Liquid Metal Laptop Cooling – 20C LOWER!

[Krominicon]

11 hours ago, Amaranth said:

See my reply above, if you know what you are doing and have done a proper application you should not have any issues. And if you're worried you can always coat the surface around the die in a protective material and put electrical tape down to protect against pump-out and leaks. That said, if you're not sure what you're doing I would strongly caution you to either find someone who is experienced to do the repaste or practice applying the paste first since it can be tricky and isn't like applying any other thermal compound.

thanks for the info. I'd say i'm fairly experience, but I've never done liquid metal, so maybe some practice would be good before hand, considering I'd really rather not lose my laptop. How would you recommend practicing? I don't really have a lot of cpu's lying around that can be delidded.

[AlexTheGreatish]

15 hours ago, Zodiark1593 said:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

How well would it work for mobile devices such as phones (assuming the internal design accommodates some sort of heat pipe or sink?

Coming v soon

9 hours ago, electrolux said:

Wonder if this stuff is worth using on desktops, LTT should do some further testing.

Totally, that's the OG application

7 hours ago, mendi said:

I have been a subscriber of LTT for years now and this video made me "sign up to the community forums" finally.
I have an ASUS ROG GL553VE with a 7700HQ and a 1050 Ti. This laptop has only 1 fan and is surprisingly good at getting the heat out of the CPU and GPU the laptop surface does get warm but not hot.
I am a software developer and gamer (mostly dota 2 and building games like Besiege, Scrap Mechanic, Beam NG etc.)
Most of these games run well unless you are rendering a huge amount of objects for a certain scene.
A HUGE amount of heat is coming out of the exhaust so much so that you cant hold your hand next to the exhaust. This tells me that it's good at taking all that heat and putting it outside. I haven't conducted any testing for throttling etc since i haven't had any issues.
I'm thinking that doing this to my laptop will help with the cooling but having better conductivity will probably make the exhaust area put out even more heat since its going to get better at it.
Any tips anyone?

If you're not thermally throttling I wouldn't bother, there is always a chance you could destroy your laptop.

[mendi]

20 hours ago, AlexTheGreatish said:

Coming v soon

Totally, that's the OG application

If you're not thermally throttling I wouldn't bother, there is always a chance you could destroy your laptop.

During gaming i can see my CPU clock speed drop from 3.5ghz to 2.4ghz and maintains a temp of 85 celsius. The gpu gets around 85 and its clock speed does not vary it stays at 1.4-1.6ghz which is fine.

The fan does spin at about 85-90% and yes it does get noisy which i normally do not notice because of my headphones and i always have music on.
So my guess is that i do have CPU throttling but no GPU throttling. 
My question is how bad is this cpu clock drop for my overall performance? And i am guessing this is why the fan spins up so much.
I should mention that i run Dota 2 on an external monitor at 2560x1440 resolutions at the highest settings in expanded display settings.

[Soujiro89]

Man, this is awesome. Makes me wanna do it on my Razer Blade Stealth. It gets really high in temps, even with the Razer Core. Right now while playing GTA or PUBG the CPU goes up to 100°C.

[D13H4RD]

1 hour ago, Soujiro89 said:

Man, this is awesome. Makes me wanna do it on my Razer Blade Stealth. It gets really high in temps, even with the Razer Core. Right now while playing GTA or PUBG the CPU goes up to 100°C.

It will definitely help, but there's a risk that you could damage it beyond economical repair

[Amaranth]

2 hours ago, Krominicon said:

How would you recommend practicing? I don't really have a lot of cpu's lying around that can be delidded.

 

I would go to a thrift store and buy some old electronics to practice on or see if any local business is upgrading their equipment and has old/broken equipment that they're trying to get rid of - it doesn't matter if the parts are alive or dead, you just need something with a die that you can practice putting liquid metal onto. If you can get your hands on a cheap working laptop that would be even better since you could boot it up to ensure that it worked.

 

3 hours ago, Primusaur said:

 I for one, would really enjoy seeing that sort of thing (mostly cause I want to see a laptop die from this).

