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A few of you know I've had problems with my computer for a while now...
Well I finally got up the nerve to detail my entire computer with cue-tips, toothpicks(wooden) and good old fashioned hot air from the lungs. I've had this computer for about 4-5 years now and have never serviced it(not even with a can of duster). It needed it.
Long story short, after debating whether or not to pull the cooling unit off the cpu (or whatever it's called), I went for it. Broke the thermal paste seal and all. There was practically nothing there. To the touch, the thermal paste would crumble off both sides it was attached to. Freaking out because I had no thermal paste, I decided to use toothpaste (of the gel variety). Made sense to me, they seem to have fairly similar chemical properties. Lo-and-behold, it worked. And is still working. On top of that, that was my problem the whole time, not proquake, or IE8, or my vid-card. The dust and the old thermal paste.
After getting back online, I googled this idea to see if it was safe. Found some tech-board and a guy gave his story of doing it and everyone else said he was joking or that he should take it back because "someone might actually do this and end up wrecking something".
So is this really that dangerous? Guy on the tech-board said it's good for 2-3 months, it'll dry and so on... I plan on buying some thermal paste today, I have no intention of the other being a permanent fix.
One last thing.. thanks to all that helped and tried to help. For the record, Foqer nailed this from very early on, but he made it sound scary to do it so I swore I wouldn't be the one touching it. Someone recently, actually walked me through what it was I have specifically and actually kinda gave me the gumption to do it. I think it was Mav, or Phenom or someone. Anyway, thanks again guys.
Well I finally got up the nerve to detail my entire computer with cue-tips, toothpicks(wooden) and good old fashioned hot air from the lungs. I've had this computer for about 4-5 years now and have never serviced it(not even with a can of duster). It needed it.
Long story short, after debating whether or not to pull the cooling unit off the cpu (or whatever it's called), I went for it. Broke the thermal paste seal and all. There was practically nothing there. To the touch, the thermal paste would crumble off both sides it was attached to. Freaking out because I had no thermal paste, I decided to use toothpaste (of the gel variety). Made sense to me, they seem to have fairly similar chemical properties. Lo-and-behold, it worked. And is still working. On top of that, that was my problem the whole time, not proquake, or IE8, or my vid-card. The dust and the old thermal paste.
After getting back online, I googled this idea to see if it was safe. Found some tech-board and a guy gave his story of doing it and everyone else said he was joking or that he should take it back because "someone might actually do this and end up wrecking something".
So is this really that dangerous? Guy on the tech-board said it's good for 2-3 months, it'll dry and so on... I plan on buying some thermal paste today, I have no intention of the other being a permanent fix.
One last thing.. thanks to all that helped and tried to help. For the record, Foqer nailed this from very early on, but he made it sound scary to do it so I swore I wouldn't be the one touching it. Someone recently, actually walked me through what it was I have specifically and actually kinda gave me the gumption to do it. I think it was Mav, or Phenom or someone. Anyway, thanks again guys.
Though obviously its working, make sure you remember to get that thermal paste on ASAP!
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