Hi everyone, Welcome to HowFixit. In this video,
I will answer the most popular questions about liquid metal and show you all the
applying methods for different CPU devices such as PC, laptops, video cards, and game consoles.
I'll start with the most popular and urgent question - is liquid
metal safe for a CPU and a copper heatsink? Well, it took me 4 years to answer this question.
Before creating this video, I decided to check out the legend, which many people are terrified of,
that liquid metal destroys the copper structure of the heatsink, and even the processor chip.
Four years ago, I used liquid metal on my laptop, and since then, I have never removed the heatsink.
My laptop's cooling system allows me to clean the fan and heatsink grill without removing the heat
pipes, so I run a 4-year test. According to many comments, in 4 years, the liquid
metal should have destroyed all the copper on my laptop cooling system. Let's check it out now.
The cooling system came off easily. Let's take a closer look at the heatsink surface.
For four years, the liquid metal came into a powder consisting of small metal shavings;
of course, this resulted from a chemical reaction of copper and gallium.
Also, this is because I applied only once and one layer of liquid metal. A little later, I will show
you the best way to apply liquid metal, so it does not become such a condition. But, I want to note
that even in this condition, the liquid metal worked for four years, and the temperature did
not rise above 82 degrees Celsius. Even under prolonged loads, my laptop did not overheat.
Wiping the surface, you can see that the copper has absorbed the liquid metal, after which a
galvanized mark remains on the heatsink surface. There was a fusion of metals; this is a normal
chemical reaction, which many people are so afraid of and call "the destruction of copper."
Liquid metal is based on gallium, indium, and tin. Gallium has a negative potential, and copper has a
positive potential, so gallium starts migrating into the copper, making this stain. Regarding
thermal characteristics, copper retains all its original properties, and this stain on a copper
plate should not be confused with corrosion. I'll show you how to remove this stain from
the heatsink surface to prove how little the copper has absorbed the liquid metal.
How to remove liquid metal from the surface of the CPU and heatsink.
I use isopropyl alcohol and Flitz polishing paste. The polishing paste must be non-abrasive.
I left a link to this paste in the description. Also, a regular washing sponge would be helpful.
Use a cotton swab with Flitz paste to remove the top coat and prepare the surface for polishing.
Apply Flitz to the stain you want to polish.
Take a sponge and cut off a part you will be comfortable using.
Start polishing with the rough side of the sponge. Polish in a circular motion
for more effective removal of liquid metal. After a few minutes of active surface polishing,
remove the waste material with a cotton swab and isopropyl alcohol.
Apply the paste and continue polishing until you get the desired result.
Use the soft side of the sponge for the final polishing step.
So, removing the stain from the copper surface took me about 7 minutes. Now you see almost
pure copper. I left the outline borders of the stain to see where I should apply a new layer of
liquid metal. After another 5 minutes of intensive polishing, you can remove this stain altogether.
If you have a grinding tool, you can remove this stain in a few minutes.
I repeat once again; this is not corrosion, but a fusion of two metals,
resulting in a stain appearing on the upper layer of the copper pad.
If it had been four years of corrosion, you would have seen a clear trace of destruction
on the copper surface. And I wouldn't be able to remove that stain so easily.
So, it can be concluded that the migration of ions into copper occurs only at the beginning of
the liquid metal deposition. But the reaction is insignificant and stops at the copper top layer.
Even if you call it the "destruction of copper", nothing destructive has happened in 4 years.
Apparently, this reaction needs more time, maybe 20 years. In this case, you can buy a
new heatsink, which costs about $30. But I doubt that you will work 20 years behind one laptop.
How often do you change your laptop, every five years?
Let's take a closer look at the processor DIE surface. Liquid metal is easily removed
with isopropyl alcohol. There were no traces of damage or stains from liquid metal. I can say for
sure that liquid metal will not do anything destructive with a silicon processor chip.
If any trace is left on your processor DIE, you can remove it with Flitz paste.
Using the same paste, you can remove liquid metal from the surface of the nickel-plated CPU cover.
I don't insist on using liquid metal if thermal paste suits you - use it. But,
if you were afraid to use liquid metal because of the incompetent assessment of various observers,
you should not be scared of this; there is nothing particularly destructive in liquid metal.
