Liquid Ultra or Conductonaut NH-D15 long term

[Jimmer26]

I’ve thought about it long and hard, and I’ve decided to use liquid metal between my 12700K and NH-D15. 
 

Think I’m going to initially start with Noctua NT-H1 that came with my NH-D15. This is because I’ve sourced components from a variety of retailers and I want to make sure the system can get up and running before risking LM. It will also give me a chance to act as a comparison to LM. I’ll aim to run NT-H1 for a couple of months then switch to LM and I’ll try and keep this thread updated with stats and any issues I run into.

 

The question I have for you lovely people is: which LM shall I use? Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut or Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra?

 

Based on a) cooling performance, and b) effect on IHS and heatsink; i.e. corrosion, absorption, welding, alloying, staining, pitting, ‘drying out’, and all the other buzz words we use to describe what happens. 
 

No need to repeat the chemical reactions and the fact LM doesn’t technically ‘dry’ etc. I’m basically just looking for opinions (first hand if possible) on whether there would be a perceivable difference in either.

 

(I have an unopened Liquid Ultra from a few years ago that looks ok and just bought Conductonaut for £8. If the consensus is there will be no perceivable difference I’ll probably return the Conductonaut and save the £8, but if it’s ever so slightly weighing in on Conductonaut’s favour I’ll prob go with that. In for a penny in for a pound and all that.)
 

IHS is nickel plated obviously and the NH-D15 heat plate is nickel plated copper as well so nickel on nickel.

 

Oh, and any application tips will be greatly received! I’ve heard carefully massaging it into both surfaces before mating does the trick? (Still talking about the LM btw).

 

Thanks! J

[Zando_]

Please just... don't use LM between surfaces that are not sealed. It's not worth the couple degrees, as LM can easily form tiny droplet balls and roll away to parts unknown. And seeing as it's conductive, that's fuckin horrible for your PC. 

 

If you are gonna go ahead with it, I'd stick with conductonaut as I've always had a good experience with Thermal Grizzly's stuff. 

[Applefreak]

9 minutes ago, Jimmer26 said:

I’ve thought about it long and hard, and I’ve decided to use liquid metal between my 12700K and NH-D15. 
 

Think I’m going to initially start with Noctua NT-H1 that came with my NH-D15. This is because I’ve sourced components from a variety of retailers and I want to make sure the system can get up and running before risking LM. It will also give me a chance to act as a comparison to LM. I’ll aim to run NT-H1 for a couple of months then switch to LM and I’ll try and keep this thread updated with stats and any issues I run into.

 

The question I have for you lovely people is: which LM shall I use? Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut or Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra?

 

Based on a) cooling performance, and b) effect on IHS and heatsink; i.e. corrosion, absorption, welding, alloying, staining, pitting, ‘drying out’, and all the other buzz words we use to describe what happens. 
 

No need to repeat the chemical reactions and the fact LM doesn’t technically ‘dry’ etc. I’m basically just looking for opinions (first hand if possible) on whether there would be a perceivable difference in either.

 

(I have an unopened Liquid Ultra from a few years ago that looks ok and just bought Conductonaut for £8. If the consensus is there will be no perceivable difference I’ll probably return the Conductonaut and save the £8, but if it’s ever so slightly weighing in on Conductonaut’s favour I’ll prob go with that. In for a penny in for a pound and all that.)
 

IHS is nickel plated obviously and the NH-D15 heat plate is nickel plated copper as well so nickel on nickel.

 

Oh, and any application tips will be greatly received! I’ve heard carefully massaging it into both surfaces before mating does the trick? (Still talking about the LM btw).

 

Thanks! J

NT-H1 is fine. You can run Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut or even Kingpin KPX for 1 or 2 C lower under load if you like. I have been using NT-H1 for years on many different systems, mostly because it can be cleaned well even after a couple of years (unlike the old Arctic Silver). I would stay away from Liquid Metal pastes, especially on nickel plated coolers. You can use Cool Labs LM Pads if you like. I've used them on a Pentium 4 in the past but it needed burn in time. Something I would advise against on a modern system. 

So in short, stick with the stock paste. Noctua already ships really good thermal compound and you get a syringe that is good for many applications as well.

[freeagent]

52 minutes ago, Applefreak said:

(unlike the old Arctic Silver)

Isopropyl alcohol.. look for upper 90s. Wipes old AS5 off no problem. I used AS5 for a decade

 

No need for LM. Get some good fans, optimize what you have..

