Ketchup or toothpaste as thermal paste for your graphics card? This is the latest idea from the internet. From the depths of the website ComputerBase, a community user by the name of AssassinWarlord has pushed his Radeon R7 240 to its limits. To do so, he has used substances such as toothpaste, ketchup, cheese, or diaper cream.
Building a computer from scratch can be tricky, especially when it comes to controlling temperatures inside the case. Thermal paste is one of the most delicate issues, being able to decrease or increase the temperature depending on the brand you buy and how you apply it. But what if you used another type of substance to dissipate heat from your GPU? AssassinWarlord has tested it, and has found a more than interesting result.
Fortunately for everyone’s peace of mind, AssassinWarlord hasn’t dared to carry out his experiment on more expensive graphics cards. That is why he has taken an old Radeon R7 240 with a TDP of 30W. Now we have the results of the experiment of the best thermal paste, and although none of the substances described above are recommended, they have offered a more than surprising dissipation.
Ketchup is better thermal paste than toothpaste
Among the surprises of the experiment, we have that ketchup turns out to be a more than decent heat sink. Once this attempted thermal paste was applied, the GPU remained at a maximum temperature of 71 degrees Celsius after five minutes of operation. Not bad for a condiment.
Toothpaste follows, albeit with worse performance. AssassinWarlord got around 90 degrees Celsius on its GPU after the first five minutes of running. However, if you want to maintain a safe environment for your computer, it is best to avoid using baby creams such as thermal paste (with a result of 105°C), or cheese sheets (105°C).
AssassinWarlord also used potatoes to regulate the temperature of its GPU, although it did not do well either, reaching 105 degrees Celsius in its review. But he didn’t just test ingredients, he also used thermal paste and heat sink tape, which in some cases even performed worse than ketchup.
Of course, before getting a ketchup sauce bottle to solve overheating problems on your computer, remember that these tests are for pure entertainment. Applying seasoning to your GPU/CPU, or anything that isn’t specifically for dissipating heat, ensures that your computer will have a fairly short life.
| 0.5mm Arctic TP2 | 79°C | |
| 0.5mm EC360 Blue | Throttle level 2 | 105°C |
| 0.5mm EKWB | Throttle level 3 | 105°C |
| 1mm Alphacool Apex 11W/mk | 66°C | |
| 1mm Arctic TP2 | Throttle level 1 | 105°C |
| 1mm Arctic TP3 | 61°C | |
| 1mm EC360 Gold | 76°C | |
| 1.5mm Arctic TP2 | Throttle level 2 | 105°C |
| 1.5mm Arctic TP3 | 68°C | |
| 1.5mm TG Minus8 | Throttle level 1 | 105°C |
| Double-sided heating pad with aluminum | Off | 105°C |
| Copper tape | Throttle level 3 | 105°C |
| Cheese Slice | Throttle level 1 | 105°C |
| Potato | Throttle level 3 | 105°C |
| Arctic MX4 | 49°C | |
| CorsairTM30 | 54°C | |
| Knead T12 | 63°C | |
| silver conductive paste | 65°C | |
| Ketchup | 71°C | |
| Toothpaste | 90°C | |
| baby cream | Throttle level 1 | 105°C |
| copper paste | Throttle level 1 | 105°C |