Installation
You wouldn't think that applying thermal paste would require a dedicated page and you would be right but this paste does have its quirk which I thought would be worth mentioning. Firstly, applying the paste is actually very easy. In fact, it's the easiest material I've had the joy of applying. Simply squeeze a tiny blob onto the CPU, and use the cotton bud to gently press it and spread it evenly on top. On first site, the liquid metal appears a silvery "solder like" blob and moving it about gives it that Terminator 2 feel. As soon as you press it and spread it, a smooth shiny layer is created.
For illustration:
A word of warning though, the Liquid Metal Pro is electrically conductive so make sure that it doesn't make contact with any circuitry and as Coollaboratory advises, do not use it with coolers having aluminium bases. Here's a list of compatible coolers: http://www.coollaboratory.com/compatibility_en.pdf
Removing the paste
After 48 hours of usage, the Liquid Metal consolidates onto the CPU and cooler, allowing for excellent contact and heat transfer but this comes with a downsize. Should you be one of those people who routinely changes cooler, cleaning the Liquid Metal can be a pain. After removing the cooler, you will notice that the paste is no longer a fluid but instead it seems to be incorporated onto the CPU and cooler. The excess can easily be wiped off using a cloth but the rest requires the use of the metal grinding pad. As the name suggests, what you are effectively doing, is lapping the top of the component so don't be worried if you can no longer see the writing on the CPU. This will mostly likely void your warranty and Coollaboratory's only words regarding this are that any other conduction medium would void the warranty of the component anyway. How a manufacturer would ever find out if a thermal paste other than their own was used, bar the Liquid Metal Pro, is beyond my imagination. The up side is that the Liquid Metal does not actually require to be cleaned and it is even possible to apply regular thermal paste on top of it because of the nature of the material!
More information on how to apply and remove the paste can be found here
Without further wait, let's get to what we're actually here to see, the performance!
You wouldn't think that applying thermal paste would require a dedicated page and you would be right but this paste does have its quirk which I thought would be worth mentioning. Firstly, applying the paste is actually very easy. In fact, it's the easiest material I've had the joy of applying. Simply squeeze a tiny blob onto the CPU, and use the cotton bud to gently press it and spread it evenly on top. On first site, the liquid metal appears a silvery "solder like" blob and moving it about gives it that Terminator 2 feel. As soon as you press it and spread it, a smooth shiny layer is created.
For illustration:
A word of warning though, the Liquid Metal Pro is electrically conductive so make sure that it doesn't make contact with any circuitry and as Coollaboratory advises, do not use it with coolers having aluminium bases. Here's a list of compatible coolers: http://www.coollaboratory.com/compatibility_en.pdf
Removing the paste
After 48 hours of usage, the Liquid Metal consolidates onto the CPU and cooler, allowing for excellent contact and heat transfer but this comes with a downsize. Should you be one of those people who routinely changes cooler, cleaning the Liquid Metal can be a pain. After removing the cooler, you will notice that the paste is no longer a fluid but instead it seems to be incorporated onto the CPU and cooler. The excess can easily be wiped off using a cloth but the rest requires the use of the metal grinding pad. As the name suggests, what you are effectively doing, is lapping the top of the component so don't be worried if you can no longer see the writing on the CPU. This will mostly likely void your warranty and Coollaboratory's only words regarding this are that any other conduction medium would void the warranty of the component anyway. How a manufacturer would ever find out if a thermal paste other than their own was used, bar the Liquid Metal Pro, is beyond my imagination. The up side is that the Liquid Metal does not actually require to be cleaned and it is even possible to apply regular thermal paste on top of it because of the nature of the material!
More information on how to apply and remove the paste can be found here
Without further wait, let's get to what we're actually here to see, the performance!
