Repasting with CooLaboratory Liquid Ultra, any tips before I start?

Mr. Fox tested Liquid Ultra under extreme overclock and it only proved beneficial for CPU's. It was more of a pain to remove on GPU's, and did not improve temperatures over IC Diamond (on GPU's). So, I recommend sticking with IC Diamond for everything, unless you plan to do some heavy overclocking. :thumbsup:

 

Its a 920xm and may or may not overclock. I'll stick with ic diamond and change if I need to. Thanks

 

Before i had 3740QM OC to 4.3Ghz and temp. almost stays below 80C all the time, thanks to Ultra metal. While with ICD it reached to 92C.

 

That's quite a difference. I may try some on my CPU later when I start over clocking and pushing it.

 

IC diamond is enough.. Really CLU is dangerous amd if your'e a noob at repasting, probably not a good idea...

 

Nothing beats Liquid Ultra for an overclocked CPU. It is crazy good and beyond excellent at cooling. It's not dangerous if the person applying it is not haphazard. It cannot hurt anything if you are prudent and careful, as long as you don't apply it to aluminum. There is no reason to be fearful of using it as long as you don't do something foolish. It's like owning guns, playing sports, operating motor vehicles or voting... the only thing dangerous is stupid people.

IC Diamond is good stuff and I used it exclusively before I discovered how amazing Liquid Ultra is. I am actually using both on GPUs. The 18 has Liquid Ultra on the GPUs and the M18xR2 has IC Diamond on them. Neither machine has any issues with GPU thermal management. The 18 runs warmer than it could only because the fan speeds are artificially crippled by the EC fan tables limiting their speed, and that is why I purposefully applied Liquid Ultra to the GPUs on the 18. I used electrical tape to cover the surface-mounted components adjacent to the GPU die and that worked out fine as an extra precaution. I have Clevo 780M GPUs in the M18xR2, so they have a plastic shield where I applied electrical tape on the Dell 780M cards.

Here is a thread where the virtues of Liquid Ultra was discussed ad nauseam: [Death Match] Thermal Paste Showdown: IC Diamond vs Noctua NT-H1 vs Liquid Ultra

<iframe class='imgur-album' width='100%' height="750" frameborder='0' src="//imgur.com/a/JUQvK/embed"></iframe>

There are a number of examples of cooling effectiveness with captions explaining what each image represents in the post I linked above. I will merge the two threads to avoid having duplicate discussions.

 

Many people recommend and brush with a special varnishes/coating/paint two cover the surface-mounted components adjacent to the GPU and CPU die instead of using electrical tape, when using Liquid Ultra. What do you think of it?

 

Probably would work out OK. I think neither one is absolutely necessary, nor should either one cause any harm. Some people might like the comfort of a security blanket. I am only testing the electrical tape application out of curiosity to see what it looks like after however many months pass until I separate the GPUs from their heat sinks. It will be interesting to see if it stay where I placed it, moved or was ultimately a waste of time. When that day comes I will take photos and add them to the album for others to see if it was effective or a futile burning of calories.

I like the idea of electrical tape being easier to remove than a more permanent brushed-on coating that could be difficult or impossible to remove. That might void a warranty if an OEM is looking for an excuse to screw a customer. Peel off the electrical tape and clean up any adhesive residue with alcohol and there is nothing unusual to look at or generate questions. Some OEMs looks for reasons to blame customers to get out of fulfilling their contractual obligations under the terms of a warranty. Thankfully, Dell/Alienware has never been that way. They seem to always give customers benefit of doubt, which is one of the reasons they are so awesome.

 

To cover around the gpu / cpu die can be wise if someone applying little too much Liquid Ultra. This substance can then be squeezed out around die if you apply a little bit too much. It is certainly also possible and use glossy varnish/paint, then it is not certain technicians see it. The technicians that have been in my house have no idea anything about the repair of such a laptop. I think this is scary. I just let them watch while I fixed the laptop itself, due to bad experiences with the quality they did before.

