What should you use for thermal compound? Basically, just don't use Chocolate.

Grunty

From 2012.
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/thermal-compound-roundup-february-2012/

Yes, mayonaise does work but the acids/sulfur will corrode the surfaces. 
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/does-mayonnaise-last-as-a-thermal-compound/

Slapshot1188

I usually use ArcticSilver but good to know that I can use a dollop of mayo in a pinch!!

Asheram

What about peanut butter and jelly?

Excession

I go with arctic silver ceramique 2, but might give mayo a try next time

kitarad

My heavens this is quite bizarre . What possessed anyone to try this ? MacGyver anyone?

Ridelynn

I think I still have a tube of AS5 that's about 10 years old now that I still use. 

I have used toothpaste in a pinch, I can confirm that one does work.

Basically as long as you have anything in there filling in the microscopic gaps in the metal, but not so thick that it acts as an insulator, it's going to work.

Asm0deus

thermal grizzly kryonaut   I hear this works great but looks to be more for use in watercooling scenarios.

Tiller

Mayo is as good as the Noctua thermal paste I used that came with my cooler.

Quizzical

The proper takeaway is that what matters is not so much which thermal paste you use as that you use thermal paste properly at all.  Air is a terrible conductor, and having microscopic amounts of thermal paste replace tiny air pockets makes a huge difference.  That one thermal paste is a little better than another is a rounding error by comparison, as they both conduct heat about a hundred times better than air.

You usually shouldn't resort to using random household liquids and gels as thermal paste.  The danger is not so much that they won't work initially as that they won't be stable over the course of years of thermal cycling or that they'll damage the heatsink or CPU heatspreader.

Quizzical

The thing to remember about thermal paste is that, while it's an excellent conductor as compared to air, it's a terrible conductor as compared to the aluminum or copper that heatsinks are made out of.  Thermal paste might have 100 times the conductivity of air, but it's only about 1% or 2% of the conductivity of aluminum or copper.  So you don't want a thick layer of thermal paste separating the CPU's integrated heatspreader from the heatsink, as that would effectively be an insulator.  You want as much metal on metal contact as possible.  The thermal paste is only there to replace microscopic air bubbles.

Ridelynn

Quizzical said:

The proper takeaway is that
...
You usually shouldn't resort to using random household liquids and gels as thermal paste. 

Unless you have Rosewill thermal paste.

jdnewell

That's a great comparison for 12 hours. What about 5 years down the road? 
Thermal paste is so cheap why wouldn't you buy something that's decent.
Personally I have used arctic silver 5 for all of my builds. Have one old pc that's going on 7 years old and still cooling fine.

Cleffy

jdnewell, you won't believe this but... I had to re-apply Arctic Silver 5 once. I bought a tube in 2005 and used it in my build in 2010. It lasted until 2015 then the temps started to get abnormally high. Re-applying the thermal paste (Same tube from 2005) fixed the temps.

Asm0deus

Cleffy said:

jdnewell, you won't believe this but... I had to re-apply Arctic Silver 5 once. I bought a tube in 2005 and used it in my build in 2010. It lasted until 2015 then the temps started to get abnormally high. Re-applying the thermal paste (Same tube from 2005) fixed the temps.

I was wondering if that unopened tube of as5 in my closet was still good..guess I have my answer lol

MrMelGibson

kitarad said:

My heavens this is quite bizarre . What possessed anyone to try this ? MacGyver anyone?

Using mayo is more of a MacGruber thing.