Liquid metal transfers heat more efficiently from the processor to the heatsink;
I was convinced by testing the best thermal pastes compared to liquid metal. If you are
looking for the most efficient thermal conductor and decide to use liquid metal,
I will show you how to apply it correctly and safely.
What you should know before applying liquid metal
Liquid metal cannot be used with an aluminum heatsink. This is because aluminum dissolves
well in gallium and forms an oxide layer around itself, protecting the aluminum from
other elements' effects. In this case, corrosion occurs, and the aluminum structure is destroyed.
Liquid metal can be used with a copper or nickel-plated heatsink. If you have a PC, check
your heatsink first. Laptops use copper-based heat pipes so that you can use liquid metal.
The next important thing you should know is that liquid metal is an electrical conductor. If the
liquid metal gets on the SMD components, a short circuit may occur, resulting in permanent damage.
If your processor has SMD components, you must isolate them from accidental
contact with liquid metal. A little later, I'll show you how.
How to apply liquid metal - depends on your type of device. The computer processor is covered with
a metal cover, but the silicon chip is open in laptops, game consoles, and graphics cards.
Choose the time code for your device. And check the video section "How Often
You Should Change Liquid Metal"; this is important information for copper heatsinks.
How to prepare a laptop for liquid metal application.
I use Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut because it is the most common liquid metal on the market.
You can use liquid metal from any other manufacturer, such as Coollaboratory - I
left the links in the description. On the HowFixit channel, more than
two thousand step-by-step video instructions on how to disassemble laptops of different models.
All video guides are completely free; use them to disassemble the laptop successfully.
Typically, these alcohol pads come with a liquid metal to remove the thermal paste.
Or use a regular cotton pad and isopropyl alcohol to degrease the surface of the
CPU and heatsink. The surface must be clean and free of all residues.
On the CPU surface, there may be SMD components or contact points. These components must be isolated.
You can isolate components using a Thermal Grizzly TG-Shield,
or high temperature-resistant liquid insulating glue - I left the link in the description.
Apply insulation coating only to SMD components and contact points.
Leave for 30 minutes to cure the insulation layer. As a result, you get an isolated surface.
Now the CPU chip is ready to apply liquid metal. In my case, there are no components on the CPU
and GPU and pasted protective film; if you have the same, you do not need to isolate anything.
How to apply liquid metal to a laptop. Set the micro tip to the syringe.
Gently squeeze a small drop of liquid metal onto the CPU.
If you squeezed out a little more liquid metal, you can remove excess material with a special tip.
Spread liquid metal with the supplied cotton swab. An increased contact pressure of the cotton swab
can facilitate the application of the liquid metal over the surface of the processor chip.
For the GPU chip, squeeze out the drop of liquid metal a little more.
After the chip is done,
do the same with the heatsink. Spread the liquid metal around where the processor is attached. If a
trace of the processor chip remains on the copper pad, spread the liquid metal within these borders.
You should get a spot similar to the size of the chip. You can make the spot a little larger if you
doubt that you will not guess with the sizes. And check the video
section "How often do I change Liquid Metal"; this is important information for copper heatsinks.
Applying liquid metal to a CPU As you know, the silicon chip of the PC
processor is under the nickel-plated cover, called - IHS (Integrated Heat Spreader). So, you have two
options: apply liquid metal only to the surface of the nickel-plated cover, or additionally apply
it between the silicon chip and IHS. For the best thermal conduction,
recommended remove the metal cover and apply the liquid metal directly to the silicon chip.
Removing the IHS cover is called "Delidding". The delidding process requires a special tool
and extreme care not to damage the SMD components. According to some tests,
this reduces operating temperatures by 15 to 25 °C, depending on the workload.
Additionally, you can replace this stock nickel-plated IHS with a copper one, which
will lower the temperature even more, about 10°C. The delidding process is quite risky and voids
the processor warranty, but the result is worth it if you're overclocking the CPU.
I made a map of options for using liquid metal for a PC CPU.
As you can see, there are five different ways to use liquid metal, but you need to delid a CPU for
four of them. Anyway, "how to delid CPU" I show you in a separate video - link in the description.
This application is safe for an aluminum heatsink or if you don't want to apply
liquid metal to your copper heatsink. This method is the most popular.