 

I honestly believe that NBR enthusiasts know more about laptops, both in general knowledge as well as technical skills, than the average computer tech. Besides DIY skills go a long way in terms of saving you money and time, so it's win-win really.

 

When you see what these technicians do with your Alienware, then you will be really scared.

 

Fortunately, not all of them are horrible. There are some that are good at what they do.

 

2000 fine wet sandpaper will fix that heatsink right up.

 

There are certainly technicians who are very good and does a very good job. But My personal experience of technicians, is that some are not enthusiasts and do not care about what they're doing. Perhaps I've been unlucky as I have been visited by two different technicians that just ruined the cooling and cpu on my laptop. TO TECHNICIANS MADE THE SAME MISTAKE. I'm not going to use Dell's technicians unless I have to. (Broken motherboard, CPU or GPU). There is no point in summoning and technicians for bagatelles. It's better to fix everything myself. There is not much that can go wrong on a pc, if you take care of the cleaning and the computer cools properly.:thumbsup:

 

I think the million dollar question for Mr. Fox is, would you trust a tech to apply CLU in your system?

 

It is clearly you can sand down heatsinks but when the technician takes the thermal grease of with a screwdriver, then I would have a new one. I called Dell and explained what the technician had done with my Alienware, then they sent a new one and that I could mount it even with the warranty still intact.

 

Only if there was one who owned a small shop and you've got great feedback from others who have used the technician.

 

As a general rule, I don't like anyone except for me working on my machines for any reason whatsoever. That said, I would trust the tech in my area with most things, but not if it was his first rodeo with CLU unless I was supervising his every move.

 

Same here, i do all my tearingdown around here! I haven't tried liquid ultra but im tempted!

 

Oh man, you have to try it. Follow the application tips I provided. The first attempt was not good results, but doing it as I explained in the screen shots is foolproof. Neither of my Extreme CPUs have shown deterioration in the paste for months of heavy overclocking. It will make that 4940MX seem like a different CPU altogether. I run the R2 and 18 at 4.3GHz with C-States disabled all the time and temps stay very cool (below 90°C). I can bench at 4.5GHz without thermal throttling just using fans full blast. I don't need to use AC cooling any more unless I go above 4.5GHz.

 

I have used my i7-4930mx with Liquid Ulrta now for 7 months without temperature has increased at all. It is not certain I need to apply new at all while I own my Alienware. This is the finest invention since the wheel was invented.

 

Yeah it's seriously awesome stuff. I wouldn't want to use anything else now.

 

Is CLU worth using over other pastes on the GPU specifically? Seems like everyone here is using it only on CPU. Ivy Bridge doesn't have small metal components next to the die like GPU does, so I guess it's safer...

Also, I take it CLU lasts a very long time, i.e. one-and-done no need for future reapplication?

 

You have the most enjoy using Liquid Ultra on a Hotwell Intel processor as it is's awful hot, compared to previous generations of Intel processors. It is a huge challenge to fight with the temperature on a Hotwell processor. A graphics card need only a renowned thermal grease such as IC7 and Gelid extreme. :thumbsup:

 

Well, I'm using Prolimatech PK-3 on everything right now and it tops out at 75C, but no idea about longevity/pump-out as it's only been a couple months. Repasting is a pretty involved process for me (take everything apart, remove mobo, etc.) so if CLU does not degrade over time it would be awesome.

 

I think using IC Diamond is good, not only because it cools decent, but because it does require a re-paste once every six months or so for us hardcore gamers. People should open up their systems, clean them, etc. at least once in that time period. It's similar to replacing the oil in your car. When I do that, I also check other things and make sure all is well. Obviously, if you are heavily overclocking your system, you probably want the best out there, and that has been proven to be Liquid Ultra for CPU's. But for the common gamer, IC Diamond is probably the best option as it's better than other pastes. (I don't consider Liquid Ultra a "paste" - it's bit different.)