[Applefreak]

26 minutes ago, freeagent said:

Isopropyl alcohol.. look for upper 90s. Wipes old AS5 off no problem

I use 98. Arctic Silver 3 used to the paste. Never tried the newer stuff. I feel old now. 

[Jimmer26]

Thanks for the replies. I should have added that it’s not that I’m worried about NT-H1 being good enough, it’s more for interest at seeing how much of a difference it makes. I am building in a Define 7 with limited airflow so low temps are a positive though. 
 

RE tiny balls frying components, have you heard of that actually happening to people? Surely it’s only if they’ve messed up the application? Granted there is a risk that could happen to me. 
 

Maybe I’ll stick to the NT-H1 for a while then and possibly switch to Conductonaut if I’m feeling brave haha.

[freeagent]

1 hour ago, Applefreak said:

I use 98. Arctic Silver 3 used to the paste. Never tried the newer stuff. I feel old now. 

That’s because you are old now.. like me

 

I kid I kid

[Jimmer26]

I actually think I have a half empty tube of AS3 from years ago maybe that would be a more interesting comparison

[freeagent]

I think AS5 is still ok in the age of LM and other high end pastes.. it’s not the best but.. it’s better than NT-H1 lol..

[OhioYJ]

I have both Conductonaut and the Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra, tried both when I delidded my 7700k, I prefer and got better results out of the Conductonaut. 

 

I'm not a fan of the NT-H1, also got it with my NH-D15s (that's multiples) and Ive always had AS5 out perform it. That being said I am a big fan of Kyronaut. That has outperformed everything I've tried.

[Jimmer26]

11 hours ago, OhioYJ said:

I have both Conductonaut and the Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra, tried both when I delidded my 7700k, I prefer and got better results out of the Conductonaut. 

 

I'm not a fan of the NT-H1, also got it with my NH-D15s (that's multiples) and Ive always had AS5 out perform it. That being said I am a big fan of Kyronaut. That has outperformed everything I've tried.

Ok thanks. Presume you haven’t tried LM between the IHS and heatsink then? What’s the reason, just not worth it for the risk / reward?

 

Any experience with Arctic MX-5 against NT-H1 or Kryonaut?

[StarsMars]

9 hours ago, Jimmer26 said:

Ok thanks. Presume you haven’t tried LM between the IHS and heatsink then? What’s the reason, just not worth it for the risk / reward?

 

Any experience with Arctic MX-5 against NT-H1 or Kryonaut?

It really isn't worth the risk/reward.

If you were testing it on a test bench system or ihs delidding, sure.

But you're risking bricking your daily components to see if there is a degree or two difference.

 

Optimum tech did a video on this already Optimum tech Liquid Metal vs Thermal Paste

 

Can recommend KPx thermal paste btw

[OhioYJ]

10 hours ago, Jimmer26 said:

Ok thanks. Presume you haven’t tried LM between the IHS and heatsink then? What’s the reason, just not worth it for the risk / reward?

 

Any experience with Arctic MX-5 against NT-H1 or Kryonaut?

I haven't used MX-5. I've pretty much used the Kryonaut exclusively now, on most things at this point. As for between the heatsink, and the IHS, I don't need it. My temps were fine, and quite frankly my die looked awful, after just a week of liquid metal. I'd hate to guess what it looks like now after 3 years of running.

 

This was my die after just a week (I swapped over to the Conductonaut) notice the markings on it (I did switch back to the nickel IHS which should help some):

 

 

I don't need to add more maintenance or problems to a system unnecessarily. If it were needed, or I was trying for some overclocking record, sure. I'm not though.

[freeagent]

So pretty.. I am enjoying the nakedness. What CPU is that?

[OhioYJ]

1 hour ago, freeagent said:

So pretty.. I am enjoying the nakedness. What CPU is that?

Looked better before the liquid metal tainted / scared the die... That an old 7700k of mine. It's still running strong though. It's now at my in laws as they watch my son after school and he uses it over there. I keep thinking at some point I'll have to re-apply the liquid metal, but it's 3.5 years now, and the temps still haven't changed, so I haven't worried about it.

 

Here is a picture before the liquid metal application, after sealing the pins though to protect them from shorts (as you can see in the picture).

 

[frozensun]

I don't want to read the replies.

Hell, for a NH-D15 you can put soap as thermal paste.