liquid metal vs thermal paste

[Hayden17697]

hey guys iv finally decided to go with a custom water loop, for both my cpu and gpu wanted to know if would be worth going with liquid metal as the thermal interface. i have currently got thermal grizzly kryonaut as the paste for both my cpu and gpu if i can make improvements with liquid metal that would be the best but as long as i get adequate cooling im happy to stick with thermal paste. i have made sure to get nickel plated blocks for both.

 

im currently running 

12900k

msi 3080 ti trio

i have 6 fans with 3 intake 3 exhaust in a cooler mater mb530p case 

 

thanks in advance for the advice guys 

[RONOTHAN##]

LM on the CPU can be a good idea if you're planning on overclocking the CPU a ton since it can get you a bit extra thermal headroom and maybe an extra 100MHz CPU clock. It can make a mess and is still a pain to work with (I probably wouldn't want to deal with it), but if you're willing to do it you can get higher clocks with it without too much risk (there is still risks with LM, but they're not super high on CPUs). 

 

GPU on the other hand, LM is the quickest way to accidentally kill it. You might get an extra 50MHz if you're lucky, and the odds of messing up your application and killing the card are very high unless you insulate the card absolutely perfectly. 

[Hayden17697]

1 hour ago, RONOTHAN## said:

LM on the CPU can be a good idea if you're planning on overclocking the CPU a ton since it can get you a bit extra thermal headroom and maybe an extra 100MHz CPU clock. It can make a mess and is still a pain to work with (I probably wouldn't want to deal with it), but if you're willing to do it you can get higher clocks with it without too much risk (there is still risks with LM, but they're not super high on CPUs). 

 

GPU on the other hand, LM is the quickest way to accidentally kill it. You might get an extra 50MHz if you're lucky, and the odds of messing up your application and killing the card are very high unless you insulate the card absolutely perfectly. 

i planned on  putting this around the die for the gpu and IHS for the cpu https://www.pccasegear.com/products/52416/thermal-grizzly-shield-component-protection-5ml 

 

dont know if that will fully protect the components around them, but its more from a cooling point if i can draw as much heat from the cpu and gpu just running normall the better is my line of thinking. 

[deadlou666]

If you dont have any problems atm then there's no point in getting the LM. ur better off staying with the thermal grizzly!

[RONOTHAN##]

16 minutes ago, Hayden17697 said:

i planned on  putting this around the die for the gpu and IHS for the cpu https://www.pccasegear.com/products/52416/thermal-grizzly-shield-component-protection-5ml 

Just so you know, that stuff is pretty much just clear nail polish with a fancy label on it. You can head to your local drug store and pick some up for significantly cheaper. Also that's not enough for a GPU, in order to properly insulate one of those you need to insulate the board all the way out to the memory chips. Liquid metal, especially on GPUs, has the tendency to wander and can end up in some pretty bad places, so you need to insulate a ton and you really don't get that much temperature headroom out of it, most cards already run in the mid 60s on just thermal paste anyway. It's just kinda pointless to LM a GPU. 

 

16 minutes ago, Hayden17697 said:

dont know if that will fully protect the components around them, but its more from a cooling point if i can draw as much heat from the cpu and gpu just running normall the better is my line of thinking. 

The risks of liquid metal outweigh the benefits from lower temps for hardware longevity. Either you're trying to overclock and eek out every last MHz out of your CPU, in which case LM is your only real option, or you're trying to run at stock to preserve the hardware's life span, in which case introduces more problems than it solves. Besides, CPUs are designed to run at those very high speeds they do at stock, so as long as you're using a good paste like MX-4 or the aforementioned kryonaut you should be more than fine for stock operation. 

[Hayden17697]

20 minutes ago, deadlou666 said:

If you dont have any problems atm then there's no point in getting the LM. ur better off staying with the thermal grizzly!

Thanks for the advice, the kryonaut runs it great, the main issue is the aio iv got on my cpu hasn't quite got the spec artic freezer II 360mm and the gpu stock cooler keeps it at safe operating temps according to the manufacturer (95°C) but it's way to hot for my liking.

 

Gaming the cpu is fine gpu goes to hot.

But I do more than game and need both cooled better than they are right now.  Just thought I could have squeezed more heat out of using LM over thermal paste

[Hayden17697]

17 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

Just so you know, that stuff is pretty much just clear nail polish with a fancy label on it. You can head to your local drug store and pick some up for significantly cheaper. Also that's not enough for a GPU, in order to properly insulate one of those you need to insulate the board all the way out to the memory chips. Liquid metal, especially on GPUs, has the tendency to wander and can end up in some pretty bad places, so you need to insulate a ton and you really don't get that much temperature headroom out of it, most cards already run in the mid 60s on just thermal paste anyway. It's just kinda pointless to LM a GPU. 

