Those saying that using liquid metal on bare copper will have negative long-term consequences are mostly incorrect. While some types of older liquid metal pastes can be prone to hardening if exposed to air due to an improper application that doesn't degrade the integrity of the copper itself or the thermal performance of the heatsink - as seen in this quote from the legendary Der8auer talking about Conductonaut:
" If you have a naked copper surface on the CPU waterblock for example, some of the parts of the liquid metal are building an alloy with the copper, and then it's hardening over time. Indium and tin, which are usually a part of the liquid metal, will form an alloy on top of the cooler. Which is not going to make performance worse, but it will lead the liquid metal to harden..."
Personally I haven't had any issues running Conductonaut long-term, my preferred liquid metal, and haven't seen any build-up or temperature loss after years of use. Nor have any of the other long-term liquid metal enthusiasts I know who are well versed on proper application and use. Also, to the poster who considered using a graphite pad, those do not perform well in low mounting pressure situations like laptops and you're going to be looking at much worse temperatures than a low quality traditional paste (plus they're conductive so you have all of the risk of liquid metal without any of the benefits).
KonkaBass reacted to Amaranth in Liquid Metal Laptop Cooling – 20C LOWER!
