Liquid Metal in new laptops

[shalaby]

Hey guys there's a lot of cases where laptops with liquid metal added to them would have the die fuse with the liquid metal bricking it after a year or 2 of use. 

 

I have an ROG G751 and I have been using it since 2014 so I care a lot for longevity, mainly because I cannot afford to replace the stuff. 

 

So how do modern laptops with Liquid metal out of the gate fare for longevity, I am at a loss. 

 

Maybe its a thing for LABS to pay attention to.

[Qyygle]

I have never heard of liquid metal fusing with the CPU die. Are you sure you've correctly understood what the issues with LM are?

 

For a copper heatsink, LM will not cause issues aside from discoloration of the contact area. LM will corrode aluminum and eat into those kinds of heatsinks that are not nickel plated. It is also conductive and will cause issues if let escape into the rest of the board, which is another reason why it's so hard to use in mobile applications.

 

Proper material compatibility between LM and the heatsink as well as a sufficient protective barrier to prevent it from ever escaping the heatsink contact area should be enough to last for years. The main longevity issue might be dry-out from poor heatsink contact, which is always a possibility with laptop heatsink tolerances, though the end user can presumably self-service/replace it if they notice temperatures rising after a few years.