Essential Linkage: A collection of household goop stuck straight on a CPU.
Thermal Interface Material, also known as TIM or 'goop', is something that most heatsinks will use to fill the tiny gaps between a processor's IHS and the base of the heatsink itself.
Usually it's a mix of silicon particles, or even silver and other metals, but something that hasn't been looked at much (and rightly so) is household products like deoderant and raspberry jam.
Some of these are incredibly silly to use, but one stalwart tester over at the Overclockersclub Forums went through twelve different combos to find the best and the worst goop.
Surprisingly some of them do rather well, and it's always handy to know what your last resort is if you've run out of your favourite paste, so head over to the thread to have a read.
What goop would you use on your CPU?
Issue: 133 | February, 2012