Take a look at the Community Guidelines and stop this back and forth.
This thread is far too useful to lock so we’ll just start deleting posts if the Community Guidelines are broken.
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I bought some PTM7950 from lttstore.com in preparation for when my FW13 arrives (7840u 2.8k batch 2). When I receive it I plan to install Windows, run a benchmark a few times to thermal cycle the laptop, and “break in” the framework stock thermal paste, then performance test it. After that, I will remove the thermal paste, apply PTM7950, thermal cycle the laptop again, and re-run the benchmarks. I want to do this in a controlled, scientific way where I document everything.
There is some excellent information in this thread already, but since I plan on “upgrading” to PTM7950 I thought I would do an apples-to-apples comparison of stock paste vs PTM7950 in a more controlled/scientific way.
I need some help because I haven’t done anything like this before. What benchmarks should I use? What settings should I remember to change? (I want to ensure all the power settings are maxed out). What common testing pitfalls are there? Any advice or information from people who have done benchmarks like this would make my life easier. Thank you!
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You would need to control at least:
- Fan speeds,
- Clock speeds,
- Power limits,
- Physical environmental conditions,
You should also be controlling/aware of:
- Computer environment (e.g. is monitoring software always running, disable or remove as many background services/programs),
- Laptop heat soak, the devices a whole will warm up as you run tests so maybe discard the first run or two of a bench.
You need to repeat each of your test until you get consistent results likely at least 3-5 times (after discarding first 1 or 2).
If you want to go for max thermal load I think prime95 (small FFTs IIRC) is your best option.
Cinebench is a popular CPU test,
Blender and Handbrake renders would be a good heavy realistic workload tests, C-ray, 7-Zip too.
Here is a list of benchmark tools you could take a look at Benchmark Test Profiles - OpenBenchmarking.org
Look forward to your test results, have fun 
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Anyone know a source for buying genuine PTM7950 in Germany? Apart from international shipping from the LTT store? Otherwise I’ll probably buy the Thermal Grizzly pads.
Thanks! This info is really helpful. I’ll keep you updated when my fw arrives.
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You can buy Thermal Grizzly PhaseSheet PTM directly from their website. The company is located in Germany. It is most likely a rebranded Honeywell PTM7950.
Edit: Sorry, I missed your last sentence in which you mentioned Thermal Grizzly. Thermalright also sells a rebranded PTM7950 called Heilos, which should be slightly cheaper. Most of the bad reviews are from poor application; just put it in the freezer before you apply, and it should be easier.
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I’m looking forward to reading about your results.
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My 7840U FW had liquid metal on the CPU/heatsink stock. I actually went in there to apply some, and it was there from the factory. IME, LM slightly outperforms PTM7950, so you may not get the results you want.
Could you make a photo of the precautions installed by FW for LM?
Framework does not install liquid metal for any of the Framework 13s as they are designed for thermal paste only. They haven’t made any official announcement about a switch to liquid metal for the 13.
Do you happen to have a picture of what you saw?
I don’t have any photos from when I first got it. I might open it up to take some. Not really excited to do so, LM gets everywhere with the slightest provocation.
Oh, if you don’t have pictures of how it originally was, then it’s fine.
Since when are they doing that on the 13? Or are you talking about a 16 with a hs chip?
In my testing the difference between lm and ptm was margin of error at least without going to great lengths to bypass stapm throttling and I only figured that out after I moved on to lm so I was not able to see if it makes a bigger difference at higher loads.
If I knew then what I know now I’d probably not have moved on to lm but my mind could not comprehend a pad being allmost as good as lm so i expected even bigger imprevements XD.
The trick is not provoking it XD
But yeah nasty stuff, is conductive, goes everywhere and eats solder (and aluminum which the laptop happens to be made of). So ptm having most of the performance with none of that mess was quite a surprise to me.
I’ve had my core ultra for a couple weeks now (loving it (Ultra 7 155H) and had some leftover thermal pads (this Honeywell stuff we’re talking about in this thread). What would be the best course of action to get some results for the rest of the community of before and after?
Hopefully it stays that way! I think the safety of PTM7950 is worth the minuscule performance difference.
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I agree with you on this one. I would much prefer the 13 sticking to either regular thermal paste we can easily replace with PTM, or switching to PTM instead of thermal paste.
I have yet to find a single real reason to use liquid metal over PTM.
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Has anyone else found liquid metal being applied to the stock Intel core CPUs on their framework 13 when opening it up ?
i want to give people an update regarding the initial ebuy7 link in the OP. I ordered a sheet from them in September and want to tell people that in my package there are no longer any stickers refering to honeywell and came in two sealed bags. the tools in one and the material in the other. it doesn’t initially ring potential fake material yet until i apply later today i will record my results and then say if i believe the source is now potentially fake.
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Back to answer my own question: about 27.75x11mm. Seems safe to go a little bigger, and that helps with placement too.
My semi-scientific measurements agree with the consensus that PTM7950 helps on the 12th Gen: idle temps are 3-4 degrees cooler (~45C to ~41C in ~23C ambient). Under a s-tui stress test the core temps measured up to 5C cooler and the fan took two minutes to hit the observed max 6800rpm, whereas it got there in 30 seconds before.
Not earth-shattering improvements for my real-world use: I’d kind of hoped some of the short periods of fan noise would go away or quiet down but that part of the experience is roughly the same. Still better, though.
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