Liquid metal thermal

[kracie17]

Hi guys,

I wonder if i can substitute thermal paste with liquid metal thermal? there is no delidding of CPU at all, i will be applying directly to the IHS and pair it with AIO water cooling.

 

[royfrosty]

That will really depends on the AIO CPU block.

If it is made of aluminium, gallium will corrode it almost immediately.

If it is copper it will be fine. But do note that it is not recommendable to do so. First thing you will noticed if your plating is copper, copper plate will tarnish or stained by gallium.

It does not have much benefit over using normal thermal paste, cause the problem lies in between the ihs and the die. Not ihs to cooler contacts.

 

[wwenze]

What material is the IHS?

 

[kracie17]

That will really depends on the AIO CPU block.

If it is made of aluminium, gallium will corrode it almost immediately.

If it is copper it will be fine. But do note that it is not recommendable to do so. First thing you will noticed if your plating is copper, copper plate will tarnish or stained by gallium.

It does not have much benefit over using normal thermal paste, cause the problem lies in between the ihs and the die. Not ihs to cooler contacts.

ah okay. thanks for the clarification. cuz i seen some youtube videos, they replace thermal paste with liquid metal. and seem to have some improvement.. but if i were to do it on laptop its fine? cuz laptop cpu does not have ihs, so i can use it?

 

[kracie17]

What material is the IHS?

the normal intel ihs?

 

[alienaire]

What material is the IHS?

Nickel plated copper

 

[kyle8151998]

ah okay. thanks for the clarification. cuz i seen some youtube videos, they replace thermal paste with liquid metal. and seem to have some improvement.. but if i were to do it on laptop its fine? cuz laptop cpu does not have ihs, so i can use it?

Yes you can use it for laptop, but you need to be extra careful not to put any liquid metal tim on the circuitry (adjacent)

 

[kracie17]

Yes you can use it for laptop, but you need to be extra careful not to put any liquid metal tim on the circuitry (adjacent)

alright! thanks! i suppose i remove the liquid metal using isopropol alcohol?

 

[kyle8151998]

alright! thanks! i suppose i remove the liquid metal using isopropol alcohol?

Yes you can do that...
During application i suggest you put some “tape” around the CPU or GPU die to have some protection on the circuitry when applying the liquid metal tim

 

[kracie17]

Yes you can do that...
During application i suggest you put some “tape” around the CPU or GPU die to have some protection on the circuitry when applying the liquid metal tim

i seem to have googled and found that alcohol does not remove liquid metal.. oh and i head about the nail polish compound on the gold contacts to prevent liquid metal making contact. thanks for the tip!

 

[watzup_ken]

I won't recommend for your use case. Are you looking to do some crazy overclock?
As much as there are benefits to it, there's also risk to it. Improper usage, i.e. overflow can short your rig. Also if you are not delidding, the bottleneck is with heat transfer to IHS, assuming you are using Intel processors, and not so much the IHS to the heatsink.

 

[kracie17]

I won't recommend for your use case. Are you looking to do some crazy overclock?
As much as there are benefits to it, there's also risk to it. Improper usage, i.e. overflow can short your rig. Also if you are not delidding, the bottleneck is with heat transfer to IHS, assuming you are using Intel processors, and not so much the IHS to the heatsink.

ohh no crazy overclocking. i intend to use it on laptop. its directly on the cpu die. aint using on IHS. i know the differences are minimal. my processor the TIM is soldered base hence not a need to delid.. yup am aware of the risks. but i want to cool my laptop as much to prevent even the slightest throttling.

 

[jgyy1990]

any brands recommended for the liquid thermal compound?

 

[elmariachi]

any brands recommended for the liquid thermal compound?

Thermal Grizzly Conductanaut if you can find it.

 

[tangpx]

any brands recommended for the liquid thermal compound?

You can find it in amazon or http://www.performance-pcs.com/

 

[kracie17]

any brands recommended for the liquid thermal compound?

i actually bought thermal grizzly conductonaut online.. waiting for delivery..

 

[Phelan]

https://www.lazada.sg/catalog/?spm=...=ss&from=suggest_normal&sugg=conductonaut_0_1

Lazada

 

[Encrypted11]

Tech Dynamic sells Conductonaut for $25.
Liquid ultra import from Europe at about 8 euros before Deutschepost airmail shipping cost.

I have used both. Surface tension (like mercury etc) of conductonaut is higher, harder to spread. Liquid ultra is more pasty. Both are just different compositions of Gallinstan alloy.
CLU is in market for probably 5 years. Conductonaut far lower if you want to use commercial availabilities as a yardstick.

But I do not recommend using it on laptops typically with low mounting pressure heat sinks. If you screwed it too tight it may not boot and you risk stripping the threads and head of the tiny captive screws to compensate for that, ans chances of screwing up a laptop and its heat sink is higher.

And liquid metal is abrasive. Don't "wipe" them onto the CPU the mirror surface, will become slightly foggy. Dab and spread to minimise abrasion.. Using small brushes like those bundled with CLU may give u more applications since cotton buds will absorb some of it.