Cooling Laboratory's Liquid Metal Pad

I posted this in the TPCReview site, but maybe someone here might be interested as well:

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Original Thread:
http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/showthread.php?t=22801

Enjoy

 

Interesting. I've had no luck replacing the thermal compound in my dv5z. Arctic Silver on the CPU seemed to make no difference. Also, I couldn't replace the pads on the GPU. (Little rubbery sponge-like things. Plain AS5 didn't work there because it didn't make contact with the heat sink.) If these Liquid Metal Pads are as thin as you say, then they probably won't help for my GPU either.

 

I wonder how much do they cost so that we can make a cost to effect decision on it.

 

I used these before, worked really well for me. My concern is that I hear its near impossible to remove something once it has sealed with it (other than maybe heating it up and then quickly taking it off, sometimes not possible)

Cooling was just as good or better than AS5, but I think the real best quality of the metal pads is the fool proof install. You cant mess up and spill it, put too much, put too little. Its always a perfect install.

But it is conductive so care needs to be taken if its going near say a GPU core where electrical nodes are near by.

Since these came out so long ago though, there are some new kids on the block that are supposed to be better and non-conductive. As long as you know how to install TIM they may be better, however if your a first timer and really dont know the correct way to install TIM these give you a perfect install no matter what so I do recommend them.

 

I recently replaced the Stock Asus thermal compound in my laptop with some ICD7. Dropped the temps by an average of 7 degrees!

 

I'm going to have to agree with the Innovation Cooling Diamond 7 recommendation as well.

It dropped my temps 4C and practically eliminated the load-temperature increases. Instead of going from 47C to 80c (load) on my GPU, it now only goes from 47C to 50C.

If you look at thermal-paste roundups, you'll notice that ICD7 constantly ranks the best.

 

That's great temps under load!!

 

For those of you looking for a thermal pad replacement, check out this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=372333
I've tested the Cool Labs stuff, I dont recommend the thermal compound because it eats aluminum and I feel that over time it would prove corrosive on any metal....but the thermal pads do work very well.
I've recommended ICD7 to the Gateway users (who were using AS5 and a copper shim), and every person who has made the switch has seen dramatic temperature drops.
If any of you are interested in trying it out, I got Andrew from Innovative Cooling to join NBR and start a ICD7 giveaway, the one caveat is he needs people to post pics and share their experience using the ICD7......kind of a community test.

 

The liquid metal is based on gallium, which is only inherently corrosive (a reducing agent) to aluminum. Other metals will be fine and will show a very good result. I would recommend it to all non-aluminum heatsinks.

 

Im down for that, one thought that comes to mind with better thermal pads is more heat in the heatsink, so you may see core temps go higher because more of the ram heat is present. Ram naturally runs very hot, in desktops most pro users do not included the ram in a water cooling setup for this reason, it increases the temps of the cores which are more sensitive to the higher temps and more prone to artifacting.

In comparison the ram may be like 110c while the core 80c.

Just a thought.

 

I actually doubled up the pads on my GPU. I had previously replaced the stock thermal compoound with AS5, but when I pulled the thermal pad off the GPU I failed to compensate for the lost space. When I removed the heatsink I noticed that most of the AS5 had dried due to it being out of contact with the heatsink. My laptop comes with the X3100 GPU so I don't think it gets that hot... i actually used a hair dryer to melt (I hope) the pads to the heatsink.

It cost me a little over $11 (USD) with shipping for 3 pads. I used 1/3 of a pad for both the CPU and GPU and think I could realistically get 7-8 uses out of one pack. This product is more expensive than AS5 (a small tube of which will last me FOREVER), but I figured I would take a chance with this and I'm glad I did.

These pads came with a pad to aid in the removal. Per a review that I read before I purchased the product is difficult to remove, but removable none the less.

This is a graph made that can be used to compare temps (sort of). This was a 3 hour test of my CPU temps using RMClock, AS5, and BGA/VGA heat sinks to help drop my temps. The ambient temp at the time was 21c (vs the 25c of my previously posted graph). Even with the increased ambient temp my CPU temps are about 5c lower and the only difference in hardware is the Liquid MetalPad vs AS5.

 

Also, I forgot to mention what CPU I'm using. My laptop is running an Intel T9300 (in case the SLAYY on my CPU isn't a giveaway).

 

I've actually heard that gallium is also corrosive with copper, but not nearly as much as with aluminum....meaning the process is much slower.

