Liquid Metal Pro destroyed my stock Dell Heatsink

Liquid Metal Pro was a revolution in thermal compound when it debuted a little while ago. People on [H]ard|OCP say to get some and "claim your 15 degree drop."
It's so effective that you get a 15 degree cooler CPU just by using this compound alone which is insanely impressive, people pay hundreds of dollars for water cooling setups to get cooling drops like that and this compound is only about 12 dollars.
It does say on the package some kind of warning about aluminum, but most heatsinks are aluminum. I thought the warning was just that it doesn't spread easily on aluminum, it pools up on it and doesn't like to stick to it as you can see in my other videos where I installed it on my main PC.
My main PC also has an aluminum heatsink but it didn't destroy that one. So why did it destroy this one? Was it more porous? A lower quality aluminum perhaps? I don't know.

[@joaovasco3969]

Read instruction manual before using stuff m8 its clearly states not to use on Aluminium because it made from a mixture made with galium. You should make a Note on Video stating it was your Fault cause uninformed users will think Liquid Metal Pro is bad.

[@Y0oUrMama]

640 XDM i highly recommend it. (Only for delids)

[@davidk7544]

It ruins copper too, it just takes longer. It's not just a horrible idea, it's horrible, and it's yet another mix of toxic heavy metals that will go into people's sinks.

[@pickleadaykeepsthedoctoraway]

It amalgamates copper very slowly so that's really an issue for the most part. Not to mention most copper in PCs is nickle plated, which is perfectly LM safe. I have yet to see copper ruined (it doesn't conduct heat well any longer), rather permanently stained. 10 years of LM on copper? Sure, but what components are you using for 10 years and why would you use LM for such a long application in the first place? At that point it's a YOU problem and not the product's problem, because LM was never meant for long term *forget it and leave it* applications. Just because you can't figure out how to use it correctly (wow, counting days is hard) doesn't mean it's a horrible idea. Also the stuff inside your computer is guaranteed to be far more toxic process than a little liquid metal. Those super acids they use to clean the components are nasty enough, and that's 1 of hundreds they use to make your electronics. They also have to breakdown the electronics. LM is environmentally friendly compared to what we're doing with electronics overall. Also the compounds in LM are poorly absorbed by the human body, and don't bio-accumulate. So really it's not an issue. Also LM for cooling is ultra niche, unlike the hundreds of billions of components built every year. Quit with the fear mongering and do some research. Imagine giving a shit about 1g of LM while typing this out on a computer LMFAO.

[@NJ_Galactic]

this guy is a tool, I bet his other heatsink is also rotting away too

[@n.i.5381]

@@pickleadaykeepsthedoctoraway "...LM was never meant for long term forget it and leave it applications" Where is your proof of that? Games Nexus disagrees with you I think.

[@GainingDespair]

I can't believe it's not satire.

[@rsmith155]

Unedited Gamer why would anyone make this idiocy public knowledge

[@vasilikixantha8241]

You actually made a video about this? I wouldn't even tell it to my best friend...You screwed up big time!

[@ultima199g]

Gotta have a non aluminum contact surface. Copper or nickle plated is what you'll usually want.

[@El_Chompo]

Yes I had used it on my de-lidded i7 and since the heat spreader was silver looking and my heatsink was also silver looking I assumed that they were aluminum. They must be nickel or silver plated or something because it's been running great for months since I applied it there.

[@noname-wo9yy]

sirgallium it's tinted in tin which is none reactive with gallium

[@ghaviorizky3961]

@@El_Chompo your IHS on your I7 is nickel plated copper,so its not gonna destroy the metal

[@markseven6046]

sirgallium killer troll bro

[@kmemz]

The heatsink in your desktop may not be aluminum; it may be nickel plated copper. A poor finish on the nickel plating can make it look like aluminum, even though it isn't. Nickel is the least reactive of the three common heatsink metals when it comes to gallium, so it lasts the longest of the three. Aluminum heatsinks react quickly, and the reaction produces a metal byproduct that has poor thermal conductivity. Copper reacts far more slowly, and while the reaction results in a metal that is less conductive, it is only slightly less conductive. So for copper, you can apply it, and change it every here and there (a few months between changes, let the reaction sink in but not dry out the LM) until the discolouration looks saturated enough that it won't react anymore. Nickel does still react with Gallium, but only very slightly so, and the byproduct it produces is similar enough in thermal conductivity that there will be little change in performance even on a fully reacted surface. I can't say how long it can last between changes, but Nickel will stand up for a very long time, though I would change it out once after two years to be safe. Anything that was going to react would have reacted by that point probably.