 

Unless someone really misapplied the liquid metal you shouldn't see any laptops die, done properly liquid metal is not going to run since it has a very high surface tension and likes to clump and the real risk comes from any ‘pump-out’ that could occur when someone puts too much compound on the die. I have tried to make liquid metal migrate in tests with an old CPU and laptop and the only time there has been any issue has been when I deliberately used too much Conductonaut.

 

4 hours ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

Don't know why non-boutique manufacturers don't offer it as an option for that one customer who wants a repasted laptop on the first unboxing.

 

Cost, not only are liquid metal pastes a lot more expensive but the application has do be done individually by someone who is trained on how to apply liquid metal. That is the same reason why thermal 'stamps' are used instead of regular thermal paste on all mass-produced electronics.

 

8 hours ago, mendi said:

Any tips anyone?

 

As I said in a previous reply, if you're not sure what you're doing I would strongly caution you to either find someone who is experienced to do the repaste or practice applying the paste first since it can be tricky and isn't like applying any other thermal compound. You'll want to use a very small amount of liquid metal, just enough to coat the die and the area of the heatsink that will have contact with the die, and using to much can cause potentially fatal 'pump-out'. I would also protect the area around the die just in case you accidentally slip while applying the paste and also not use the plunger but, instead, gently tap the end of the syringe against the die until a small blob comes out.

 

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4 hours ago, Soujiro89 said:

Man, this is awesome. Makes me wanna do it on my Razer Blade Stealth. It gets really high in temps, even with the Razer Core. Right now while playing GTA or PUBG the CPU goes up to 100°C.

 

I would not use liquid metal on any Razer Blade product since they have a mixed copper-aluminum heatsink and liquid metal should never be used with aluminum. Instead I recommend you try Kryonaut, a non-liquid metal paste that is also non-conductive, if you want to repaste your laptop (and it does sound like it needs some work).

 

On 2/21/2018 at 12:41 PM, AlexTheGreatish said:

If you're not thermally throttling I wouldn't bother, there is always a chance you could destroy your laptop.

 

It also helps with noise, since the fans will not spin up as soon, and, given the way some components such as Pascal GPUs with Boost 3.0 work, possibly improve performance even if you're not throttling - although unless someone knows what they're doing then, yes, the risks might outweigh the possible gains (although if done properly almost all the danger should be negated).

 

[rav007]

On 2/21/2018 at 9:40 AM, mendi said:

A HUGE amount of heat is coming out of the exhaust so much so that you cant hold your hand next to the exhaust. This tells me that it's good at taking all that heat and putting it outside. I haven't conducted any testing for throttling etc since i haven't had any issues.
I'm thinking that doing this to my laptop will help with the cooling but having better conductivity will probably make the exhaust area put out even more heat since its going to get better at it.
Any tips anyone?

To address the actual exhaust heat of your laptop, I'd look at it in a different way. If the exhaust is hot, it means the heatsink is also really hot, and therefore the CPU and GPU must also be really hot. If the CPU and GPU temps can be reduced using liquid metal, which seems to be quite widely documented that it generally does, the heatsink temps should also reduce and then the exhaust air temperature should too. It's about the weakest link in the chain of transferring energy and if that weakest link is the paste due to its resistance to heat transfer, then replacing it with a material of lower resistance to heat transfer should improve the situation. But this isn't me advising you to do it.

[Andrei Chiffa]

On 2/20/2018 at 8:40 PM, AlexTheGreatish said:

Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut is about 16 USD for a tube

Seems that as of now it's up to 45 USD, at least on Amazon. Looks like I will have to wait to replace the thermal compound on my laptop for now - after 5 years of usage, it was starting to fail. 

 

On a related note, have you guys compiled a list of pastes ranked by thermal conductivity? Or actual temperature drop that can be achieved by them? Along the lines of what LTT did at some point for coolers (cooler by weight video I believe).

[JerFatMoew]

For that kind of movement, I would say making a Silicone Rtv seal around the chip. Put a thin layer of dielectric grease on the heat sync, Reinstall the screws, and let it cure.Then apply the liquid metal. even if it did leak out it wouldn't be able to do anything. I'm thinking about doing this on my old Y580 notebook.  

[TrainerRyu]

Just signed up to the forums because of this topic.

