liquid metal cooling Liqud metal thermal paste on AliExpress.

[IHave3Cats]

So I'm thinking about changing the thermal paste solution on my ryzen 3600X and was looking for a good thermal paste solution on AliExpress and found this liquid metal thermal paste brand going by the name "LT -100". It Costs 13USD including shipping for a 3g tube.

 

My question is, it is advertising itself to have a wopping 128W/m K of thermal conductivity and I'm not totally sold on its claims as I have my doubts. Even popular liquid metal brands like Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut and Thermalright advertises their products to have about 79W/m K conductivity.

Could this be true or is it just false advertising? Can an relatively unknown cheap brand achieve that kind of thermal performance and cost less than the competition? The product has good reviews btw.

 

LKR 1,255.07 18%OFF | LT-100 Liquid Metal Thermal Conductive Paste Grease for CPU GPU Cooling Liquid Ultra 128W/mK 1.5g 3g Compound Grease for Cooling https://a.aliexpress.com/_mK0EsDb

 

Edit - 11/06 - lets say that I did buy a good liquid metal interface and apply it to my CPU. for example Conductonaut from Thermal Grizzly. How long will it last until I have to change and reapply the paste cause Ive read that liquid metal does not last longer as your regular thermal paste.

Edited June 10, 2021 by IHave3Cats

[Semper]

5 minutes ago, IHave3Cats said:

Could this be true or is it just false advertising?

Yes.
It can be, and it is.

[jaslion]

Basically just don't. Liquid metal eats aluminium and there is no reason for it to be used in a desktop as you have all the room for just getting a better cooler that and the 3600x is by no means a hot running part.

 

Also I would not trust generic liquid metal that is so cheap.

 

So tl;dr don't do it ruin your part just get a better cooler

[IHave3Cats]

6 minutes ago, Semper said:

Yes.
It can be, and it is.

I'm confused. are you saying it is false advertising or that, that kind of thermal performance can be achieved?

[Semper]

2 minutes ago, IHave3Cats said:

I'm confused. are you saying it is false advertising or that, that kind of thermal performance can be achieved?

Entirely false advertising, sorry.
It's the typical "1000% better" or "moar biggerrer number is more bestesterer" chinesium. It'll perform on par with a more well established name at best. It'll under perform in all likeliness.

[jaslion]

Just now, Semper said:

Entirely false advertising, sorry.
It's the typical "1000% better" or "moar biggerrer number is more bestesterer" chinesium. It'll perform on par with a more well established name at best. It'll under perform in all likeliness.

Or just literally be thermal paste.

[IHave3Cats]

7 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Basically just don't. Liquid metal eats aluminium and there is no reason for it to be used in a desktop as you have all the room for just getting a better cooler that and the 3600x is by no means a hot running part.

 

Also I would not trust generic liquid metal that is so cheap.

 

So tl;dr don't do it ruin your part just get a better cooler

I live in a South Asian country and the temperature here can get really hot as my PC is not in a air conditioned room. The 3600X gets close to 80 degrees Celsius when im gaming. The cooler is the Snowman T6 with 6 direct touch copper heat pipes. I believe changing the paste will give me better thermal result than changing the cooler as the Snowman is already a good budget cooler. Also changing the paste is cheaper than buying a whole different cooler.

[jaslion]

2 minutes ago, IHave3Cats said:

I live in a South Asian country and the temperature here can get really hot as my PC is not in a air conditioned room. The 3600X gets close to 80 degrees Celsius when im gaming. The cooler is the Snowman T6 with 6 direct touch copper heat pipes. I believe changing the paste will give me better thermal result than changing the cooler as the Snowman is already a good budget cooler. Also changing the paste is cheaper than buying a whole different cooler.

It won't.

 

That and as I literally just said liquid metal EATS aluminium and DEVOURS copper. Your cooler WILL BE RUINED IN MERE MONTHS.

 

Its also been tested that even mediocre thermal pastes are at best 3c worse than the highest end ones.

 

Your cooler is basically a hyper 212 clone and seems to work like one too but a bit worse. 80c is fine for your cpu and the only way to increase cooling is if you case has bad airflow get better airflow or if it has good airflow (so a mesh front panel) get a better cooler.

[IHave3Cats]

2 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Your cooler is basically a hyper 212 clone and seems to work like one too but a bit worse. 80c is fine for your cpu and the only way to increase cooling is if you case has bad airflow get better airflow or if it has good airflow (so a mesh front panel) get a better cooler.

Yes the case is horrible at intake airflow (Golden Field Z2) and im already in the process of changing the case to a one with mesh front panel (Raidmax F01). And I have already ordered two Noctua Redux 140mm fans for the heatsink.

[Semper]

20 minutes ago, jaslion said:

That and as I literally just said liquid metal EATS aluminium and DEVOURS copper. Your cooler WILL BE RUINED IN MERE MONTHS.

In regards to this specific section, yes, Gallium will very quickly eat through aluminum.
Copper, however, no. It will penetrate the surface and discolor/ mark the copper, however it will not destroy it, nor does this permeation appear to negatively, or positively, impact thermal performance.

I ran thermal paste both under (delid) and atop of my 4790k on an EKWB copper block for several years with no issue. Long term testing by multiple outlets I'd consider reliable shows similar results. Matter of fact, I'm still using the same block for my 5800x, and it's rocking along perfectly okay.