[@MikeTrieu]

"sirgallium" needs to have his name card revoked if he didn't know about gallium alloying with aluminum. Holy shit, the ignorance burns!

[@rickmec]

Proper title: How I destroyed my aluminum heatsink with liquid metal.

[@cccalhoun]

Gallium dissolves aluminum. Liquid metal is made with Gallium. It soaks into the crystalline structure, which is why it spread over your fins; less than a drop of it can spread considerably. To get around this, use a heatsink with a copper baseplate and make sure the liquid metal *never* touches *any* aluminum so it won't soak in and spread.

[@madmax2069]

Looks like the same effect as gallium. I would just toss it and get another HS, it's probably going to continue eating away as it's in the aluminum now.

[@pr0xZen]

madmax2069 Its exactly the same effect as gallium on aluminium, because if anyone reads the product description and HUGE warnings anywhere, they would know that it *_IS_* gallium on aluminium.

[@FennecTECH]

Liquid metal has a large ammount of galium in it.

[@CreamedCurry]

Ya goof

[@compwiz00]

on the slight chance you haven't figured this out yet, your other heatsink probably has a nickel plated copper cold plate, but aluminum fins on the heatpipes. So the gallium never touched the aluminum.

[@HighVoltageMadness]

No most aftermarket heatsinks are nickel plated copper not aluminum you cannot use liquid metal on aluminum. Liquid Metal is gallium so it will dissolve aluminum that's why there is a warning.

[@davidk7544]

Did you NOT read the instructions? It's "good" in a way that you did that, now people can get an idea of how horrible gallium is for other metals. It sounds great, but... it's not.

[@kits2169]

My guess is that your other pc is either slowly corroding, or you have a nickel plated copper base on your heatsink, since gallium is safe on nickel and copper (may cause discoloration but not corrosion of nickel like your aluminum heatsink)

[@El_Chompo]

Yes I think it is nickel plated. I saw some of the warnings on the box but for some reason the way it read I just thought that the liquid metal had a hard time sticking to aluminum, not that it would destroy it. Also if I had known that liquid metal was basically just gallium, I do know that gallium attack aluminum. Anyway I flipped that dell heatsink over and used the other side for cooling and that computer has been running fine ever since : )

[@kits2169]

sirgallium Nice! Unfortunately I wasn't so lucky, I did the same thing with my AMD a10 stock cooler, tiny thing, after only 3 days it was leaving a pile of corroded dust and the fins were falling off, I was lucky I hadn't shorted my board, the heatsink is totally destroyed and unusable now lol here's some images of the aftermath: Liquid metal on aluminum heatsink imgur.com/gallery/uTIdyWC

[@El_Chompo]

Dang boi that's some crazy shit. I'm honestly surprised there aren't larger warning labels because when you think about it this way: The vast majority of heatsinks are made from aluminum, and this is a product made to put on heatsinks. I mean, come on. It's really not that big of a mistake to make, you're using a thing for what it was made to do. I guess they are just relying on the fact that most people who are into computers and overclocking enough to know about liquid metal TIM, know that it can't be used on aluminum. Yeah it had some small warnings on it but they were translated from another language so they weren't the most straightfoward to understand. It never said, warning, this will destroy your shit. It just says something like watch out for aluminum. I'll see if I can find the packaging to see what the actual label said, but I read it, and it really didn't convey to me the full danger that it represented. 99% of heatsinks are aluminum, and this is a product made to put on heatsinks. I mean come on. This is such an easy mistake to make. I just looked up a picture of it. There is a small bit of text on the bottom front of the package warning you in german not to use it on aluminum. That's not really sufficient for english speakers I think. I'm sure the warning is repeated in english in the manual booklet that came with it, but I can't find a copy online. I do remember reading it and I never had the though from reading the manual that it would absolutely destroy aluminum. It just sounded like a small warning as if it was harder to spread on aluminum or something from what I can remember. It didn't say NEVER use this on aluminum, it said watch out for aluminum, as if it was difficult but not impossible or something. Again, if I had known that this TIM was basically just pure gallium, I did know that gallium attacked aluminum, but at the time I didn't know that that's pretty much the only thing that this stuff was made of. I thought it was just some kind of liquid metal magic stuff.

[@kits2169]

The booklet that came with my Liquid Metal Ultra states, and I quote, "Can be used with all materials (copper, nickel, gold, silver) but within the directions it also states: "Warning: Please note that you can't use Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra with a contact area of aluminum, as it corrodes aluminum. The heatspreader of actual processors consists of nickel-plated copper, not of aluminum." and then others like Conductonaut come with somewhat large orange warning pages stating not to use with aluminum, I knew the risk before use but I did it anyway, didn't think it would be so intense so quickly.