 

I think it would be really interesting to see how liquid metal would impact something like the newer HP Spectre x360 with the 8th gen Intel processor. Seems like a lot of people find it undergoes thermal throttling but with two fans to dissipate heat I wonder if upgrading the thermal compound to something like liquid metal would make a significant difference in performance for that model. Any thoughts?

[Tieox]

Utterly let down by LTT.

 

Y U NO liquid metal the iMac Pro ? 

[TrainerRyu]

Sadly I don't think Linus will do another video using liquid metal on another laptop so just gotta fly blind on other laptop models

[AlexTheGreatish]

1 hour ago, TrainerRyu said:

Sadly I don't think Linus will do another video using liquid metal on another laptop so just gotta fly blind on other laptop models

iFixit has good teardowns for basically everything so that way you should be able to check the heat spreader isn't aluminum, and if you're looking to do an HP laptop they have excellent disassembly guides for everything so getting it apart should be pretty easy. After that it's just a case of added the LM like we did and slapping it back together.  On other laptops it might not be as big of a difference but there should be some for sure.

[TrainerRyu]

Did you guys open the Razer up again to see if anything had happened to the liquid metal? It'd be interesting to know if that electrical tape came in handy at all

[Amaranth]

On 3/3/2018 at 1:08 PM, TrainerRyu said:

Sadly I don't think Linus will do another video using liquid metal on another laptop so just gotta fly blind on other laptop models

Depending on the model iUnlock's guides might comes in handy and for products that he hasn't covered iFixit or other sites are likely to have something you could follow. The basics of repasting are generally the same (outside of some really poorly designed systems like the Razer Blade).

[Superpotions]

I repasted my MSI GS63VR Stealth pro and I achieved a 11-13c drop in temperatures using Conductonaut. Its not the 20c drop but its way better results than a traditional thermal paste. I do think that it has to do with the thermal limitations of the heatsinks of this laptop. 

My process: https://imgur.com/a/SYO1s

[Mike Madani]

i have this laptop and also a Razer Blade Stealth. Definitely will try this soon (I need to open up the Triton for cleaning out dust soon anyway).

 

edit: Thanks Amaranth: Just read your comment about the Stealth... maybe not the best idea.  But still might use a better thermal compound.

[Amaranth]

On 4/16/2018 at 1:14 AM, Mike Madani said:

Thanks Amaranth: Just read your comment about the Stealth... maybe not the best idea.  But still might use a better thermal compound.

 

Kryonaut works great and is both non-conductive and non-reactive with aluminum so that would be my top choice for that laptop.

 

Good luck repasting!

[matri95]

Hello, i am from Romania and i wanted to use liquid metal to cool my laptop, but i did not find MG conformal coating here and if i order from amazon i pay more for shipping than for the product. Is PVB 60 Varnish a good replacement?

 

Edit: My laptop is an Acer Aspire V Nitro Black Edition ( VN7-593G ). Is it safe to use liquid metal with my heatsink ? 

Here are some pictures:

[AlexTheGreatish]

10 hours ago, matri95 said:

Hello, i am from Romania and i wanted to use liquid metal to cool my laptop, but i did not find MG conformal coating here and if i order from amazon i pay more for shipping than for the product. Is PVB 60 Varnish a good replacement?

 

Edit: My laptop is an Acer Aspire V Nitro Black Edition ( VN7-593G ). Is it safe to use liquid metal with my heatsink ? 

Most nail polishes will actually work fine, look for one that is acrylic based and it should be good.  For the video I just used the conformal coating because it is the safest bet, especially when someone else might try and replicate what I'm doing.

 

It looks like the heatsink should be fine, that's all cooper there.  If you're ever unsure though just go with a high performance thermal paste like Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut, you'll still have a big improvement in thermals but not have to worry about  liquid metal destroying things.

[Christophe Corazza]

Certain next generation nuclear fission reactors and nuclear fusion reactors use liquid metals as coolants. That’s due to their excellent thermo-physical properties and because they allow for a fast neutron spectrum (= very energetic neutrons) in the reactor.

