This Is What Happened After 2 Months Of Using Liquid Metal As A Thermal Compound 

Which are the blue paper towels you used? I really like them :P

dude, you forgot a tiny drop on a cpu heatspreader, on bottom left corner... clean it up before your pc burns itself down

Good job keep on doing the good work! :)

We need an update on this

@Xtreme Performance I fully/basically agree. I think your most important comment is "for best performance De-lid your CPU". I personally would apply liquid metal between IHS and a copper heat sink (be it water or air) only if I target enthusiast extreme overclocking out of 2 reasons: 1) The temperature down when applying liquid metal as shown here (above the lid) is only 1/10 compared to when applied on a delidded CPU (between CPU die and lid/nickel plated copper heat spreader, this means below the lid) 2) The longevity (usable time) is much more limited when applied on copper compared to nickel plated copper (gallium reacts much faster with copper than with nickel) Concerning application procedure I would say as follows: A) Mandatory is a protection against catastrophic short and corrosion (aluminum) damage by spilled liquid metal B) Both sides need to be wetted over the complete contact area, because liquid metal easily oxides on air with oxygen (that is the reason why it forms balls). And just one time movement when putting both surfaces together would wet both surfaces to may be only 10~20%. C) Ideal is to start the wetting on the smaller area and to realize minimum thickness/minimum danger of spillage then not to reapply liquid metal on the opposite larger area, but just use the remains on the tool used for the smaller area to apply a very thin wetting over the complete contact area. D) To increase the longevity (at slightly higher thermal resistance and strongly larger danger of spillage) you can intentionally target a thicker liquid metal layer/TIM, because the longevity is proportional to the amount of gallium/thickness of the liquid metal as the speed gallium disappears from the liquid metal into copper(/nickel) is basically constant at thicknesses of a few 10µm. The trigger point for the remaining liquid metal to become hard at room temperature is when the gallium percentage in the liquid metal falls below a certain percentage (Note: This video shows a small amount of hardened liquid metal built up already after 2 months, this means the hardening is not an abrupt process but happens continuously with steadily lower percentage of gallium in the liquid metal/over time).

Ive did this too, alittle bit stain on the cooler auf my gtx 1080 after about 3 months of use but performance was good.

heat resistant nail polish helps this in the delliding process no? The TIM overflow

@Jake C you beat me to it, i saw straight away that he did not apply the LM correctly. how has this dude even got a channel, logic dictates that all surface area of the top of the cpu should have LM applied.

@@05C177I would not use nail polish as you are not guaranteed it will work, there is a special chemical in some nail polishes (acrylic) which is very effective at insulating electrical current. Not all nail polishes have this not even 30% as it's kinda expensive for such a cheap product. If you decide to go ahead and use nail polish you may have absolutely nothing protecting the SMD's making it completely pointless. Acrylic conformal coating is what you would ideally use to protect the SMD's and not the silicone type most use. They can both work but the acrylic version is significantly better at preventing a short due to it's electrical isolation properties. The silicone also does this but is not intended to be used on high current which is not something you want in this case. Conformal coatings mainly block electricity and provide a "air gap" between the current and sensitive traces/SMD's with the main benefit being it can withstand high heat these are the two traits that separate conformal coatings from common nail polish. Folks use silicone because it's easier to come by in a local store while acrylic is more difficult but odds are most will have to order it online so they should go with acrylic it just offers more benefits for this type of usage. Also if you are nervous still kapton tape can be your best friend even if you do/don't use a conformal coating it's main purpose is to prevent shorts in electrics where two boards may come in contact or the touch a piece of metal which could allow it to jump. Kapton tape can be about 10 times better in terms of electrical isolation than conformal coatings but conformal coatings offer a complete seal over the components while kapton tape only covers it. Kapton tape can also withstand about 300c which is far beyond what any graphics card will ever see even at it's hottest spot.

agree

Great information thank you for the post

Probably really late, but how is the laptop holding up after 2 years

They liked it without reading it xD

Curious, how do you apply it then? When ever I have seen liquid metal applied, it has been this way.

Matt Nutt You spread a thin layer over the entire ihs, He made a semi spread out blob on the cooler. So the application was inconsistent.

