Results: Closed-Loop Liquid Cooler; High Mounting Pressure
We start with closed-loop liquid cooling, since this is the most popular type of water cooling used by enthusiasts. Relatively high performance and low complexity are particularly suited to less experienced builders.
Unlike the rest of the field, Coolaboratory's Liquid Metal Pad necessitates a burn-in, so we heated the CPU momentarily to 75°C Tcase and verified that the film melted, combining the two metallic surfaces. As far as usability goes, this is definitely a negative against that particular product.
In the meantime, high-quality, expertly-applied pastes are hardly any worse, so there's really no good reason to go the pad route. We also note that the variation between pastes is very low when applied thinly and with adequate contact pressure.
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