Tested for a Year: How Often Should You Change Liquid Metal?

We tested liquid metal for a one-year period, trying to determine how often you should change liquid metal to keep peak performance in this case study.

The topic addresses a question of "how often should you change liquid metal," as frequently posed by our audience. In this case study, we use a sample size of one to establish a baseline understanding of liquid metal aging and performance degradation, alongside an exploration of variables for such a test. We're using Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut for this testing, so our results may not apply to other types of liquid metal.

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Editorial, Testing: Steve Burke
Video: Andrew Coleman

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[GamersNexus]

We're at PAX West today (8/31). Come say hi! Steve will be at the PC gaming panel at 7:30PM in the Sandworm theater.

[MHBGT]

It's quite crazy that it's been 3 years since this video came out. An update may be interesting to see.

[Deathsaber]

I do have to say, Gamers Nexus and their test methodology is really refreshing. To hear the limitations of the study is something people kind of forget about at times and to hear it here is nice. You guys do a great job. Keep it up and nice new office!

[dajusta]

Had to re-apply my liquid metal today. I first applied it in 2019 achieving temps of 60c, and ~4 years have passed. My temps now before re-applying hit 100c on a 8700K, re-applying got my results of 60c max temps again.

[SergeantZeta]

No capacity for 100 systems running thermal stress tests year long? Say it ain't so! Cool video.

[TimmyJoePCTech]

I delided a core i7 7740x (I know... I didn't buy it, it was given to me) used it on my test bench for a solid year, never had issues, changed coolers multiple times, it allowed for a 5.3 ghz 24/7 overclock 72ish degrees under full load. I decided I wanted to seal the CPU up so I could change out the CPU, I didn't even reapply the liquid metal, I just put some silicon around the IHS, put it back in the socket to for pressure, booted it the next day, results were similar upon testing. maybe a degree off from my original results. Conductonaut is awesome, I've even had it on shunt resistors on my gtx 1070 for a year and it wiped off, no issues when I wanted to put it back to stock.

[WereCatStudio]

2y delided 4770k, used Conductonaut. Temps havent changed since day one. Still 23°C down as when freshly delided

[taipeitaiwan]

Congrats on 300k subs, hope to say congrats on 500k by Christmas. Best science based channel for PC tech.

[tehdave]

I love how you put the stuffed animal in the background

edit: I also like this angle a lot more for filming

[RAHul_KuMaR_ChANdA]

The way to put liquid metal is to put it in q tip first then rub using the q tip.
Hugely reduces spilling risk

[dingleburry]

PSA: liquid metal 1.5 to 2 years and went bad. I delidded my cpu and used liquid metal and thermal grizzly. Noticed when i woke up one day my fans were spinning faster then normal. I replaced the thermal grizzly no change. P95 was shooting my cpu to 100+ c instantly. So i checked the liquid metal, and it was dried up and basically non existant. Just a bit of hard residue. Had to use a razor to scrape it off the IHS, and it just rubbed off the cpu. Re applied fresh stuff. P95 now shoots to 58c. Just a heads up my pc ran 24/7. 50, 60 70 days uptime. Only time it was off was hard crash, or power outage. Pc was only used for gaming. Cpu i7 8700k 5ghz locked. Corsair AIO

[Ageo]

Delid 3770k OC 4.8 for approx 5 years. Never reapplied liquid metal. Still have extremely low temps under load.

[pointyposeidon]

Why no footage of old liquid metal after a year? Would have liked to see how the cpu and liquid metal looked after a year.

[dnso_]

I have a 4770k and a 4790k running for 4 years now with LM without any noticeable degregation in thermal performance over the time. So I would say this stuff holds up pretty well.

[ugluwuglu]

8700k @4.8 GHz, Noctua aircooled, here. Max temp after about 7 months of use in Prime95 is ambient +60C (!), just like it was on day one. Go, Conductonaut!

[HectorDomino.]

I really find it cool "Brought You By Us"
Dope...

[manbat_xd]

Got a Xeon E3-1230 v2 running on liquid for the 3rd year 24/7. It's running good and cool as day 1! Just checked it, the liquid metal is the same as day 1.

[PanheadEL]

Ahhh, thank you for moving the hair light out of frame.

[JohnDCrafton]

Liquid metal doesn't dry. In order to dry, it would first have to be wet. Liquid metal isn't wet.
It can harden, but hardening isn't the same as drying.

[Legiro]

Instructions not clear, my liquid metal formed into a man with a cold star that asked where it can find Sara Connor. I'm not sure if it will impact my cooling efficiency in the second year of use.