Ok, i'm going to try to explain this...without babbling. Copper draws heat better than aluminum...which is why you see better results from coolers that use a copper base....but aluminum disipates heat better than copper....so ideally you would have a copper base with aluminum fins...as the copper would draw heat away from the source, then pass it off to the aluminum, which would then push the heat away with the help of a fan.

As to the heat sticking around, thats the issue with any passive cooling, they ALL rely on some sort of air flow to move the heat away from the source, or the heat would simply stay trapped in the area, and actually become counterproductive.

 

Copper is corrosion resistant to gallium, I have seen tests at my university and even over a year, it has no problems.

 

ok, I may be wrong, and I've been trying to find the study where I got the information, and cant find it....if I happen to, I'll link it....but as it is, consider me wrong.

 

Well it might be possible in the long run, but I have yet to see it. I'll be glad to see any link, if you can find it.

 

If the pads are safe to use with aluminum (as opposed to the liquid) then what do they contain if it's not gallium?

 

http://www.coollaboratory.com/press/sicherheitsdatenblatt_PAD_eng.pdf

The PDF says its made of indium, copper, and bismuth. these things are made for the CPU, and I dont know that I'd recommend them.

If you are looking for a thermal pad, you can check out the thermal pads offered by Shin Etsu, who makes exceptional cooling products, you can use the copper shim that was mentiioned above, or you can use ICD7....all of these work and are easy to remove if done wrong or if you arent happy with the results.

 

Well, after all the threads you pointed me to, I've decided to give ICD7 a try. Just ordered it from Petra-Tech, it seems I missed out on the free trial here...

 

nonsense! If Andrew cant hook you up, PM me your address and I'll send you a tube that I have.

I don't work for Innovative Cooling (I used to own HardwareLogic), and am just someone who really enjoys helping people. I saw an opportunity here, and an untapped resopurce for a product I strongly believe in.....Innovative Cooling and ICD7 dont get nearly the recognition they deserve.

 

Im gonna try out ICD7 on my W90 when I get it back, feel free to send me some

Somewhere somebody was doing a give away and you only had to do something with the product to increase awarness. I said I would do a full review of the product but nobody ever got back with me. I totally lost track of that thread too.

Id like to replace the thermal pads while I am at it.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4740965#post4740965

 

alright cool just sent you e-mail. my W90 is back from RMA in about 2 weeks cant wait to try the ICD7 out.

I may even upgrade the AS5 on my desktop 4850's to the ICD7 that will be a great true test of ability comparing it head 2 head with a known leading TIM instead of against cheap stock TIM installs

 

Hm why is that Official ICD7 thread in the Gateway/eMachines subforum? I would never have thought to look for it there...

 

sorry to be nerdy, but putting two metals in close contact, that differ in electronegativity would not cause corrosion alone. An electrolyte such as salt is required~

 

Electrochemical corrosion is not the issue when gallium is exposed to alluminum. Gallium creates an alloy with aluminum, and if the thermal compound contains gallium it will destroy (make it non functional and, if enough was used, disolve) an aluminum heatsink.

 

Yeah, I'm really sorry about that.....and have already emailed the staff asking them to merge the two threads and move them into a general forum like this one. See, I was trying to help out a couple people who were having heat issues, and who were resorting to things like the copper shim mod to bring down their chipset temps....then got the bright idea of getting a giveaway and some real world testing started.......the notebook community is an untapped resource for Innovative Cooling, and ICD7's versatility and performance should make a lot of notebook users REALLY happy.



But.....back on topic.....

I have been looking and looking, and cannot find that study about gallium having a negative affect on copper, but at a much slower rate. I will say that during all of my testing, the Cool Labs products always worked exceptionally well....but were a PITA. Its a mess to apply, and even worse to remove....but for most users you are going to apply it and forget it, never touch it again....so no real issue there.

 

Where could one find ICD7? Online only or possibly in a local shop somewhere?

Reason I ask is I'm currently in Iraq but headed to Los Angelos shortly for R&R and would love to replace all the heatpads in my M17 with something better. =)

Thanks.

 

Where could one find ICD7? Online only or possibly in a local shop somewhere?

Reason I ask is I'm currently in Iraq but headed to Los Angelos shortly for R&R and would love to replace all the heatpads in my M17 with something better. =)

Thanks.

 

You could buy it at MicroCenter or order it online from FrozenCPU.com.

 

Sweet thanks! =)

 

wow thats really fascinating!

*end off-topic nerd talk*

 

You're welcome