​@@mattnutt2738 most common is using a cotton swab and rubbing it all over the surface of not only the cpu but the cooler too. in the beginning the drop soesnt want to spread but with a little bit of preasure (so the LM heats up a bit) its spreads really good and becomes a thin shiny layer across the surface. make sure your cooler is made from copper or nickel as otherwise the gallium in the LM will destroy your cooler over time. when i bought my LM from thermal grizly there were some cotton swabs in the package.

as long as you dont take it apart its fine. the metal sets over time but as it is metal the conductivity stays the same.

@@Okararu so even it hardened there will be no real big difference correct as long as you don't break the bond correct?

@@gamertechlive1780 I guess so.

Unfortunately I haven't seen any "AIO" with an Nickel plated "block".. Do You know of any ?? Best regards

@@mrdr9534 The Be Quiet! Silent Loop has a nickel plated block. There might be others but this has one for sure.

You know Liquid Metal absorbs into copper contrary to popular belief you have to apply it twice you removed the layer that would make the next application similar to thermal past because it creates a middle ground between the exposed copper and the bare Liquid Metal it makes the Liquid Metal act better as a thermal paste you are trying to use it for

I noticed that too. So stressful to watch him miss those two drops.

major mistake :)

yup like 3x too much

Even with that tiny drop , it goes a long way , i see the same thing in laptops but they never spread , so its safe to say it doesnt act like what normal thermal compound do

not really

@@JoshuaG Yes they don't spread when pressed down with the cooler cold plate but they will move around if it's not tight or IHS and cold plate is not really flat enough since it's in liquid state not unless some of it started to hardened and formed a natural barrier for leak over time until it's fully hardened. I'm curious when it's fully hardened if your performance will degrade from day 1 good to hardened LM and will it thermal throttles?

i did not

Not smart. Youll have fine metal powder everywhere afterwards. Nice way to short and fry you components.

@@Chris-yy7qc if your very sloppy yes.

when i was editing the video i did see those and was like how did i miss that, i thought about taking everything apart and cleaning it up but to be honest i was to lazy so i decided i roll the dice and i haven't yet had any trouble and i move and jostle this system all over the place so i think i will be good "final last words"

Hehe, good luck 👍 ☺ 😄

Copper used on heatsinks may not be pure copper...

@@RaimarLunardi it may not be, but it's still not going to stain it all that quickly, it'll 100% stain it yes, but not super quick as i said, and more often than not they are pure copper just for cooling efficiency, the NZXT and corsair stuff are generally 100% copper as are many of the custom waterblocks available

@@blazingmatty123 even on heatpipes they are at best 97% copper...

@@RaimarLunardi that still doesn't disprove my point, since, you know, I'm talking from experience here and not basing it off of it not staining pure copper quickly, but even down at 80% it doesn't stain quickly

thank you, i will do my best to improve, i appreciate any and all feedback, you cant improve if you dont know what you are doing wrong, THANKS for subbing hope to see you around.

And also I don't care what gamers Nexus says. As it pits OVER THE REAL LONG TERM it will lose thermal conductivity, it just physically has to there is no way around it. But the time frames in play are so long that I bet you could use the components until your ready to upgrade before an issue arises

exactly for some reason people think liquid metal was deigned to go between the die and IHS, which i wasn't it was designed to be a high performance thermal compound. Imagine if a company designed a product that required you do void the warranty on the vary product its was designed to be used with. Its probably because thats how most people see it used and due to a lack of research think thats that proper applications. I, like you have had no thermal issues no migration issues, obviously my copper is not stained but what does that matter is has no effect on its thermal conductivity and how often are you admiring your coolers copper plate.

@@MajorHardware That's also a good point. At the end of this day that was it's original intention.