That's just my take on the whole ordeal. Use whatever you want or can afford. Just be sure to use thermal paste. Don't forget!

 

If your processor is an Ivy or Sandy then acts Gelid Extreme and IC7 very good on this processors. These processors are not as warm as a Hotwell. I have not been willing to choose something other than these thermal grease if you're going to have a new application of pasta.These thermal grease is the best choice if you do not choose to use Liquid Ultra.
Edit:I've used Noctua Nt-H1 and AS5 before, but these thermalgrease was a huge disappointment.

 

i have applied it for a friend a few times even on the GPUs with electrical tape and i was very careful, he loved the improvement, but for mine i still haven't. i always seem to find ways to keep myself busy on my laptop all the time lol

 

i've been using IC Diamond for years now and i have no complaints. changing the paste every few months also depends on your usage, if you game hard then you might want to reapply paste more then often.

 

When I see what processor you have in your signature, then I hope you have already applied Liqud Ultra at least on your processor..

 

I've used CLU on my GPU's too. The results aren't much better than my previous IC7 applications.. maybe a couple of degree's at standard clocks but somewhat within the margin of error still. It's hard for me to say exactly how well it does on my GPU's as I didn't push them hard enough with OCing when I was on IC7 to say with too much authority. I can say, 780m's do not run hot and rarely go beyond 75 with fair OC's. I had to apply a little more pressure to the heatsinks to get enough contact for good results.

CPU wise... just go for it. The stuff doesn't seem to degrade and it has knocked double digit figures off the temps.
You won't be disappointed

 

it's a must now that i see all the results!

 

Bumping this thread for those that are new to the forum and have not already seen it.

Originally posted on Jan 8, 2014 (post #47):

Well, here are some tests we can use as a baseline for comparisons. I ordered a tube of Noctua NT-H1 Thermal Compound and a tube of Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra for testing. I will replicate the same tests using identical overclock settings with the other pastes to see how they work on a fresh repaste compared to an application of IC Diamond that has already been subjected to 30 days of use, included some pretty severe overclocking.

Control System Conditions
Thermal Paste	IC Diamond - applied on December 8, 2013 (30 days of overclocking) - see extreme benchmarks run on this fresh ICD paste LINK.
Tested CPU / Clock Speed	3920XM / 4.3GHz (43x4) - Note: this is my normal everyday clock speed for this CPU, running with c-states disabled 24/7
Flex VID / XTU Add'l Turbo Voltage	10 / 19.53125mV (Flex bumped to 10 for 3DMark11 and Vantage for improved stability)
Pri Plane / XTU Core Current Limit	896 / 112.000A
ThrottleStop Settings	TRL: 43, 43, 43, 43 - Flex 10; TPL: Long: 200, Short: 200, Turbo Time Limit: 0.0010s, Package Current Limit: 112

If anyone else, including [Nikos], would like to jump in and use these same settings and replicate the tests, it would be awesome to see how consistent the results are. We may see different temps, but from the results we might be able to calculate a reasonably accurate percentage of change. Even if we can't be reasonably accurate with calculations, we might be able to get an accurate pulse on which paste is the consistent winner among multiple systems running at the same or similar overclock speeds.

