What Does Liquid Metal Look like After 3 Months Inside a MacBook Pro?

[@jdfmovil]

Liquid metal rule: If the temperatures are good, never open it up again. What you are seeing is perfectly normal, although you shouldn't clean the CPU die that way, since the liquid metal can scratch the surface (by your mechanical forces, that is).

[@paimon361]

how should we clean it than

[@inSpyr]

does it require annual replacement like he said?

[@AlbertoMontesSoto]

@@inSpyr no cpu and gpu pasted here on my desktop for more than a year already, actually august 2017... Paranoid user is paranoid in the video

[@campkira]

There are reason why OEM don't put it in....

[@PanPrezeso]

@@campkira yet still hp done it...

[@alejandrovette]

Love how he just starts speaking spanish for a little bit!

[@noidentity07]

The reason why your copper looked weird is because it is a copper alloy, which is more at risk for decomposition.

[@stardust6004]

So when i get your post right - even if the surface looks like the copper, there is a chance that it isn't pure copper and may contain a composition of copper and some other metal which could get destroyed by the liquid metal? Just like there may not come any liquid metal to an aluminum surface?

[@sugarbooty]

Jesper Lerch not destroyed, it could just soak into it a bit. With aluminum, the gallium forces its way in between the crystals of the aluminum and weakens its integrity. On this copper alloy, it looks like it just goes in on the surface because everything was fine.

[@mrn234]

Or its just a thin copper layer over aluminium . Before you get that liquid metal stuff scratch the cooler in an area where the cooler gets no contact with the cpu or gpu when its still looking just like copper no problem but when something shines through in silver dont use liquid metal. But there is no problem when Nickel is over Copper to protect it from corrosion (you can see this on high quality desktop cpu/gpu coolers but not that often on Laptop coolers)

[@Jaker788]

Gallium alloys with copper. That set in silver is copper gallium alloy

[@rubicon24]

That's wrong. Gallium readily alloys with pure Copper duel to the difference in their electrode potential (about 0.85V). Gallium will diffuse into a Copper heatsink over time to form that greyish metal alloy. That's why it appears as though the Gallium has "dried-up".

[@AbrahamsYTC]

Kinda late but as a conformal coat operator, I can tell you that quality conformal coat will withstand heavy use and will act as a barrier. Now after a couple years, it might crack but it'll still remain there and keep components safe as long as the coating does not get too disturbed. By then you'd simply remove the old coat by peeling it off or acetone and reapply another layer

[@sasca854]

You don't need to worry about jostling it about. The surface tension of gallium (and most gallium-based compounds) is such that, when mated between two surfaces, it's pretty much fixed in place.

[@lukemiani]

Great vid! Lots of people overlook the importance of cleaning dust from their MacBooks. Word to the wise: if you've never opened your MacBook, definitely crack it open and clean it out!

[@4FYTfa8EjYHNXjChe8xs7xmC5pNEtz]

and then throw it away and get a Windows machine.

[@lucas_m1740]

​@@4FYTfa8EjYHNXjChe8xs7xmC5pNEtzand then throw the windows machine away after the fan gets clogged and the cpu melts through the plastic chassis 😂

[@angelpimienta6819]

Not 100% Copper ALLOY ALERT

[@snazzy]

Angel Pimienta It’s possible; however, I also think the alloy would be far more degraded and brittle than it appears to be.

[@rubenfasola5402]

Snazzy Labs discoloration is perfectly normal, it's the gallium and indium diffusing in the copper, you shouldn't worry, it doesn't compromise the structural integrity and thermal performance of the copper

[@Jaker788]

Gallium alloys with copper. That set in silver is copper gallium alloy

[@Lead_Foot]

Snazzy Labs Gallium + copper form an alloy, and it doesn't always form evenly, leaving air gaps. Leave it on long enough and it could solder the die to the copper shim. Have fun removing it after that lol.

[@ozdemirsalik]

The word 'Alloy' means, it's a composition of at least two different metals. There are no 100%....... alloy.

[@MarkJay]

I did the liquid metal upgrade on my Lenovo t420s thinkpad and it's been comfy af.

[@nordic-chan]

Mark Jay the 420s is an interesting choice, especially considering it isn't upgradeable. How's that 2nd gen i5 or i7 holding out in 2018?

[@MarkJay]

Aðalgeir Nóelsson I have the i5 version. Honestly it's great. Having an ssd helps. I paid $50 for it off craigslist. It's pretty much my daily driver

[@FenirXIII]

I'm planning to pugrade my t430 froma i5 to a i7. And the old i7s can get quite toasty. I've never done anything with Liquid Metal so... is it worth the risk?

