won't just go bad overnight.

[@costafilh0]

And here I was... thinking that life was all about filling holes! Thank you for clarifying!

[@ScottDagg]

You can use anything as thermal paste if you are brave enough.

[@Bort_86]

Oh Boy, back in the day I had a Duron 900 which ran with toothpaste as thermal paste. It worked fine for years (until I discarded the PC at one point). Every time I opened the case it smelled minty 😅

[@styastya2227]

I did this two years ago when I was messing around with a few old optiplex 360's and I didnt have any thermal compound to spare. It worked surprisingly well.

[@Zijostotijeuvaljivo]

Lmao i just aplied it to 360 with Q9650 which i bought for just this build

[@ssj3mohan]

How do we clean that mess at ( 1:34 ) ? Could you make a video abouit ?

[@AnthondeVries]

i once accidentally bought a 5gram instead of a 1 gram pack of thermal grizzly, that's a lifetime supply.

[@SSG_GAMING_000]

There's more to life than just filling in holes ~ James 2022

[@DonaldHendleyBklynvexRecords]

i did this with my 1st AMD PC in 2003 , nobody told me ited work , thermal paste just looked like toothpaste and didnt have any when i took it apart, worked 4 years no issues

[@Wraithdagger]

Put toothpaste on my 5800X. Now all the other CPUs are jealous of its clean teeth.

[@VinceW187]

I did this many years back and it worked perfectly fine for years after.

[@ptzzzs]

Ahh toothpaste, it was minty LOL. As the heatsink fan blew the warmed toothpaste scent apread. It doesn't last too long though haha.

[@kobepower]

How about car crease for brake

[@tonyanthony5105]

My ability to fill holes is not matched by any living man.

[@lonergothonline]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you should probably only ever do this at the same time as under-volting and clock-limiting the cpu... then you don't have to worry about it getting to 100 degrees C or over.

[@benjaminmcintosh857]

Eh, disable turbo if it starts overheating but leave it alone if there's no issue

[@yousseftunisia638]

I put toothpaste on my i7 3770 and it dint work that much it went to 105°

[@ლoლ0707]

Good video. Now make one on thermal paste as tooth paste

[@wordsmith451]

Instructions unclear, spreading thermal paste on my hot dog.

[@MetalMan1245]

This is just a rehashing of their thermal paste video on LTT and I love it.

[@Anas7ergun]

thanks to this video i`m now purchasing a new thermal paste to replace the one on my 10y old atom server.

[@costafilh0]

Instructions unclear. Filling holes as the meaning of life.

[@devinharris9284]

next Techquickie: Can you use thermal paste as toothpaste?

[@teardowndan5364]

Thermal paste "drying out" is not a problem. The oil is only there to facilitate application and allow the particles to pack down over time for better conductivity. "Dryness" only becomes a problem when the heatsink gets knocked around hard enough to break the settled paste interface which would otherwise last indefinitely. You don't get this from improvised paste substitute since those have volatile compounds and other ingredients that aren't chemically stable like zinc and aluminum oxides.

[@Trek2m]

I used coconut oil mixed with the dried out thermal paste on my Ps4 I built and have had no problems yet I still need to open it back up and see how its doing after 2 years

[@irishguy200007]

The cup will need a filling?

[@aakashsahani2991]

Friendship ended with Carbonaut Charcoal Toothpaste is my new Best Friend

[@equalizer1553]

This channel will never be as gangster as Life of Boris

[@Open-Tech]

I am actually using that on a Xeon server processor. Temps are normal there’s no need to even use regular thermal paste.(BUT I Will) Under load it gets to about 80°C

[@yancyhernandez6166]

I use tooth paste at school to teach students how to assemble and set up computers, since it will only be in the CPU for about 2 hours, we haven't had any issues yet

[@ethanebang8902]

What is the best home thermal paste alternative that can last long I’m rebuilding an old pc and I don’t have thermal paste

[@Pukovnik141]

I would not recommend this. Some grease could be used, but components will overheat. You can even do without paste, but it will run hotter. Every home paste tested will not last long and wont perform as good as thermal paste. You can try to make your own thermal paste, but it will cost you more than buying one. Arctic mx2 is good cheap paste that has long life (non drying) if you don't want to spend much money.

[@chevalierdeon6160]

Well, in China, we have a meme about putting a white radish cut in half directly on cpu to prevent overheat, and it actually works if the radish is juicy. Maybe ltt can try this out.

