Cooler Master redesigns thermal paste to alleviate parental concern

A company catering to PC enthusiasts has changed the design of one of its most vital products, but you won’t believe the reason why.

A computer parts and accessories company has been forced to change the design of one of its most important products, claiming some pretty hilarious feedback from concerned parents as the reason.

The Taiwan-based company Cooler Master make things like cases, power supplies, CPU coolers and other parts and accessories for people interested in building their own computers.

It’s now announced it has redesigned a product used to apply thermal paste because worried parents keep contacting them concerned their children are on 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

Thermal paste is applied on top of a CPU chip between the chip and a cooling fan or heat sink.

The purpose of it is to fill gaps between the chip and the heat sink to transfer more heat off the chip and keep a PC running cool during intense gaming, video work or even just hot summer days.

The newly designed applicator should alleviate the concerns of worried parents.

When installing a new chip or assembling a new PC (a surprisingly simple process basically equivalent and often characterised as like building something with Lego), you put a small amount of the paste on top and it spreads across evenly when you install the heat sink.

Since not much paste is required, companies often include some with a new processor or fan, but more enthusiastic PC builders sometimes buy third-party thermal paste that claims better performance.

The reason for the confusion is because thermal paste often comes in a syringe-like applicator to make it easier to use.

Worried parents have apparently been finding these applicators in their children’s bedrooms and contacting the company listed on the tube, if Cooler Master is to be believed.

It could also just be good marketing, given the announcement was made on the company Twitter feed.

“Brand Twitter”, as it’s become known, is infused with the same brain-breaking irony infection as the rest of the awful blue website millions visit daily, where brands try to appear more human by cracking jokes and trash talking other brands in an attempt to go viral.

This is, of course, in between using social media to find customer complaints, sometimes even contacting people venting about poor service without directly tagging the brand to find out which location they had such a nightmarish experience at so the company can “discipline” the minimum wage worker who forgot to put some tommy sauce in a bag of trash fast food before appeasing the complainant with a voucher for more.

This can make it difficult to tell sometimes whether a brand is joking online or not.

While we're not 100 per cent sure Cooler Master really redesigned its thermal paste applicator to stop parents thinking their kids were on drugs, when the old design looked like this the confusion does become more understandable.

Regardless of whether Cooler Master really redesigned its thermal paste applicators to stop concerned parents contacting the company, feedback from customers suggests it made the right move.

@CoolerMaster i used the mastergel maker paste on my 3950x and improved my temps! love how easy it is to apply as well, thanks for making em

— Amer Atya Alnomany (@Sniper_amer) January 16, 2020

this would probably help mostly with the big chips, like threadripper and that blue crap :D

— FeuerToifel (@Kjell_Stigandr) January 16, 2020

This is a better design, kudos on that thinking CM

— Ashraf (Mr. Grunt) (@Ashraf_Medhat93) January 16, 2020

But if Cooler Master is being serious, others weren’t too happy.

You fools! Now you're just encouraging kids to start using 𝕎𝕀𝔻𝔼 𝔻ℝ𝕌𝔾𝕊

— CTRGaming (@CreauxTeeRhobat) January 16, 2020

Now it looks likes a vape pen

— Justin Bayette (@BayetteJustin) January 16, 2020

how am i meant to hide my heroin now??

— 👹 (@asdaorangejuice) January 16, 2020

What do you think of the redesign? Let us know in the comments below.