@@MajorHardware Yes correct it only become mainstream to use it directly in die to ihs because no thermal paste have better performance than liquid metal. They can use regular high quality paste in between the die and IHS like Intel use toothpaste ahaha . But they will never reach the Liquid metal performance. That's why it become standard when you delid you need liquid metal. And liquid metal is advertised as thermal paste in liquid+metal form in between heatsinks. And since it's dangerous to delid a ryzen processor because it soldered I also plan it to use as paste replacement. Im doing more research about it before applying see how it performs and hits flaws. So far Nickle plated is best not copper but copper is fine but you need to re-apply after months just like this video in order to allow gallium to get absorbed by copper. It also enters Nickle but not as much as copper since Nickle have more resistant to it and it's not really noticeable and it's easier to remove in Nickle than copper except for some few gallium who got absorbed by Nickle well Nickle is the barrier coating of the copper. Good thing I have Nickle plated water block. There are few people who said to paint it let it cure (slightly absorbed or stick better in IHS and cold plate and re apply again but 1st coating must be thin really thin since your double coating it) So my understanding is, it's like painting the 1st coat will be the main and the 2nd finishing coat will be for protection or sacrificial coat. But in liquid metal the 1st coat will be sacrificial gallium loves to form a bond with metals so 1st coat then 2nd coat will be the main coat the will act as thermal paste and since there is already a 1st coating that is touching the unevenness or flatness of the heatsink the second one will be for proper contact or transfer of heat. I'm going to try this method but I will leave the case titled/Horizontally for 24hrs and leaving for the next coat and heatsink attachment I leave it horizontally for a week just for some curing in theory (since liquid might slide from cpu atleast for a week some of the gallium will bond with Nickle) And did some research how to properly apply safely #1 cutting a paper same size as heatsink, putting a tape in between IHS and paper and putting another bigger tape above the paper. #2 putting the waterblock or coldplate above the cpu, the paper will attach to the cold plate now remove it. #3 after removing use any type of tape and tape the corners, for much safer result put another layer covering slightly the side of exposed cold plate when you remove the paper (reducing the exact length and width of the cold plate to IHS contact using Liquid metal from the side to avoid potential leak). #4 clean with alcohol and apply liquid metal much thinner than recommended (let it cure) apply another layer. For cpu IHS apply a tape on the small corner of the IHS leaving very small allowance so that you can't paint it with liquid metal remove more like 90-95% coating and atleast 5% space on corners a really tiny space since unlike ps5 we don't have a protective seal and unlike Intel amd socket sucks nxt to the cpu is not the metal cover clip but the mobo IC and traces itself LOL. (Well I will consider of thermal paste to put tiny spread on the side of processor to block air going in and act as a barrier of the liquid metal since thermal paste is sticky and if you spread it flat it won't move to much and will stick with the coldplate heatsink and air will be also eliminated since paste fill up the gap better than liquid metal, well just a theory my choices are paste and tiny cut Thermal pad attached on the SIDE not top of ryzen iHS enough to make contact with coldplate heatsink to act as a seal protector at the same time block some air but I think there is easier) Finally attaching coldplate to cpu and let it cure for a week horizontally before tilting it back to normal

@@JoseSanchez-xj3xn ps5 is using this liquid metal and they cheap out the heatsink. And planned a sort of barrier and sealing the die preventing air or most air going inside. And only claimed they made their own Sony liquid metal that is different in others a long lasting liquid metal lol. As far as we know as long as it is touching Nickle and not exposed in the air it will stay in its liquid form for yearsssss example of this are delided Intel cpu specially when they glue the IHS again. Ps5 used cpu IHS design as its main heatsink design (basically a direct cooling but unlike GPU it is sealed like cpu) and inside there's a foam around the die not allowing the liquid to get out and if you remove the foam there is a insulator tape covering the IC. That's why when you open a PS5 the liquid metal is in its liquid state not hardened.

what does RTFM mean if you dont mind?

@@MajorHardware read the fucking manual, meant in the middle nicest possible way.

lol no worries im not easily offended I honestly never heard of that acronym.

@@MajorHardware Definition of RTFM in English: RTFM ABBREVIATION Computing vulgar slang Read the fucking manual (used especially in email in reply to a question whose answer is patently obvious). -oxford English dictionary en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/rtfm

Thank you, its still running strong as of now, if it dies ill make sure to let you know, but for now we will just have to wait and see what it does when used for a longer amount of time. if there is anything else you are curious about let me know and ill see if i cant figure it out.

