Liquid metal paste

[✪Tesla]

I see many people started using it, should I also get it? I have some closed loop single fan radiator from corsair which has a copper heat plate, should I go with liquid metal thermal paste, it's conductivity is good.

[Omega]

No. It's not worth it. It makes little to no difference over decent thermal paste. It's a pain in the butt to apply and remove, it's expensive, it will completely destroy the IHS on your CPU and block on your cooler and if you spill something you will kill components.

This LM is just a stupid fad. There is tons of marketing done around making all these enthusiasts think it's the best thing ever. Which is most certainly is not.

[✪Tesla]

Originally posted by Omega:

No. It's not worth it. It makes little to no difference over decent thermal paste. It's a pain in the butt to apply and remove, it's expensive, it will completely destroy the IHS on your CPU and block on your cooler and if you spill something you will kill components.

This LM is just a stupid fad. There is tons of marketing done around making all these enthusiasts think it's the best thing ever. Which is most certainly is not.

Safest I would say then would be the graphite thermal pads?

[Omega]

Originally posted by ✪Tesla:

Originally posted by Omega:

No. It's not worth it. It makes little to no difference over decent thermal paste. It's a pain in the butt to apply and remove, it's expensive, it will completely destroy the IHS on your CPU and block on your cooler and if you spill something you will kill components.

This LM is just a stupid fad. There is tons of marketing done around making all these enthusiasts think it's the best thing ever. Which is most certainly is not.

Safest I would say then would be the graphite thermal pads?

Just use decent paste like MX-4. If you want better cooling performance buy a better cooler.

[✪Tesla]

My friend has IC diamond, it's also good right? Then I'll go with that

[Omega]

"Each tube of IC Diamond Thermal grease contains 24 carats of micronized diamond with diamond particle loadings"

Just buy thermal paste.. you don't need carbon or silver in your paste.. This is all marketing BS.

And for double the price you get a whopping 1c difference over MX-4.

[✪Tesla]

Originally posted by Omega:

"Each tube of IC Diamond Thermal grease contains 24 carats of micronized diamond with diamond particle loadings"

Just buy thermal paste.. you don't need carbon or silver in your paste.. This is all marketing BS.

And for double the price you get a whopping 1c difference over MX-4.

Hah I get it, thanks

[Aliquis Freedom & Ethnopluralism]

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/366331-mx-4-vs-ic-diamond/
Scary.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-2076773/thermal-paste-advice-arctic-silver-mx4-diamond.html

"You don't need carbon in your paste" "buy MX-4":
https://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/mx-4.html
"The ARCTIC MX-4 compound is composed of carbon micro-particles which lead to an extremely high thermal conductivity." ;D

1.1 degrees better than NT-H1 according to their own marketing on 8800GT.

"In contrast to metal and silicon thermal compound, the performance of MX-4 does not compromise over time. Once applied, you do not need to apply it a second time as it will last at least for 8 years."

"It does not contain any metallic particles so electical conductivity would not be an issue. Unlike silver and copper compound, it ensures that contact with any electrical pins would not result in damage of any sort."

https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3383/arctic_cooling_mx_4_thermal_compound/index2.html
8.5 W/mK
http://www.thermal-grizzly.com/en/products/16-kryonaut-en
12.5 W/mK

So Kryonaut to transfer heat better but as for how much of a difference in real world combined with everything else it make I don't know.
My friend put it on his GPU and now his graphics card is broken.

on 7870 it seem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk9eouWVMPE
MX-4 idle: 36, load: 73
Kryonaut idle: 35 load: 69
So some real world difference.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermal-paste-comparison,5108-6.html
Application is harder too, and with bigger risks than the MX-4.

[🍃🪻🪷Sylvie🩵🍸🍵]

Originally posted by ✪Tesla:

I see many people started using it, should I also get it? I have some closed loop single fan radiator from corsair which has a copper heat plate, should I go with liquid metal thermal paste, it's conductivity is good.

Use Liquid Metal paste if you're delidding IHS for maximum overclocking experience at lower temp results.

[Arya]

A better option would be a new CPU cooler. Thermal Pastes only improve the contact and heat transfer into your cooler. And if you don't have a powerful cooler, you don't get any benefit at all.

Closed-Loop water coolers don't perform well. Single-Fan models are horribly underpowered for gaming, even a basic Air Cooler will give you low temps. If you changed to a midrange Air Cooler like a Cryorig H7 you'd notice a massive improvement in cooling. And it'd also run more quietly.

Water Cooling has a lot of myth around it. Some people credit it with near-mystical powers, that any water cooler is massively superior. After all, they're twice to triple the price of air cooling. Unfortunately that's a myth with no kernal of truth; they don't perform well. And the single-fan models are woefully ill-equipped for a gaming build. Almost any air cooler would be prefferable.

[Sapph]

Liquid metal doesn't work between the cpu and cooler.
It's generally bad for the copper that is used on the cooler bases.

Liquid metal is only used between cpu die and the heatspreader when you delid the cpu.

[Arya]

Originally posted by Sapph:

Liquid metal is only used between cpu die and the heatspreader when you delid the cpu.

And that's only possible with Intel CPUs. And only sensible with 8600K, 8700K and X299 models.

[✪Tesla]

Hmm so any good air cooler around 50 dollar price point with included thermal paste will work fine then right?

[Arya]

Originally posted by ✪Tesla:

Hmm so any good air cooler around 50 dollar price point with included thermal paste will work fine then right?

Well, obviously some are better than others. Noctua, BeQuiet, Cryorig are all exceptionally good and would give you a decent performance improvement. Something like a BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro4 could potentially take 20* c off your Load Temps. But that's a very large cooler and costs closer to $70.

Since your PC hasn't exploded using the tiny Corsair, something like a BeQuiet Dark Rock 3 or Cryorig H7 would be perfect. On budget and would be colder and a lot quieter.

Brands to avoid? Deepcool, Cougar, the other ultra-budget brands. I would also nominate Phanteks, their new fan designs are laughably underpowered.

[🦊Λℚ𝓤ΛƑΛᗯҜᔕ🦊]

Originally posted by Wolfey:

Originally posted by Sapph:

Liquid metal is only used between cpu die and the heatspreader when you delid the cpu.

And that's only possible with Intel CPUs. And only sensible with 8600K, 8700K and X299 models.

Or I7-3770K or 4690K or 6600K, or any of the Intel processors between 3000 series and 8000 series that aren't already soldered. Lots of Intel chips used crappy TIM under the heat spreader.

[Aliquis Freedom & Ethnopluralism]

Originally posted by Impending Rentacle Tape:

Originally posted by Wolfey:

And that's only possible with Intel CPUs. And only sensible with 8600K, 8700K and X299 models.

Or I7-3770K or 4690K or 6600K, or any of the Intel processors between 3000 series and 8000 series that aren't already soldered. Lots of Intel chips used crappy TIM under the heat spreader.

supposedly it's more(?) about distance than the TiIM used. No? For safety of the silicon there's some gap. If you delid and remove the glue things will get tighter and cool better. Both less gap and better TIM help.
May be a thing of the past with 9000K though.