Also just used toothpaste on my macbook pro 2011. It had a failing graphics card and being out of warranty I waited until it was truly dead => no boot.
I took it apart, cleaned it and removed all plastic. Did a "reflow" of the motherboard in our regular oven at 220 degrees Celsius for a couple of minutes. Applied toothpaste to the cpu and gpu and put it all back together.
After all this it booted right back up. It ran hot for 2 minutes at 90 degrees Celsius. (might have been a diagnostic check after being taken apart, OSX just testing the insides)
It now runs at 45 degrees Celsius under normal load. No crashes, no funky broken graphics cards stuff anymore.
It will probably set itself on fire at some point, but more likely because of the failing battery then because of the toothpaste.
Just to be clear: this is an old machine that has been abused for many years.
I work as a photographer and this is the machine that travelled with me. So it saw lot's of water, dust, sand, mud and everything you don't want around electronics.
Do not try this just because you are too lazy to get the real stuff.
Only badasses may proceed!
Update:
The gpu finally truly died. Well not really, the gpu is perfectly fine, even after months of having toothpaste for thermal paste. The solder connecting it to the motherboard however has too many cracks in it now and a reflow in a cooking oven no longer works.
73...just when you think you've seen it all – Manos Dilaverakis – 2010-01-29T11:36:34.887
3If this is true, then how to know which out of the many types of toothpaste to use? – Arjan – 2010-01-29T11:40:18.547
1Haha, I have no idea which toothpaste is best. I don't do this anymore. I now keep stock of the real thing. This was suggested after getting panicky about my machine overheating and the nearest store that stocks thermal paste being almost 200km away. – RichieACC – 2010-01-29T11:44:46.213
34The other question to consider is whether you can brush your teeth with thermal paste. That would be good for teeth.stackexchange.com... – Dan Rosenstark – 2010-01-29T11:57:17.347
2haha, it's abrasive enough, but does not leave that minty taste :( – RichieACC – 2010-01-29T11:58:53.193
29No idea if this would work to be honest, but at least your CPU would be protected against plaque build-up and gingivitis. – Kez – 2010-01-29T12:16:14.750
@kez: Provided the parts of toothpaste that do the protection survive being held against a 70 °C CPU ;-) – Joey – 2010-01-29T12:41:09.097
Just get thermal paste. It's safe and cheap! I heard MS used toothpasted on the XBOX 360's that had the RROD. :-) – Kelbizzle – 2010-01-29T13:55:52.270
10Thanks a lot. Now I've sprayed coffee out of my nose and down my shirt. – njd – 2010-01-29T14:36:35.027
11Send me your CPUs and I'll test them for you! I've currently got gell, baking soda, triple action and plain toothpaste, so 4 CPUs should be enough. – Ash – 2010-01-30T02:17:09.253
4I really enjoyed reading the responses and comments that were posted to this question. Thanks go out to everyone involved. – RichieACC – 2010-02-03T13:57:10.163
1Preparation H is used specifically for burning sensations, I wonder if it would work better than toothpaste? – Everett – 2012-07-25T13:33:35.237
I tried this and it did cool down the temperature of my CPU for about a month now. – Jürgen Paul – 2013-08-11T11:58:57.147
Semiconductor engineers measure expected transistor life by running transistors hot, recording how long it takes them to fail, and extrapolating to calculate expected life span at a lower temperature. For long life, it is VERY important to keep transistors from overheating. ... My point is they may continue to work for awhile, but you are definitely shortening their life. The only thing tooth paste and thermal paste have in common is that they are both a paste. Why not use pastry? Yes, there is a big difference between insulators and good conductors of heat. – Elliptical view – 2014-02-02T17:53:00.750
1I'm having a hard time finding Zinc Oxide based toothpaste. Maybe you should be trying some of that heavy-duty sunscreen, look on the label for Zinc Oxide content. <grin> – Fiasco Labs – 2014-02-02T18:02:24.817