Don't do what the OP is doing - way too risky and not what liquid metal was designed for. If you want to use liquid metal then delid your CPU

Oh it will come, as of now my system is still running strong no sings of anything going wrong as of now

@@MajorHardware Plan to liquid metal my 2k rtx2070 laptop, but feeling kinda unsure. Laptop runs hot and high temperatures accelerate this process. Bud good thing is that after reapplying, the process slows down due to the fact that copper becomes plated with gallium and further adding more gallium with each consecutive application reacts less and less. One of the concerns is that when eventually dried, the dry liquid metal powder may scatter when the laptop is carried around and short some circuits.

for something that new i dont know if your going to see any big benefits to using LM as a thermal paste, personally if it was me i wouldnt risk killing that laptop. I did make a video where i LM my old alienware laptop but that laptop was unusable so i had nothing to loose also it was really old anyhow. being that old the thermal paste was rock hard as i show in the video. that laptop is still running strong no signs of anything going wrong. in my opinion you wont notice any cooler temps liquid meteling or re-pasting that new laptop as the thermal compound in it from the factory is probably in great shape. to me the risk out-ways the benefits on a new machine.

yeah, the only problem is that stock paste that asus uses is a complete junk, paired with mediocre cooling renders lots of thermal throttling and fan noise

heat sinks are expensive too, lol now you know why

Love the profile pick!!

pic

yes i would do the same no big benefit to using LM in place of high quality thermal paste.

Rufinoman Isn't that the beauty of watching other people's results? The only reason we know the negative results of LM is because others risk their equipment and show the aftermath. I agree with you as well on sticking with more standard thermal pastes. I've never had a reason or need to change from Arctic MX-4.

LOL this dude is pissed ^

@@MajorHardware Was he wrong though?

duuude howd you know! I do possibly think there might be problems with this down the road on the ps5

You dont need LM On Direct Die Cooling! Just Use a good thermal paste!

schwartz that's what I'm doing for now. I used artic paste this time, It's ok. I like grizzle better though.

check out my prev video where i compared to to the stock thermal compound maybe thats what you were looking for, sorry about Eminem hes a bit loud some times

it wont hurt copper

Different alloy, more in the inert side id say.

Copper =//= copper

Eeeeh, the current will simply cut off if you do that, it won't work in any way, thats a terrible comparison. It will never work. Liquid metal act as a link between the cpu and the heatsink micropocketed surface.

THANK YOU glad to have ya

i hope not, it atleast has to make it to sep when i open it up and see whats going on in there.

Nah she'll be right, you would have noticed higher than avg temps out of the box if it was one of the really buggered ones but it means u may have a few degrees up your sleeve if flattened 4 sure 👍

good info thank you when i take this thing back apart i will be trying to get the copper back to its pre LM days so all ur recommendations are noted for sure

i can understand that, i picked up some Kryonaut to test repasting a GPU rather than liquid metal so stay tune!

Are you restarted? He didn't apply it even remotely correctly.

THANK YOU!!

Thank you, means a lot my man

it also changes the appearance of nickel coated parts with more time, used it on my NH-D15 and is made the base of that and the IHS darker after about 5 months

@@pikerdm7466 any pictures of it

i agree this was just an experiment, thermal paste will be going back in come sep

its copper gallium alloy, the only way to get it off is to lap the contact plate.

i dodged a bullet for sure.

as for colors such as MOB and GPU i tried to use only neutral colors like black and steel silver. because im a big RGB fan (yes im that guy) i wanted to stay away from any permanent colors.

Im a Noob i just now figured out you are probably talking about the color of my RGB, at that time my GPU and background RGB color was neon green, the fans, ram, case edges were like a dark purple, i cant remember the color code but i was trying to go for a color close to what you see given off by a black light and thank you i did like that color scheme.

Just getting started, Thanks for coming aboard it means a lot Geekzmo

interesting sentence, system is still up and running great, stick around for when i take it apart and see what my way too much and bad application has done, should be fun.

@@MajorHardware Should work fine probably but you just used way too much, wasted liquid metal, which is not cheap (1 drop is enough for both IHS and radiator plate), and did not work it out enough with cotton swab. Watch some tutorial videos on how to do it properly.

did you see my laptop liquid metal video GEEEEEEEEEEEZ that one will piss you off if you thought this was bad lol. But luckily for me applying thermal compound is not an exact science and both systems are running great....... for now........ but my next video on the topic im going to try and do a better job with application im a bit heavy handed for sure.

@@MajorHardware Your money, your hardware, your risk - so nothing to piss me off :) Just sayin it could have been done better :)

No worries i do agree