Don't season your CPU with salt, says PC cooling company

People have been adding salt to their thermal paste, and that's probably not a good idea.

It's another normal day in video game land and people are salting their gaming PCs. 

TikTok content creator 'mryeester' put out a video where he mixed in salt with thermal paste to see if it helps to keep temperatures down. 

According to the video, the thermal conductivity of salt is higher than a lot of brands of thermal paste. The content creator mixed some together to make an unholy concoction and lathered it onto a CPU before testing the temperatures when powered up.

It turns out, unsurprisingly, that it's not a good idea. 

The thickness of salt creates a gap that traps heat, resulting in higher temperatures. It makes you wonder what would happen if you used red salt. Spicy. 

PC Gamer reached out to hardware manufacturer Noctua, who confirmed the findings. 

"The thermal conductivity of salt is much lower than that of traditional filler materials such as aluminum oxide or other metal oxides," the company said. 

"Also, salt particles keep the cooler from making good contact with the CPU, so thermal performance will be poor due to poor contact. Last but not least, there's a high risk of corrosion issues."

There you have it. If you see anyone suggesting you season your CPU, take it with a pinch of salt.