[@El_Chompo]

Perfect. Thank you.

[@nakuvamp]

Liquid metal contails gallium which straight destroys aluminum your other aluminium cooler may have been nickle or copper plated

[@ImDembe]

Try thorowing the heatsink on the ground and it will shatter like glas, most of it looks perfect but it's really all infected by now and you should be able to break that heatsink in to pieces by hand.

[@JMatrx]

Other coolers (such as the one in your gaming rig) usually have a copper contact base, may it be nude copper or nickel plated so that it looks like aluminium too, that thermal compound won't eat it away, as it does on CPU IHSs. Impressive corrosion there btw :O

[@RogueNek0]

If you get a copper heatsink then it shouldnt damage the heatsink. Liquid metal corrodes anything made out if aluminum which isnt completely explained in the instructions.

[@Accuaro]

this is great, a good video to warn others to not put liquid metal on aluminium coolers, gallium loves to alloy itself with other metals, especially bare copper that we usually see in cpu coolers, it even happen with nickel plated copper as well but not as much

[@El_Chompo]

The reaction has also completed and it didn't reach the other side of the heatsink. So it's just flipped over right now, still running my dedicated web server no problem.

[@GAnimeRO]

For premium cooling power just use Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut as paste.

[@thevindictive6145]

I kinda regret buying my cpu cooler, it's aluminium copper pipes in between on the contact surface. I did my research before buying the paste, obviously this guy did not.

[@fuzzfizz]

nurdrage posted 6 years ago about aluminim heatsink destroyed by galium.

[@faudanke4459]

Anybody just gonna fuckin ignore he also put the same stuff on his main pc that also has an aluminum heatsink

[@oliversmeeton]

Your other heatsink probably had a copper plate contacting the CPU and that is why it didn't get eaten by the liquid metal

[@El_Chompo]

I think it was nickel because it was silver looking. Now I have a Predator liquid cooling setup and I want to delid my i7 and get the direct die adapter from EK. My only worry is that this waterblock has such strong springs you have to press so hard to engage them that i left some dents on the waterblock where it hits the corner of the CPU heatspreader. I would be afraid of putting that much pressure direct on the die. Maybe there is some way if I'm really careful and take the board out of the case so I can have access to the back side and have somebody help me to make sure it's perfectly lined up with equal pressure and everything when installing.

[@-........]

getting a temp reduction 15 degrees after putting LM between ihs and cooler probably means there wasnt enough paste in the first place. just get a bigger cooler with actual copper

[@El_Chompo]

You are right I recently redid that computer and the heatsink was not touching the CPU at all. I had to cut it with an angle grinder to get it to touch again on the back side.

[@-........]

@@El_Chompo damn. hope it is doing better now

[@El_Chompo]

@@-........ Haha it's doing great now that the heatsink actually touches and I'm not using liquid metal with it xD I run websites off it now.

[@felipequansalazar]

Your main desktop heatsink isnt aluminum. If it was, the same outcome would happen with it. gallium and aluminum dont mix. what you believe is aluminum on your heatsink is probably nickel plater copper

[@TheRealFobican]

As someone who wanted to see how the aftermath looks like, this is quite severe. Looks like you should get yourself a cooler made out of nickel or at least copper instead.

[@El_Chompo]

Flipped it over, using the other side. The chemical reaction stopped at that point. It's still running next to me as a dedicated server on Linux with no problems.

[@TheRealFobican]

@@El_Chompo cool.

[@madness3D_]

This is or at least should be common knowledge. Galium reacts to aluminium and makes a brittle alloy.

[@ramonbs6075]

I appreciate your video with your experience. But yes, it corrupts the aluminum.

[@FennecTECH]

As for your discription your Main rigs heatsink robally had a coper billot on the bottom. Galium will only destroy aluminum if it makes direct contact with it. Now go squeeze that heatsink with your hands and crush it Itl be fun

[@MasterGGG]

Liquid metal is NOT for aluminum, copper is ok

[@Befread]

Well not ok, but better, he needs a nickle plated HS.

[@ShazeAn]

its written on the packaging for dumb people to know. Not knowing is one thing, doing it after reading it from packaging is another lol :D

[@El_Chompo]

On my package the warning was written in German not english

[@ShazeAn]

@@El_Chompo should have bought English version then, better yet translated it.

[@ShazeAn]

@Masterr Laster and who's fault is that then?

[@simoeqr1113]

Learnd in the hard way 😂

[@graupe1]

it could be that your main cooler has a copper core and gallium dosnt react to copper or nickel

[@anisalikhan1768]

You put gallium thermal compound on an aluminum heatsink? Slowclap.

