I dont have thermal grease, what is a good alternative?

Years ago I used silver paint and it worked well.

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5 Answers

Unless it's an emergency just wait until you have thermal paste. If it is an emergency:

Thermal paste mostly works due to the zinc oxide. The best TEMPORARY fix is to use diaper rash cream from a grocery store.

It's important to remember though that while both products are nearly identical, diaper rash cream has a lot of extra stuff including a higher water content so use just a tiny drop on the end of a toothpick and replace it with real thermal paste ASAP.

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Toothpaste (non grit) and pencil lead shavings work well together, I got a 10 degree Celsius decrease using this method.

This thread seems to suggest some interesting options:

• Cod Liver Oil
• Silver Paint
• Tin Foil
• Liquid Metal

Take these suggestions with a pinch of salt. I'd just order more online.

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This page tests various temporary solutions, some of which cooled better than 8-year-old stock goop:

Degrees Celsius, idle and load in 6 C room:

 1. Dielectric Silicone: 22, 34 2. Liquid Gel Deodorant: 23, 34 3. Crest Toothpaste: 22, 35 4. X-Balm Chapstic: 23, 35 5. Antiseptic Gel: 25, 36 (cools about as well as stock TIM) 6. High Temp Grease: 23, 38 7. Hair Molding Clay: 25, 38 8. Aluminum Foil: 25, 38 9. Raspberry Preserves: 25, 40+
10. Anti Seize Lubricant: 26, 42
11. No TIM: 27, 45
12. Creamy Peanut Butter: 27, 53

In 18 C room:

 1. Mayonnaise: 31, 45 2. Ranch Dressing: 30, 47 3. Shaving Gel: 33, 47 4. Easy Cheese: 33, 48 5. American Cheese: 35, 49 6. Candle Wax: 33, 51 7. Chewing Gum: 38, 51 8. Plastic Wrap: 40, 60 9. Paper: 38, 72+
10. Duct Tape: 41, 85+

On a recent assembly, my thermal paste was dried up so I ran without. Big No-No. I was pushing temps of 87 idle topping @ 106 before thermal overload and system shutdown.

I did some quick research and decided on 'Anti-Seize' as an alternative mainly because I had it on hand. I've been running for a week now on a 130 watt processor (as of July 29, 2015) with idle temps at 47 C & full load at 58 C.

Published Operating range is 5 - 68.6 C so I can live with those temps.

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