[@TheColonelK1LL]

If it's just a dual core I7 then don't worry about it, if it's a quad core your adding then yes definitely.

[@tonycurson8439]

At this point my t410 is as fast as a brick for anything more than web stuff

[@DigBipper188]

Here's a couple tips: 1: Dont apply excess iquid metal!! Less is more, especially for mobile systems like laptops. If you used a swab to apply it before, you can use what's left on the swab. It should look like a mirror without any puddles on the cooler and die. So long as the cooler makes EVEN contact, with a slim layer of liquid metal across the entire die you won't see poor cooling performance (outside the limitations of your computer's cooling system, that is) 2: Liquid metal DOES etch copper. Depending on how HOT the cooler gets, the rate of which the liquid metal etches the copper cooler will vary. If your machine gets hot, which most laptops do, then the liquid metal will react with the copper faster than if it's used on a cooler running machine.

[@TheMOTP]

Good tips, will use them whenever I need to apply liquid metal. To be honest, machine that costs 1300$ should come with liquid metal already applied, I have no idea why Apple puts that crap of a paste on that laptop...

[@DigBipper188]

I have answers: Because Apple likes to cut corners and decrease the bill of materials on their hardware to maximise profit. Similar to how Intel stopped soldering their consumer class processors to save a quick buck and uses thermal compound that's equally as bad as the junk Apple uses.

[@TheMOTP]

I know, companys are always looking for a ways to cut the costs. The problem is that at some point it might hurt their sales. Thermal paste isn't such huge investment, but I believe Apple will use every possible stuation to save few pennies...

[@WuschelofDespair]

Every company does, Apple is just one of those companies where people like to make videos about it and scream it around

[@rubenfasola5402]

AcTiVe TV liqid metal is more sensitive to movement than a normal tim and it's hard to apply properly, you need a very specialized human or a machine designed to do that

[@williamskagen9901]

A new a1708 macbook pro heatsink is like 10$ shipped from aliexpress, so in theory you could just use liquid metal for a couple of years and replace the stained heatsink an make it seem like nothing ever happened.

[@chriswho12345]

William skagen don't even have to replace it, a gallium-indium-copper alloy doesn't have worse thermal or mechanical properties. It just looks discolored since it's an alloy.

[@MicroageHD]

In 2 years this thing is obsolete anyway

[@Kburd-wr6dq]

Microage tell that to my 2010 MacBook Pro.

[@jose9th]

@@MicroageHD tell that to my 1998 macbook pro

[@campkira]

What the point..... After couple year.... those tech is outdated and then it don't had value... Normally I just change new mechanie and put old one in storage as back up.

[@robinrai4973]

I can't believe the fans don't kick in until the poor thing reaches eighty degrees, is silence that important Apple?! Also that's probably why there wasn't that big of an improvement.

[@faeinthebay]

VideoCommenter Then why not offer a setting? Light, balanced, or aggressive fan speeds so you can decide how hot/quiet you want your MacBook.

[@tonywardd]

I feel like 95% of the people using Macbooks specifically are doing midi-based music so not sure silence is absolutely essential in these devices...

[@sathya5057]

If silence is so important use a headphone rather than destroying a. Working piece of hardware

[@saintfrac5360]

+VideoCommenter You do know that if the fans kick in earlier they'll keep the temps low while also not being audible right...

[@sathya5057]

Watch Louis rossman's video the fans on the macbook actually starts at 80°c

[@zollotech]

Interesting video. I would think that the metal just stayed on the CPU die where there was more of it and since it’s heavier it just came away from the copper heat sink.

[@just.tiramisu]

How does this not have any likes and at the top and by a verified KZbinr. Well I’ll be the first like I guess

[@tipoomaster]

Discounting liquid metal, I do wish Apple found a way to mass apply thermal paste in better quality, as well as use higher end stuff. 7% improvement just from that ain't nothing, and heat is the limit to turboing away.

[@michgingras]

at the prices apples users pay their shits, it is a steal to apply paste in mass, fuck apple they are a ripoff, build your own rig its not that hard and use GNU linux its free and better performances !

[@looker5354]

The Grey contact area on the heatsink was *Perfect!. The LM had bonded evenly to the copper. THATS how a LM job should look.

[@almed23]

Maybe it isn't 100% copper so some of the metal seeped in.

[@loyalitiy]

Arvin Medina any metal isn't 100% pure, at least can't be produced with technology today.

[@hlm601]

Apple has a tendency of using less pure materials as it's cheaper so this is my theory as well.

[@Jaker788]

Gallium alloys with copper. That set in silver is copper gallium alloy.

