Is Thermal Paste Electrically Conductive?

If you’ve put too much thermal paste on your CPU and it accidentally spilled sidewards onto the motherboard, you may be worried about it causing any damage to your computer. The electrical conductance is a major factor in determining whether the thermal paste will damage your PC. That’s because, of course, an unwanted flow of current can fry out your computer components.

However, the answer to whether thermal paste is electrically conductive or not isn’t that simple.

Is thermal paste conductive?

“Conductive” is a wide term, as it includes both, thermal conductance and electrical conductance. Let’s talk about them both, one by one.

Thermal paste is, of course, thermally conductive — that’s the whole point of it. Thermal paste, being thermally conductive, lets heat pass through it from the CPU to the heat sink, which is then eventually dissipated from the computer. This entire process keeps the computer cool under heavy loads.

However, electrical conductance isn’t a suitable property for a thermal paste.

If a thermal paste is an electrical conductor and you spill it on your computer components accidentally, unwanted current will flow through them, which is a severe red flag. When something like that happens, a short circuit could occur, which could ultimately fry out your computer components.

Why should you concern if your thermal paste is electrically conductive?

In most cases, a thermal paste isn’t electrically conductive enough to cause problems when used correctly. That means if you apply the right amount of thermal paste and none of it spills over to the sides, there’s nothing to worry about, even if the thermal paste is conductive— which is usually liquid metal-based paste.

However, if you apply such a paste incorrectly and it spills over the sides of the CPU and onto the motherboard, you have to be concerned.

You see, there are many tiny electrical components on a motherboard, like transistors, and capacitors, only to name a few. Current is regularly traveling through those. If electrically conductive thermal paste bridges the gap between two such components, current may travel through them in paths that aren’t ideal.

Hence, the unexpected flow of current may cause malfunctions and even long-term damage to the computer. Due to this risk, you should choose a thermal paste that is not at all electrically conductive.

What makes thermal paste electrically conductive?

The composition of the thermal paste determines whether it’s electrically conductive or not.

Most high-quality thermal pastes are made of silicone, which serves as the gap filler, and metal oxides, which serve as thermal conductors. In most cases, the metal oxides are from aluminum or zinc. Neither of the materials is electrically conductive. Hence, such thermal pastes do not conduct electricity, so they impose no risk of damage to your computer.

On the other hand, liquid metal-based thermal pastes are made out of micro-ionized silver (or other metal), which is a solid conductor of electricity. If this kind of thermal paste spills onto your motherboard in a way that it bridges the gap between two electrical components, it can cause damage.

We recommend going with a thermal paste that’s a great conductor of heat but doesn’t have any electrical conductance properties. If you’re looking for one such option, Kooling Monster KOLD-01 is just the thing for you. KOLD-01 is a silicone- and metal oxide-based thermal paste, so it has zero conductance of electricity, minimizing any kind of risk to your computer.

How do you know if a thermal paste is electrically conductive?

Now that you know non-electrically-conductive thermal paste is better, you may be wondering how to know whether a specific thermal paste is electrically conductive or not.

Well, the simplest method would be to look at the packaging if you’re purchasing from an offline store. If you’re purchasing online, check the product page and go through the specifications. There’s a good chance the type will be mentioned there. If the specifications mention it’s a silicone-based paste, it’s most likely a green flag. (a few silicone-based pastes on the market are still electrically conductive. This depends on the formulation)

However, if it’s made out of liquid metal, it may not be ideal to get it. If you can’t find this specification on the product page, we recommend getting in touch with the vendor. Just send a direct message to the vendor asking them the type of paste. If it’s a company website you’re purchasing from, talk to their customer support department using the contact form.

The bottom line

Electrically conductive pastes and electrical components don’t do well together, that’s why you don’t want to use, and especially spill, such a thermal paste on your computer. It can cause unwanted flow of current from component to component, which, of course, could cause problems.

In this post, you’ve learned everything you needed to know about this topic. So now, as you know the importance of using the right type of thermal paste, it’s a great time to check out Kooling Monster KOLD-01 Thermal Paste.