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Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra: Application Problems And Clean-Up

Thermal Paste Comparison, Part Two: 39 Products Get Tested
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The pictures below are staged. But their purpose is to warn you what might happen if you're not careful, or if you don't pull the CPU from its interface before applying the liquid. Even if you're being meticulous, small droplets will separate and run away. So, keep a thin, clean brush handy to deal with them. Don’t spread them or wipe them away; instead, lift them up!

If you have never experienced the sinking feeling of spotting a liquid metal droplet between CPU pins, look at the bottom picture. However, the tiny droplets at the PCB’s edge may be even worse because they're barely visible to the naked eye.

Cleaning with Chemical Agents and a Wire Brush

It's one thing to apply liquid metal. Removing it is an entirely different ballgame. Even popping off the heat sink can be a challenge. It's very easy to pull an AMD processor right out of its locked socket if you're not extra careful. Make life a little easier by starting the process while the processor is still hot, and detach the heat sink by gently turning it left and right. If you roughed both the heat sink and spreader, you're going to be met with resistance. You might be best off mounting a smooth heat sink on a roughed spreader. This combination seems to come apart most easily.

The cleaning agent from Coollaboratory's cleaning set works, but it won't get everything off. Thus, you still have to use the wire brush. Scrape, apply more solvent, wipe, rinse, and repeat. As you might guess, this takes some time.

In the end, you'll probably wind up with two scratched-up surfaces. Luckily, I bought two closed-loop liquid coolers, allowing him to continue testing conventional pastes with a smooth sink.

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Top Comments
  • 29 Hide
    TehDudeMan , October 20, 2013 9:41 PM
    Great article guys! As a reader for over 10 years pretty much daily, this reminds me of the old Tom's Hardware. These type of in depth articles on enthusiast products are what I love.
  • 27 Hide
    rolli59 , October 20, 2013 9:15 PM
    As good as the first part!
  • 21 Hide
    danwat1234 , October 20, 2013 10:03 PM
    Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra isn't all that good after a year of hard use. In fact, it completely hardens / dries. On my X9100 after 9 months of nearly 24/7 100% load, I started seeing high temps and after 1 year auto shut downs while crunching. Turns out it was shutting off because it hit the 105 C thermal protection.
    Opened it up; thermal compound was as hard as a rock. has to pocket knife blade and sand it down.
    So for longevity it sucks. That is something to consider, not just initial performance, but performance months and years down the road. Especially for laptops that aren't designed to be opened up frequently for repasting.

    After trying Liquid Ultra many times and having it fail on me, I've put on Arctic MX-2 that has a supposed 8 year durability rating. Initial performance is great, we'll see how it lasts (been 3 weeks so far).
Other Comments
  • 27 Hide
    rolli59 , October 20, 2013 9:15 PM
    As good as the first part!
  • 7 Hide
    dragonfang18 , October 20, 2013 9:28 PM
    I loved the toothpaste part. What about Vicks Vaporub? I wonder how that thing would do.
  • 6 Hide
    Azn Cracker , October 20, 2013 9:30 PM
    Yeaaaa! nice in depth article. Disappointed that cheese was not use as a paste :( 
  • 6 Hide
    ledpellet , October 20, 2013 9:33 PM
    Can you test Antec Formula 7 NANO DIAMOND Thermal Compound?
  • 29 Hide
    TehDudeMan , October 20, 2013 9:41 PM
    Great article guys! As a reader for over 10 years pretty much daily, this reminds me of the old Tom's Hardware. These type of in depth articles on enthusiast products are what I love.
  • 6 Hide
    Matt Edwards , October 20, 2013 9:55 PM
    A great article, agree the application of the compound, not the compound itself is most important.

    Like ledpellet I too am curious about these diamond compounds. Wonder if it offers similar results to the Coollaboratory products with an easier application, or if the results simply don't justify the price. E.g in Australia, Innovation Cooling IC7 Diamond 7 Carat Thermal Compound Paste - 1.5G can be found for as much as $25. The cheapest I have managed to find it for is $15. For that price it would want to be good considering the leading GELID GC Extreme, can be found for around $8.
  • 8 Hide
    TerranTerrance , October 20, 2013 9:58 PM
    Adding Ceramique would be greatly appreciated!
  • 21 Hide
    danwat1234 , October 20, 2013 10:03 PM
    Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra isn't all that good after a year of hard use. In fact, it completely hardens / dries. On my X9100 after 9 months of nearly 24/7 100% load, I started seeing high temps and after 1 year auto shut downs while crunching. Turns out it was shutting off because it hit the 105 C thermal protection.
    Opened it up; thermal compound was as hard as a rock. has to pocket knife blade and sand it down.
    So for longevity it sucks. That is something to consider, not just initial performance, but performance months and years down the road. Especially for laptops that aren't designed to be opened up frequently for repasting.

    After trying Liquid Ultra many times and having it fail on me, I've put on Arctic MX-2 that has a supposed 8 year durability rating. Initial performance is great, we'll see how it lasts (been 3 weeks so far).
  • 0 Hide
    slomo4sho , October 20, 2013 10:06 PM
    CLU and Arctic MX-4 are both great products. MX-2 and MX-4 can often be found free after rebate so they are an exceptional value.
  • 2 Hide
    CaptainTom , October 20, 2013 10:45 PM
    More things like this! Articles like this will keep me here more often!
  • 2 Hide
    John Goodman , October 20, 2013 10:59 PM
    Was really hoping you'd test IC Diamond, since that's what I've always used. Bummer.
  • 2 Hide
    stickmansam , October 20, 2013 11:08 PM
    You could do a giveaway for the thermal pastes :p  and include Canada this time :) 
  • 2 Hide
    iam2thecrowe , October 20, 2013 11:13 PM
    would have liked to see a test without thermal compound. Have used noctua nt-h1 for ages now, no curing time sells it for me.
  • 3 Hide
    radiovan , October 20, 2013 11:20 PM
    All the hype aside, could Tom's include an actual industrial "Silicone Heat Transfer Compound", such as the one by MG Chemicals :http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/greases-and-lubricants/thermal-greases/silicone-heat-transfer-compound-860/, any of the future comparisons. If this stuff is good to use in mass industrial applications, how can it not be any better then let's say AS5.

    Plus, AS5 can short out your mobo if some of it gets on the PCB and it costs 10 times as much as the industrial stuff and I don't think it is 10 times better.
  • 2 Hide
    yannigr , October 20, 2013 11:25 PM
    The good old Ceramique should have been in the list. Nevertheless nice article. Disappointed with the tooth paste. Expecting more from it.
  • 0 Hide
    rwinches , October 20, 2013 11:27 PM
    Coollaboratory Liquid MetalPad sounds ideal.
    Might there be a way to achieve proper bond by heating the pad as well as getting the cpu hot?
    I guessing this would be most ideal for GPUs though, as they want to get very hot.
  • 0 Hide
    milktea , October 21, 2013 1:20 AM
    Great article!

    BTW, is the Cooler Master Extreme Fusion X1 available in the USA?
  • 9 Hide
    PreferLinux , October 21, 2013 1:50 AM
    It would have been nice to see the stock thermal paste on the Intel cooler too...
  • 0 Hide
    HazardManiac , October 21, 2013 1:57 AM
    I just ordered the liquid pro and I'm already starting to regret it...
  • -8 Hide
    Technoart , October 21, 2013 2:46 AM
    You guys should see how big tube of thermal paste and how big is the thermal tape that are available inside AMD. All of this product are obsolete.
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