If you are overclocking the CPU and every degree of Celsius is essential,
this method is the most effective. Applying liquid metal only to the surface of the
nickel-plated cover will also give a good thermal conductivity compared to the thermal paste.
I use Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut because it is the most common liquid
metal on the market. You can use liquid metal from any other manufacturer,
such as Coollaboratory - I left the links in the description.
How to apply liquid metal to a CPU. The first step is to prepare the CPU surface for
applying the liquid metal. Alcohol pads come with a liquid metal to remove the thermal paste, or use
a regular cotton pad and 70% isopropyl alcohol to degrease the surface of the CPU and heatsink.
The surface must be clean and free of all residues.
Set the micro tip to the liquid metal tube. Gently squeeze a small drop
of liquid metal onto the CPU. Spread liquid metal with the supplied cotton
swab. An increased contact pressure of the cotton swab can facilitate the application of the liquid
metal over the surface of the CPU. After applying it to the CPU,
do the same with the heatsink. Spread the liquid metal around where the processor is attached. If a
trace of the processor chip remains on the copper pad, spread the liquid metal within these borders.
You should get a spot similar to the size of the chip. You can make the spot a little larger if you
doubt that you will not guess with the sizes. Now install the heatsink on the CPU.
And check the video section "How often do I change Liquid Metal"; this
is important information for copper heatsinks.
Applying liquid metal to a graphics card or game console
The process of applying liquid metal on a video card or game console is almost
the same. Most importantly, ensure your heatsink has a copper pad because some
graphics cards still use aluminum-based heatsinks.
Game consoles starting with the PlayStation 4 Pro, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S have
a copper pad that allows you to apply liquid metal. I did a test comparing liquid metal and
thermal paste on PS4 Pro and the result was good - I left a link to this video in the description.
The GPU and APU look very similar, with many SMD components around the silicon
chip. These components must be isolated from accidental contact with liquid metal.
How to apply liquid metal to a GPU or APU using PS4 Pro as an example.
Remove all thermal paste from the silicon chip and heatsink surface.
Use isopropyl alcohol to degrease the surface of the chip and heatsink.
You can use a soft brush to clean the SMD components from thermal paste residue.
The surface must be clean and free from any residue.
Use liquid insulating glue or Thermal Grizzly TG-Shield to protect SMD components - I
left the links in the description. You can use any other product, but it should
have two important properties: electrical insulation and high-temperature resistance.
Wipe off excess insulation from the chip surface.
Leave for 30 minutes to cure the insulation layer. As a result, you get an insulated
surface and now the processor chip is ready for applying liquid metal.
I use Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut because it is the most common liquid metal on the market.
Set the micro tip to the syringe.
Gently squeeze a small drop of liquid metal onto the CPU.
If you squeezed out a little more liquid metal, you can remove excess material with a special tip.
Spread liquid metal with the supplied cotton swab. An increased contact pressure of the cotton swab
can facilitate the application of the liquid metal over the surface of the processor chip.
After the chip is done, do the same with the heatsink. Spread the liquid metal around where
the processor is attached. If a trace of the processor chip remains on the copper pad,
spread the liquid metal within these borders. You should get a spot similar to the size of
the chip. You can make the spot a little larger if you doubt that you will not guess with the sizes.
How often you should change liquid metal. At the beginning of the video, I showed what
liquid metal looks like after four years - it was dry and like a metal powder. To avoid this and to
keep the liquid metal in liquid condition for a long time, you need to allow 3 or 4
weeks for the ions to migrate into the copper. After about a month of the first application
of liquid metal, take apart your device to reapply the liquid metal.
Gallium will sufficiently combine with copper during this time, forming a stable
copper-gallium alloy surface. The new layer of liquid metal will no longer fuse with the copper,
allowing it to remain in a liquid condition. Using this application method, you will not
need to change the liquid metal often; it will remain liquid even after two years.
I suggest liquid metal experimenting. After this second liquid metal application,
I'll leave my laptop for two years. It will be six years of using liquid metal
on my laptop. Let's see what the condition of the liquid metal and heatsink will be. So,
after two years, I will create a new video and leave a link in the description below this video.
I really appreciate you watching my videos; you can ask all additional questions
regarding the liquid metal in the comments. For more info check out the links in the description.
You were on HowFixit. Thanks for watching and see you next time.