Be sure to run the tests before repasting, just as I am doing today. To keep it interesting, I ran some tests in both Windows 7 and Windows 8.
[parsehtml] [hr][/hr]</HR> [/parsehtml] Current Control Performance: IC Diamond - 30 days of heavy use
[parsehtml]<iframe class='imgur-album' width='100%' height='750' frameborder='0' src="http://imgur.com/a/YmXeo/embed"></iframe>[/parsehtml][parsehtml][hr][/hr]</HR>[/parsehtml] Fresh Noctua NT-H1 Thermal Compound
[parsehtml]<iframe class='imgur-album' width='100%' height='750' frameborder='0' src="http://imgur.com/a/0D8ly/embed"></iframe>[/parsehtml] First Impressions: Noctua NT-H1 is easy to apply. It has a creamier texture than IC Diamond. While initial results are impressive, I have reservations about whether it will be durable based on its viscosity.
Final Verdict on NT-H1: FAIL - IC Diamond is a better (more durable) product... see screen shots for results after only 4 days. See last screen shot of Darksiders II in-game temps on day 5. Removal in preparation for Liquid Ultra was extremely easy. "Pump-out" effect was obvious when heat sink was removed from CPU.
[parsehtml] [hr][/hr]</HR> [/parsehtml] Fresh Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra
[parsehtml]<iframe class='imgur-album' width='100%' height='750' frameborder='0' src="http://imgur.com/a/8wOSO/embed"></iframe>[/parsehtml] First Impressions: Application was much easier that expected. I "painted" a thin layer to both surfaces (CPU die and heat sink) after a thorough cleaning with alcohol. I was amazed at how little TIM was required. About the equivalent of 1/3 to 1/2 grain of rice was enough for both surfaces. Initial results are as impressive as what we have seen with ht_addict and [Nikos]. I look forward to seeing how long it will last.

Edit: 02/26/2014 - 6 weeks into overclocking hell and the Liquid Ultra show no evidence of degradation. Truly amazing... I am moving IC Diamond to second place on my list of best thermal pastes money can buy.
[parsehtml] [hr][/hr]</HR> [/parsehtml] Liquid Ultra Application
[parsehtml]<iframe class='imgur-album' width='100%' height='750' frameborder='0' src="http://imgur.com/a/JUQvK/embed"></iframe>[/parsehtml]

 

What about this vs Gelid GC-Extreme? I'm almost out of ICD, so time for something new.

 

It's not nearly as good as Liquid Ultra, but similar to ICD. I have Gelid GC-Extreme on some of my GPUs and it works nice. It's not good enough to cool an overclocked Haswell and I cannot massively overclock my 3920XM without AC cooling using ICD or Gelid. With Liquid Ultra I don't need AC cooling for the 3920XM benching.

 

Looks like I'll be buying some Liquid Ultra. Thanks.

 

Ok so...for some odd reason, my temps were intially fantastic with CLU, then degraded for some reason and now the CPU idles at 58-60 degC at 4.2ghz single core and all the way up to 77-81 under full load. Running 42x4 and no extra flex VID. Are these normal temps? I have re-pasted twice and used up all my remaining CLU trying to do this and the M18x disassembly is NOT fun. I used enough to paint the CPU die and the heatsink with a "thin" layer, but it seems to clump in some places when I put it on. It still remains liquid when I take the heatsink off, except the area where the die was not in contact with the heatsink.

 

Well, 4.2GHz and 81°C at full load is not an issue at all so I think you are fine. I would consider them normal if not good for that clock speed. One possible explanation for the change might be coincidental to changes in ambient temps with the summer coming on if your work environment is just slightly warmer. Minor changes in ambient temps can have a fairly large effect, as load temps seem to not scale equivalent with ambient temps. A 4-5°C increase in ambient temps can often translate to 8-10% in load temps in my own experience.

 

My Mx Hotwell processor idle at about 37-39 degrees Celsius with room temperature of 20-21(use Coolermaster U3). Moderate use (internet) 42-43 degrees. The fan runs almost never... I use my laptop in high performance power management 4.3ghz + unpark core's. No temp change of 1.5 years and with the same liquid ultra...
What is normal processor idle temp on a Aw18R2 with Liquid ultra when ambient temp is 20 to 21 degrees? Everything depends on the ambient temp of course. I think CPU idles at 58-60 is much anyway. Raidriar Can the application of the paste be poorly performed or that the heatsink is not completely flat?

 

Bumping for those that have not discovered Liquid Ultra yet.

 

Smart. Many new forum members don't understand that there is something better than just IC7 and Gelid extreme .

 

I have 6 syringes of CLU. more than I've spent on compounds in 15 years.