So, basically a computer with ‘nuclear’ performance 

A meltdown of the CPU gets a new meaning…

[Christophe Corazza]

For example, MYRRHA is a liquid metal fast neutron nuclear fission reactor coupled with a proton accelerator: http://sckcen.be/en/Technology_future/MYRRHA

 

Liquid metals are also considered as breeding blankets in the ITER fusion reactor: https://www.iter.org/

[DKevoX]

On 2/22/2018 at 7:20 PM, rav007 said:

To address the actual exhaust heat of your laptop, I'd look at it in a different way. If the exhaust is hot, it means the heatsink is also really hot, and therefore the CPU and GPU must also be really hot. If the CPU and GPU temps can be reduced using liquid metal, which seems to be quite widely documented that it generally does, the heatsink temps should also reduce and then the exhaust air temperature should too. It's about the weakest link in the chain of transferring energy and if that weakest link is the paste due to its resistance to heat transfer, then replacing it with a material of lower resistance to heat transfer should improve the situation. But this isn't me advising you to do it.

 

I had to sign up in order to correct this. 

 

Most of the power consumed by computers is converted to thermal energy. Replacing the paste does not reduce the power consumed, nor does it increase the efficiency by which the heatsink can dissipate that heat. 

 

If the heatsink is really hot, that's because that's the balance point in which there is enough of a temperature differential between the heatsink and the ambient air to remove all the thermal energy the laptop is producing. 

 

What applying LM does is reduce the temperature differential across the interface between CPU/GPU and heatsink. The heat sink will not be any cooler after applying LM, but the CPU/GPU do not need to be as much warmer than the heatsink in order for the heatsink to cool them.

 

Or put another way, because the thermal interface has some resistance to it, the CPU/GPU will be warmer than the heatsink. Just like you need a certain temperature difference between the heatsink and ambient air to dissipate all the heat, you also need a certain temperature difference between the CPU/GPU and heatsink in order to dissipate the heat generated by the CPU/GPU to the heatsink. Applying LM reduces that required temperature differential by making the interface far more thermally efficient. 

 

I don't know, trying to make physics simple. But think about temperature differentials is the real key to understanding.

 

And if you followed all that, then it should make sense that your heatsink will always be as hot or hotter after LM application. This is because fan speed is controlled by CPU/GPU temperature, not heatsink temperature. Lower CPU/GPU temperatures mean lower fan speeds, mean a less efficient heatsink, which means you need a higher temperature difference between the heatsink and ambient air to dissipate the same amount of heat. So that equals hotter heatsink.

But that's a good thing, it means you can maintain the same CPU/GPU temperatures with less airflow over the heatsink. This is why people say LM can make the laptop run quieter, because the fans don't need to go full speed to achieve the same thermal performance.

[Christophe Corazza]

12 minutes ago, DKevoX said:

I had to sign up in order to correct this. 

 

That's dedication right there!

Trying to correct the internet 

[TicklePickle]

So I've just installed some Conductonaut on my HP Omen 15. It has a I7-7770HQ (undervolted -0.130v) and a GTX 1050ti. On a full synthetic load i used to get up to 95c and now i am getting 75c after an hour long test. I play alot of World of Warcraft and PUBG. on Pubg it would destroy my computer i wouldn't thermal throttle but i would get up to 95-98c, But now on pubg i get only 75c after alot of hours of play. ( i usually play about 4-5 hours) And now on World of Warcraft i used to get 80-75c average after many hours. But now i never go above 60c I average 55c. I'm Genuinely surprised that you are bound to see at least a 20c drop guaranteed.I believe i put the correct amount and i did use acrylic coating plus electrical tape(more electrial tape than Linus did in the video) And yes i was hesitant with using it because people say it seeps out especially if you move your laptop a lot and stuff. So i decided so put this to the test.... I ran a 30 minute long synthetic load, i watched temps and the moment it hit 75c i picked up my laptop and violently shook it around (don't worry i took out the mechanical hard drive.) I flipped it upside down i shook it hard, sideways and basically i tried to make the liquid metal seep out. i did this for about 5 minutes while the load was running making sure my temps where as hot as possible. Afterwards i reopened my laptop and nothing it was as clean as i left it when i put it back. So don't be afraid of seepage make sure you put the correct amount if you do put a lot there is a possibility i believe but yeah that's my review. I recommend doing this if your temps on your laptop are crazy high.