Liquid Metal Cooling. Performance vs. Risk

It's common knowledge that anything that works with electricity generates heat. The same goes for our PC components. Graphics cards, for example, are notoriously known for running hot enough to boil water at times. And with newer components getting more powerful than efficient, this problem will continue for quite some time.

Before we dive into applying liquid metal to our GPU, let's take a look at how heat is dissipated from our graphics cards. The main heat-generating component: the GPU die, is where all the necessary computing takes place. This is generally located somewhere at the center of our PCB, a shiny nickel rectangle. As it works harder and harder, more and more heat is output to the heatsink. A heatsink is a metal structure that rests atop the PCB, sucking out heat from the GPU and dissipating it to the atmosphere. The faster heat can get transferred from the GPU to the heatsink, the cooler will run. To achieve this, manufacturers use thermal grease between the GPU and the heatsink. However, sometimes even this falls short to cool the latest power-hungry graphics cards.

One way to solve this issue is to use a better thermal interface material than the GPU manufacturers. And many enthusiasts now look to liquid metal, a thermal interface material that's a staggering 16 times as thermally conductive compared to the regular thermal paste.

Before we see how well it works, let's take a look at a few of its drawbacks and risks. Liquid metal, although highly thermally conductive, is also highly electrically conductive. This means if even a little seeps off onto the PCB, it can instantly short components and kill our machine. Another risk is voiding your manufacturer's warranty, as such mods are normally not advisable due to risk to components.

Now, knowing the risks, if you wish to proceed: let me show you how to do it.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Isopropyl Alcohol 90%
Tissues
Q-Tips
Liquid Metal (I’m using Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut)

First, let's remove the manufacturer's thermal paste. To do this, we must carefully remove the heatsink from the PCB. In most cases, even this action can void one's warranty.

Remove the four screws circled in red to separate your heatsink from your PCB. Make sure you do this carefully, as any sudden jerks could damage the fan cable connecting the PCB to the heatsink. Slowly unplug the fan cable shown below before you pull apart the heatsink from the PCB.

Next, begin cleaning all the thermal grease on the GPU die and the heatsink with the isopropyl alcohol and tissues till the GPU die looks shiny.

Now that the GPU Die and heatsink are clean, we can begin applying the liquid metal.

Slowly let out a tiny droplet onto the GPU Die, no bigger than a millimeter squared. Begin spreading it with the included Q-tip to create the thinnest possible layer.