Thermal paste isn’t usually the kind of stuff you’d confuse with narcotics or drugs in general. But one manufacturer received so many complaints about the association that it forced them to redesign one of their products.
CoolerMaster has been in the PC hardware and components business for almost 30 years now, and while most casual gamers would know CoolerMaster for their affordable peripherals, the company’s stock in trade has been around cases, power supplies, coolers for CPUs, and so on.
So naturally, CoolerMaster makes their own thermal paste. Thermal paste is the grey gooey stuff that gets applied to the top of CPU before applying air or water cooling, improving the conductivity of heat from the CPU to the cooler and keeping your system temperatures at the right levels.
The only problem is that, like most companies, CoolerMaster’s thermal paste comes in the form of a syringe. There’s good reasons for doing so: the syringe design makes it easier when applying paste from above, particularly if you’re installing a cooler when the motherboard is already mounted within the case, and it ensures you can apply the paste without getting it everywhere. (Don’t get thermal paste on your hands if you can help it: if you ingest it accidentally, you’re in for a rough time.)
Unfortunately for CoolerMaster, there was a problem with their syringes. CoolerMaster is popular among budget gamers because their products are generally more affordable, so it’s pretty common for younger PC builders to be buying CoolerMaster components. And the ones that were getting into PC building and modding with CoolerMaster gear were causing their parents to worry … because the parents thought their kids were taking drugs.
We didn’t change the shape of the syringe to make applying thermal paste a lot easier, but because we we’re getting tired of having to explain parents that their kid isn’t using drugs. pic.twitter.com/ClyZLDDFe9
— Cooler Master (@CoolerMaster) January 16, 2020
Here’s a comparison of the new designs versus the old syringe-based thermal pastes and MasterGel:
CoolerMaster’s new design applies paste in a much wider pattern, which will probably disappoint any PC builders who strictly preferred the “dot” method of applying thermal paste. (For the record, it doesn’t really matter what pattern you apply your thermal paste in, just as long as you apply enough.) And fans, to their credit, had fun with the announcement.
— Matteo Croce (@teknoraver85) January 17, 2020
*buys a 2080TI Super*
man, drugs would’ve been cheaper
— jack (@JackInacker) January 16, 2020
Same families with Tidepod problems I bet.
— Jason St Pierre (@JasonPCtech) January 18, 2020
Pc gaming is a helluva drug
— N. Hakimi (@kimi_rules) January 17, 2020
— ⏩ Moot@snouts.online (@mootzilla) January 18, 2020
Also please don’t try and shoot up thermal paste
You don’t get super powers, become one with the master race, or lower body temps— AceOfPilots (@AceOfPilots) January 16, 2020
This is actually true. Flashback to when my mom was horrified about what i putting in my body when she found a grey syringe stuffed inside the back of my drawer!:)
— Pancham (@mackerelsardine) January 18, 2020
CoolerMaster’s new thermal paste designs will be available internationally in the coming weeks.
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