 

The risks of liquid metal outweigh the benefits from lower temps for hardware longevity. Either you're trying to overclock and eek out every last MHz out of your CPU, in which case LM is your only real option, or you're trying to run at stock to preserve the hardware's life span, in which case introduces more problems than it solves. Besides, CPUs are designed to run at those very high speeds they do at stock, so as long as you're using a good paste like MX-4 or the aforementioned kryonaut you should be more than fine for stock operation. 

Thanks for the advice I think I'll just stick with thermal grizzly for the moment not planning on overclocking to really get the advantage out of it. Just cooling better than what im running right now.

 

 

[deadlou666]

7 hours ago, Hayden17697 said:

Thanks for the advice, the kryonaut runs it great, the main issue is the aio iv got on my cpu hasn't quite got the spec artic freezer II 360mm and the gpu stock cooler keeps it at safe operating temps according to the manufacturer (95°C) but it's way to hot for my liking.

 

Gaming the cpu is fine gpu goes to hot.

But I do more than game and need both cooled better than they are right now.  Just thought I could have squeezed more heat out of using LM over thermal paste

Is changing the fan curve an option?

[1982 Original]

10 hours ago, Hayden17697 said:

hey guys iv finally decided to go with a custom water loop, for both my cpu and gpu wanted to know if would be worth going with liquid metal as the thermal interface. i have currently got thermal grizzly kryonaut as the paste for both my cpu and gpu if i can make improvements with liquid metal that would be the best but as long as i get adequate cooling im happy to stick with thermal paste. i have made sure to get nickel plated blocks for both.

 

im currently running 

12900k

msi 3080 ti trio

i have 6 fans with 3 intake 3 exhaust in a cooler mater mb530p case 

 

thanks in advance for the advice guys 

I delidded my 12700k about a month ago. Using LM, it shaved off about 8C running super hot synthetic loads (prime95, R23). It didn’t equate to any more clock speed. I had the thermal head room, but to get an extra 100MHz took a ton more voltage, where it didn’t comfortable running it daily. LM anywhere in the setup will definitely be cooler. And it could help if you were in a situation where your almost thermal throttling. But, if temps aren’t an issue, in my experience the 8c-10c advantage doesn’t equate to meaningful performance increase. 

[Ebony Falcon]

10 hours ago, RONOTHAN## said:

LM on the CPU can be a good idea if you're planning on overclocking the CPU a ton since it can get you a bit extra thermal headroom and maybe an extra 100MHz CPU clock. It can make a mess and is still a pain to work with (I probably wouldn't want to deal with it), but if you're willing to do it you can get higher clocks with it without too much risk (there is still risks with LM, but they're not super high on CPUs). 

 

GPU on the other hand, LM is the quickest way to accidentally kill it. You might get an extra 50MHz if you're lucky, and the odds of messing up your application and killing the card are very high unless you insulate the card absolutely perfectly. 

Really ? I did 2 980tis with no issues at all and had no real idea of what I was doing 

[Ebony Falcon]

Delidding is worth it it can drop 25c in some cases, however between the ihs and cooler it’s not worth it, few degrees better and if ur cooler has a viper base plate it will soak up the lm after a year or so and u have to redo it 

[deadlou666]

12 hours ago, Ebony Falcon said:

Delidding is worth it it can drop 25c in some cases, however between the ihs and cooler it’s not worth it, few degrees better and if ur cooler has a viper base plate it will soak up the lm after a year or so and u have to redo it 

Not to mention delidding will void the warrenty entirely and 12900k arnt cheap if something happens

[Ebony Falcon]

2 hours ago, deadlou666 said:

Not to mention delidding will void the warrenty entirely and 12900k arnt cheap if something happens

Does it tho haha I fucked up a 4790k cut a capacitor right off with a razor blade, glued the ihs sent it back and got a replacement lol

[deadlou666]

7 hours ago, Ebony Falcon said:

Does it tho haha I fucked up a 4790k cut a capacitor right off with a razor blade, glued the ihs sent it back and got a replacement lol

[NF-A12x25]

On 11/27/2022 at 4:13 AM, Hayden17697 said:

i planned on  putting this around the die for the gpu and IHS for the cpu https://www.pccasegear.com/products/52416/thermal-grizzly-shield-component-protection-5ml 

putting liquid metal on the IHS is plain dumb. It’s only useful on the die between the die and IHS or when cooling with direct die contact.

[NF-A12x25]

23 hours ago, Ebony Falcon said:

Delidding is worth it it can drop 25c in some cases

that’s when thermal paste is used between the die and IHS, 12th and 13th gen are soldered so no point delidding