[@dappertrap9912]

I used charcoal toothpaste, graphite from a pencil and petroleum jelly and so far so good

[@ReivecS]

I have a cousin that says diaper cream is the solution to all problems, and it seems like I just keep finding more and more things it can do 😛

[@VinceW187]

The real question is can you use thermale paste as toothpaste?

[@anonymousartist593]

😂

[@TheVirtualArena24]

How do we know if we need to re apply thermal paste? I got my pc in march of 2021.

[@travelsizedlions]

I clean out dust once a year. That'd be a good time to reapply if you care, but like they said, you don't really need to for years.

[@TheVirtualArena24]

@@travelsizedlions what you use to clean the inside of pc? Like motherboard dust and all. My pc is full of dust. And do any cheap thermal paste okay to use?

[@joshwaslost]

the cyber oreo simile? top notch.

[@alexhobbs5704]

Wait a second, I work at Best Buy, and I don't remember this in any of my e-learnings...

[@BubblegumCrash332]

You heard it here first. Butt paste is the new thermal upgrade

[@uthmanbaksh3530]

Knowing me, I will forget to buy thermal paste and go reach for the toothpaste because I will be in a pinch!

[@henrikalbritter8807]

Next Question: How efectiv is a diaper at preventing watercooling leaks?

[@Pukovnik141]

Maybe preventing water leak damage. Diaper can't prevent leak.

[@henrikalbritter8807]

@@Pukovnik141 if you can't see the water there is no leak. Well at least for the marketing folks

[@tzxazrael]

it's 2am, and you don't have any thermal paste. instead of toothpaste/etc... what about just.... sleeping? yea, yea, i know, i'm super fun at parties, etc.

[@captianmorgan7627]

How about covering the pen plotter? I had hours of enjoyment watching that thing work as a kid. Watching it draw vector graphics one color at a time. Wonderful stuff.

[@phillipjoubert1119]

The bigger question now is, can you use thermal paste to brush your teeth ?

[@JanTuts]

Now, how about using thermal paste to brush your teeth? Liquid metal teeth go "brrrrrrr"! (because you'll probably be chattering your teeth from the cold sensation, or from a toxicity induced seizure...)

[@MedalionDS9]

Keeping your processors minty fresh and cool

[@MarcusH...]

How am i supposed to pay for thermal paste with a monthly mustard budget of 0????

[@whitekong316]

The clip of the liquid metal getting all over the laptop made my butt pucker…

[@diymaster101]

Can I use Thoth paste for infz44n mostfets? Please someone let me know

[@gambino48]

anyone who has a $10 monthly mustard budget is eating way too much mustard lolol

[@Pou_e74nfpwyq]

Cpu is overburn

[@THEHIGHQUALITYEDITOR]

Nah I'm ain't letting that goofy ahh disgusting toothpaste get into my computer

[@YOEL_44]

Mayonaise also works great, yeah!!!!

[@babygorilla4233]

So it's like using bubble gum instead of Teflon tape. It does work, just not for very long and the boss will be pissed if he hears about it.

[@iffy_too4289]

You can also use it as glue to put girly mag pics on your prison cell walls.

[@HelloQro]

Next video, using another CPU as thermal paste

[@mndlessdrwer]

That does remind me that I should probably pull my GTX1080 apart and replace the thermal paste and check on the thermal pads.

[@alecambo]

Nerd

[@x1625]

Mustard budget!? If you want the Good stuff, it's going to cost a lot more this year.

[@BAK101Hkr]

You can just shut the pc down and sleep ..... at 2am

[@Pukovnik141]

You didn't mention using no paste at all. Sometimes it has better performance than some goop you found in the house.

[@Shawon65]

1:33 Dammm man, I got jump-scared out of nowhere. ☹️

[@HogartTheRogue]

If the fluorine is the only thing that stops you from trying toothpaste, don't worry about that. They wouldn't put the highly reactive (actually, THE most reactive) chemical element in the thing people put in their mouths, and even if they did (someone actually made radium in toothpaste a century ago, but I digress), by the time the toothpaste leave the factory, the the fluorine would've already reacted with the rest of the chemicals and become inactive. Do you know what else contains fluorine? PTFE, the thing that covers your frying pan.

[@anonymousartist593]

Will this work on my ps3 temporarily

[@MrBooth1974]

You should test Copper Never Seize, that stuff never dries out…lol

[@Munenushi]

my man casually gave away The Dentist's Secret... that fluoride slowly causes cavities...