[@The_Mimewar]

Hold the phone chief: you added a GALLIUM alloy, to your ALUMINUM components…that board is probably FUCKED too.

[@El_Chompo]

Nope still works :p

[@ChadDidNothingWrong]

Lol il' bet you were shocked when you pulled that thing off. The base on your other heatsink definitely isn't aluminum.

[@rickmec]

First thing on the instructions is ¡Keep away from aluminum! Basically they tell you this is a hazard

[@Noine14159145]

So this is Satire, right?

[@FirstName-hd7ss]

😂 aluminium honey it’s aluminium

[@vannak139]

Congratulations on learning the second and last interesting thing about gallium!

[@hardenethd3741]

So kids, thats what happens if you don't read the manual

[@El_Chompo]

Hey now the warning on the cover was in German. And who ever reads a manual for thermal paste when you've been putting it on for 15 years and never had an issue.

[@Tom--Ace]

Mate this is 100% on you

[@JasonTsimplis]

Read the instructions.

[@Gahuboy]

So basically this is a case of RTFM...

[@Adam-yf4cd]

lol why would u use liquid metal on aluminum cooler thats a clear and obvious no no

[@claritoresdiano1021]

Pray for PC

[@El_Chompo]

Press f to pay respects

[@claritoresdiano1021]

👼 F

[@evocatiproductions]

F

[@NJ_Galactic]

hence why you don't use liquid metal on aluminum.....

[@ekdromoi]

thats your fault. you deserve that. if you're going to play with enthusiast products, know what your're doing first

[@noname-wo9yy]

O no I didn't no basic chemistry and can not read basic instructions because lol reading is for scrubs. I know now I will cry to youtube

[@FennecTECH]

This is entirely your fault RTFM

[@xrror]

Honestly, while it might be fun for everyone to pile on sirgallium for not reading the instructions... to be fair the warnings CooLabortory has in the manual for Liquid Pro about aluminum don't really say WHY you shouldn't. On the back: "It is absolutely nontoxic and has a high moistening ability for several materials (copper, nickel, gold, silver) in current PC systems besides aluminum." If you actually unfold the instruction sheet (which, I admit I'd never done before) it highlights in red: 1) don't smear it around electronic components because it is conductive. 2) don't stab yourself with the syringe. 3) it can make cpu markings hard to read. On another flap in red: "Warning: Please note that you can't use the Collaboratory (sic) Liquid Pro with a contact area of aluminum, The heatspreader of actual processory (sic) contain of nickel-plated copper, not of aluminum." Which is just telling you that your processor (heatspeader) will be a-okay, in case you were worried that it was aluminium. I swear somewhere in there it says "Aluminium will be damaged" but I can't find the quote now. But again it just implies "sub-optimal" not "destroyed." Last... sirgallium - the other aluminium heatsink you're using Liquid Pro on that's "still working?" You're just riding on extreme luck - when aluminium is exposed to oxygen (air) it "rusts" and forms a passivating layer of aluminum oxide. Apparently on your other heatsink you lucked out and didn't scratch that layer, so the gallium it's actually touching the aluminum. But it only takes a pinhole/scratch in that layer to start the same process that happened to your Dell heatsink. And that layer is only a few atoms thick.... So maybe you might want to change that out sometime? heh

[@xrror]

I missed a word: On your other machine where you used Liquid Metal with an Aluminum heatsink and it didn't destroy it (YET) - the gallium is NOT touching the aluminum because of the aluminum oxide layer. But at the first scratch... it's going to do the same thing as your Dell heatsink. What's fascinating is that what "destroys" the aluminum isn't exactly the gallium directly, it's that gallium disrupts aluminum's ability to form that aluminum oxide layer that protects it from further oxidizing. Basically it makes it like iron in salt water but on a way faster scale. The aluminum is just all consumed reacting with the oxygen in the air making powdery crap where your nice heatsink was before!

[@davidk7544]

It is NOT "absolutely non-toxic". Humans cannot metabolize or use the metal mix in this "product", and in the concentrations it comes in (effectively pure), it is absolutely toxic as are most metals, even the metals needed for metabolism in humans. Being in a liquid phase makes them easier to absorb and ingest in absurdly high amounts.

[@pickleadaykeepsthedoctoraway]

David K - You're wrong again. Our bodies have poor absorption of the metals inside of LM. "Being in a liquid phase makes them easier to absorb and ingest in absurdly high amounts." Except for the fact it will pass right through you, but I bet you ignored that bit of info since it doesn't jive with your whole "Wahhh the world is toxic I gotta woke people!" You need to do proper research, because right now you're an ignoramus spreading false information. Did you do badly in school so now you have to prove yourself? It's clear you haven't done the necessary research into any of these matters, yet you speak like you've done a modicum of research.

