Liquid Metal vs thermal paste

Framework Laptop 13
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The Linus Tech Tips video compares the two, starting at approx 7 minutes.

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Lolā€¦

I posted a video directly in this post you quotet and another one postet a forum-post with exactly the same topic 1 post below. And also you can just type on youtube ā€œptm 7950 vs liquid metalā€ and scroll a bit. You will find ~3 more videos.

I was reading a lot about ptm9750 in the last couple of days.

There are cases, where ptm7950 can be a lot worse than liquid metal, but not always. If you apply it on a NOT-direct DIE cooling method, i often heard (but never saw in videos/tests), that it had bad perfomance. BUT:

  1. I also red often, that some people had to burn-in the thermal pad for several hours (or just using it normal some days), before reaching the whole potential.

  2. Because the thermal pad melts @45Ā° celcius, it (my hypothesis) could be bad on desktop-cpu, where you have not a direct contact to the CPU-Die. So the surface where the thermalpad is mounted on, has lower temperatur than the DIE itself. So that MIGHT give probelms. BUT i also saw videos with desktop-CPUs, where ptm7950 were way better than high-end thermal paste.

  3. There is a rumor (i never saw any real test who evidence that), that with high mounting-pressure (like on a desktop-cpu), ptm7950 has bad perfomance. But again: I also saw some tests with desktop-cpu which were worse. But i also red from users, which had implement it on their laptop and where trying it then on their desktop and then it was not good anymore.

Conclusion: On direct-DIE mounting (like Laptop CPU/GPU and desktop-GPU) i think it should be a super cooling solution. In the other cases you should be warned. It can be good (i saw some cases), but it can also not be good.

The question is now, why are there cases with good results and cases with bad results. One solution could be, that the results which were good had used coolers, which had lower mounting pressure (but againā€¦ i newer saw a test). Another reason could just be, that the good results were, because they were not able to apply the other TIM correctly, so ptm7950 looked good against them.

There are several possibilities which are all wild guesses.

But also important to say is, that ptm7950 lasts longer than thermal paste, but probably not longer than liquid metal on nickel-plated coolers, but i dont know. Probably about the same on copper-coolers. Itā€™s said, that you have to reapply (without scratching the old layer away) liquid metal on copper-based cooler-surface. But i never saw a tests, how long it lasts on the second apply.

But from copper i saw in videos cooling-perfomance-degradation after ~ 1-2 years. But i did not find a tests, how long it lasts, after you applied it the second time. If it lasts ā€œforeverā€ or only 2 years.

Same for nickel-plated coolers. I saw some tests after 1 year, but i did not find tests after 2 or 3 years.

I saw on reddit a user, who tested ptm7950 several times. after 8 months it was about the same cooling perfomance like on start. After 12 months it started to get worse. But he also stated, that normal thermal paste get worse after 2-4 months. So keep that in mind.

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Sorry, i didnt express myself correctly. I meant, there are no direct comparisons on the framework.

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