What do I do with no thermal paste

Levimahel
Levimahel Member Posts: 8

Tinkerer

edited November 2023 in 2018 Archives
Since yesterday I the performance is games i used to run without any problem drastically decreased and so today I decide to open it and realize the thermal paste totally dried out. I go into the store thinking I could find some but they only sell it online so I buy it. Turns out it will arrive in 10 days. Is there any alternative to thermal paste I can use while I wait for it to ship?

Answers

  • Sharanji
    Sharanji ACE Posts: 4,328 Pathfinder
    @Levimahel

    A laptop cooling pad can help to reduce the operating temperature of a  gaming laptop. These pads are used when a laptop is not able to cool itself  sufficiently. It is intended to not only protect the laptop from  overheating but also to prevent the laptop user from suffering from  discomfort that is related to the use of a laptop. An active cooler will  move air around or a cooled liquid to remove laptop heat quickly.  Passive methods use materials that conduct heat and help to increase a  passive airflow around the laptop. 

    Before thermal paste came into being we used silicone grease which is tolerant of higher temperatures than other compounds that might be capable of transferring heat from a device to a heat sink. 

    Just google thermal paste alternative and you’ll see a bunch of homebrew alternatives, like 75% toothpaste, 25% petroleum jelly and others. I can’t recommend any of them, as they’ll probably void your warranty. 

    I do not know of a good substitute for this and maybe none exist because the chip+heatsink combo is usually $200+ while the thermal paste is maybe $7.00. Why do you want a substitute and risk messing things up?

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  • sri369
    sri369 ACE Posts: 2,763 Pathfinder
    How can a thermal paste totally dry out? I am so confused. I have been using laptops over a decade now, and some of them have been going on over 5 years... and none needed to be opened up for thermal issues.
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  • geekromi
    geekromi Member Posts: 144 Skilled Fixer WiFi Icon
    sri369 said:
    How can a thermal paste totally dry out? I am so confused. I have been using laptops over a decade now, and some of them have been going on over 5 years... and none needed to be opened up for thermal issues.
    OEM thermal paste on notebooks , it,s not the high quality sylicone-based as for istance, Arctic Mx4, but, it's  rather a sort of mastic that soon ends up getting hard and dry because of the heat: its pretty common on laptops, the solution, is, when you got the opportunity to clean up the heatsink vents and fins,from the dust, so you have the chance to repaste with a good quality one