[@MondoMurderface]

Not going to downvote because this is important to know. But you might wanna take apart your PC and check. Aluminum will be eaten up by that shit. It will even eat copper but much slower. Really not a long term thermal paste imo.. Last leg of your PC and you want some better cooling for your overclock? Go for it.. Brand new build? Just dont..

[@kithsirigunasekara3675]

My processor i7 4790k. gaming Temps are in the 85-90°C rang. reduced my temperatures best solution liquid metal or thermal paste?

[@El_Chompo]

90 degrees is OK but that should be the maximum of a healthy CPU being pushed hard by a game. Liquid metal can help, but make sure you have an aftermarket cooler first that doesn't have an aluminum base or else the liquid metal will react with it and eat it away. You might be able to start off first just by taking apart your system cooler and checking to see if it's filled with dust. Clean out all the dust in the cooler, and put on fresh thermal grease and see if that helps. Check your idle temperatures too. Normally if you are just on your desktop doing nothing you should get a temp around 32 to 40 degrees. If you get that then you know your cooler is setup right. I also have the 4790k and I idle at around 32 degrees but I haven't checked the temperatures under heavy load. If you decide to use liquid metal be very careful when you apply it because it can be messy and it is conductive so you can't really get it on anywhere but exactly where it's supposed to go on the CPU and heatsink plate. Most people get an 8 to 10 degree drop with liquid metal.

[@nogghan4637]

i cant believe this is an honest video... you deserve this

[@ChadDidNothingWrong]

When your kid breaks his leg: "You deserved that." ...the sign of a truly great man

[@gonace]

I've heard that margarine is a good alternative to liquid metal, and a plus is that it smells like popcorn when running Crysis!

[@izunapfol]

Lol this is comedy

[@8bitsamurai6]

It's not really mentioned for top of ihs. Ment for direct die.

[@Chrabnet]

its copper dude..

[@Chrabnet]

and the top of the ihs and the bottom is the same material..

[@elporretaespacial]

Omg, that aluminium

[@eugenkrause5556]

Liquid metal is like 90% gallium. Yes.

[@MRNOFILTER718]

lmao Things not to do. Use liquid metal inside the cpu or on a delicious bagel

[@RetroScreen]

In case of being dumb, do not use.

[@FennecTECH]

Check out a few of these videos There really fucking cool! kzbin.info/www/bejne/gHmremWCoJxsmbs This is what galium (the primary componet in liquid metal) does to aluminum!

[@JaredJanhsen]

*looks at username This is an obvious troll.

[@El_Chompo]

In a true ironic twist of fate I didn't know that liquid metal was basically 100% gallium. I did know that gallium corroded aluminum.

[@JaredJanhsen]

@@El_Chompo It doesn't corrode, it alloys with the Aluminium creating a very brittle and weak metal (the effect in your heatsink is a result of the liquid metal compound not being pure gallium but an alloy of other low-melt metals). There are no shortage of KZbin videos displaying the effects of gallium on aluminium. The good news is, those Dell heatsinks are cheap. You'd likely be able to find a replacement rather easily since they use the Intel bolt pattern. The fan is likely fine in case you need to re-use it.

[@El_Chompo]

Jared Janhsen well I actually flipped the heatsink over and it's still running fine on the other side. The reaction finished and didn't eat all the way through so the other half is still ok

[@Fridgemusa]

DERP :P

[@amiragalala9386]

You put too much wtf

[@Grey-Troll]

hahahahaha that's funny as hell

[@rsmith155]

Nice Dell. Rofl

[@El_Chompo]

Thanks. I actually just got another off ebay with a Core i7 and 16GB of ram for $150! They are the best deal for servers for sure. This one here is only a Core 2 Duo with 4gb but still is fine as a web and file server.

[@evocatiproductions]

F

[@andljoy]

LOL fail

[@Takedown87]

I use it on my video card cooler wich is aluminum, 3 months so far no any problems or degradation of my cooler, good luck with yours

[@ChadDidNothingWrong]

Your card definitely doesn't have an aluminum base...any amount of aluminum will combine with that gallium if it touches it....and it will diffuse through the rest.

[@ChadDidNothingWrong]

....while they all have Al fins, only the very cheapest heatsink's have an aluminium base.

[@Takedown87]

I use thermal grizzly's liquid metal on everything. No problems so far

[@DiabolicShape]

gallium.😆