There are situations where liquid metal can be beneficial. My 4790k, for example, being one of them. I saw temperature improvements of ~10-15c after delidding.

[leclod]

46 minutes ago, Grumpy Old Man said:

Don't buy anything from Aliexpress ........ misleading advertising, pirated products ......... outright criminal activity

That's not true, I've plenty good products from Ali.

It's true you've got to remain carefull though.

I'd say Don't buy everything from Aliexpress.

I believe the chinese to be decent people.

[IHave3Cats]

23 minutes ago, Semper said:

In regards to this specific section, yes, Gallium will very quickly eat through aluminum.
Copper, however, no. It will penetrate the surface and discolor/ mark the copper, however it will not destroy it, nor does this permeation appear to negatively, or positively, impact thermal performance.

I ran thermal paste both under (delid) and atop of my 4790k on an EKWB copper block for several years with no issue. Long term testing by multiple outlets I'd consider reliable shows similar results. Matter of fact, I'm still using the same block for my 5800x, and it's rocking along perfectly okay.

There are situations where liquid metal can be beneficial. My 4790k, for example, being one of them. I saw temperature improvements of ~10-15c after delidding.

will liquid metal penetrate the direct touch copper heat pipes enough to damage them and halt the function of heat transfering?

[jaslion]

1 hour ago, IHave3Cats said:

will liquid metal penetrate the direct touch copper heat pipes enough to damage them and halt the function of heat transfering?

Maybe. It for sure damages them but as the other person said it should not go too deep. Still just get a better cool instead of liquid metal. The whole point of liquid metal is to be a soltion for when you cannot get a better heatsink.

[jaslion]

1 hour ago, IHave3Cats said:

Yes the case is horrible at intake airflow (Golden Field Z2) and im already in the process of changing the case to a one with mesh front panel (Raidmax F01). And I have already ordered two Noctua Redux 140mm fans for the heatsink.

Cancel the order for those fans and get a better heatsink they'll do little to nothing better.

 

A sycthe fuma 2 is an amazing top of the line cooler and fairly cheap.

[Falkentyne]

11 hours ago, IHave3Cats said:

So I'm thinking about changing the thermal paste solution on my ryzen 3600X and was looking for a good thermal paste solution on AliExpress and found this liquid metal thermal paste brand going by the name "LT -100". It Costs 13USD including shipping for a 3g tube.

 

My question is, it is advertising itself to have a wopping 128W/m K of thermal conductivity and I'm not totally sold on its claims as I have my doubts. Even popular liquid metal brands like Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut and Thermalright advertises their products to have about 79W/m K conductivity.

Could this be true or is it just false advertising? Can an relatively unknown cheap brand achieve that kind of thermal performance and cost less than the competition? The product has good reviews btw.

 

LKR 1,255.07 18%OFF | LT-100 Liquid Metal Thermal Conductive Paste Grease for CPU GPU Cooling Liquid Ultra 128W/mK 1.5g 3g Compound Grease for Cooling https://a.aliexpress.com/_mK0EsDb

Even Conductonaut isn't 73 w/mk. Not even close.

Liquid Metal is simply Galinstan, with different companies applying slightly different ratios of Ga, In and Sn, and a few trace elements (like antimony, bismuth and some other compounds).  

 

I made my own Galinstan from scratch--150 grams (yes, 150) which only cost me about $80 in raw materials (figure out how much 150 grams of conductonaut would cost you!), and temps compared to Conductonaut are at worst, 1-2C higher.  Others have done similar.

 

Example:

 

https://imgur.com/a/T6JlP

 

Galinstan is 16.5 W/mk.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galinstan

 

So clearly there's no way that Conductonaut is 73 w/mk.

A user on notebookreview forums tested conductonaut in a lab (I do not have the link to the post, sorry) and determined it's no better than 30 w/mk.

 

Also, there are different ways of measuring thermal conductivity under unknown conditions in an unknown lab.  It's hard to believe anyone's numbers these days.

[IHave3Cats]

On 6/9/2021 at 2:28 PM, jaslion said:

Cancel the order for those fans and get a better heatsink they'll do little to nothing better.

 

A sycthe fuma 2 is an amazing top of the line cooler and fairly cheap.

the thing is buying 2 fans is much much cheaper than buying a whole new cooler. I know the fuma 2 is a great budget cooler. I have considered changing the cooler but its out of my budget.

[jaslion]

9 hours ago, IHave3Cats said:

the thing is buying 2 fans is much much cheaper than buying a whole new cooler. I know the fuma 2 is a great budget cooler. I have considered changing the cooler but its out of my budget.

The thing also is that usually fans make a 1-3c dent and that is one fan extra 2 is in almost all cases pointless and does nothing.

[freeagent]

On 6/9/2021 at 1:59 AM, Grumpy Old Man said:

Don't buy anything from Aliexpress ........ misleading advertising, pirated products ......... outright criminal activity

I prefer to run Thermalright products, and their availability is pretty slim here in North America and has been that way for at least a decade. That has been where I made my last couple of Thermalright purchases.. no problems. They have some 120x38mm fans that I want to buy.. really good deal.