[@kruppin]

Yep, Apple often cheaps out so they probaby use some cheaper copper alloy (like cheaper shit aluminium in iphone 6) instead of more pure copper like more expensive coolers. Probably won't affect cooling performance much unlike that cheap shit cooling paste they use. My god. But yeah, probably good idea to stop using the gallium on this machine. Those few percent isn't worth it. And it being an apple product it will die soon enough anyway, so no need to hasten its death. :D haha

[@loyalitiy]

Leonardo Peña I was a little bit trolling. I disabled my cpu water loop with an copper waterblock after around 300days The liquid metal from collaboratory was the same as before (a little bit more viscous) and the block itself has a little bit of mat finish on it, but it's still the same color as before. Your assumption might be correct that they have used an cheap dirty copper plate.

[@Phenixzero]

I replace my MacBook Pro 2015 with “ liquid metal pad “ it’s been working all one year, and it is best mod I’ve ever done And it does not damage my cooler surface

[@bryncb]

Setapp actually looks really awesome. If I end up buying a Mac for dev work I'll probably sign up.

[@achingowl]

The staining is super normal. And isn't any cause for alarm. One way to make it look normal, is to use a 2000/3000 grit sandpaper paper. Also MX2 is rather pewp. It dries out way sooner than better pastes like Kryonaut.

[@Hobbles_]

Cool to see this follow up video! Glad to see that kind of continued commitment! As for me, I realized I somehow wasn't subscribed yet, even though I've been watching for a few months now, and have rectified that! Inching ever closer to 500K!

[@LaloRacer1]

NEVER KNEW YOU SPEAK SPANISH! That's wassup bro 💯

[@nevinkuser9892]

Yep. Awesome.

[@eliax600]

Thank you my friend. I was wondering what was better. But now I know that regular thermal paste is much more secure and is not a great loss in performance!!!! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@stevensheung6330]

I had the experience of working for an hi tech company on PC performance and power consumption. Heat is generally not a great issue on most laptops. What could easily added externally is just a lap cooling base and that is all need to vent the heat away from the laptop body. Today SSD drive tech greatly reduce heat inside the lap top. So don't worry too much unless you run 3D rendering 24/7 on your laptop.

[@shenung]

the gallium alloyed with the copper surface, which is why its ideal to nickel plate the copper plate surface to further slow down the alloying process.

[@robbiemaynard]

I applied Conductonaut liquid metal to the X5690 CPU's in my Mac Pro 5,1. I didn't have conformal coating to apply the first time I did it so I did a test to see how the liquid metal would smear on it's own. After leaving the cooler mounted for a couple hours the liquid metal hadn't smeared but the copper cooling block had already been stained by the liquid metal almost exactly how it looks in this video.

[@robbiemaynard]

@Phil Ricketts I Probably only had that setup for about 2 years. The liquid metal did affect the copper and the CPU die but it was really only cosmetic, even after all that time. I never noticed a drop in performance. I did eventually just start using normal thermal paste just for cost and convenience.

[@mandoreforger6999]

Gallium bonds with copper into an alloy, it does not weaken it or corrode it. There is rarely ever any need to replace it unless you get a new heatsink or CPU (if a desktop). It is maintenance free. What you saw was exactly as it should appear. ...and 7% can be the difference between a buzzing fan and not...and you need to subtract ambient air temperature from both readings to see the real improvement. It probably improved it by 10-12% over a high end paste and 25% over stock paste.

[@altrogeruvah]

Setapp gives me life, is all I'm gonna say. Of all sponsors, this is bar none the best!

[@snazzy]

They’re great!!

[@MahmoudMaguid]

really useful video and very well put together.. You are the first person I've seen to actually do a follow-up video regarding liquid metal. thanks for this.

[@woogaloo]

I recently did this to all of my MBPs and my iMac (Arctic Silver - not liquid metal). Like you said near the end, it's a nice increase over the cheap Apple stuff that comes with them.

[@JamieStivala]

My theory: Since liquid metal is flowy unlike normal thermal paste, the parts that look wet will depend on the way you 1. Use the laptop 2. Unmount the thing If you had been using the laptop upside down (highly unlikely) it's possible that this would've cause it to transfer from the CPU to the metal plate and vice versa The way you unmounted it was "downwards" CPU at the bottom cooler at the top. It's possible that while you were removing the plate all the metal came out. Hope one of these made sense 😌 Also next time please re do the tests, so we can see if the performance of the paste deteriorated overtime.

[@soragranda]

"y eso no sería bueno" XD.

[@snazzy]

Pues, no lo sería! jaja

[@andresa.atesiano1770]

Where did you learn Spanish!? that's amazing Quinn!

[@snazzy]

I lived in Bolivia for two years. 😉

[@bbrr12]

Snazzy Labs Te amo papi llename de leche chiquito ;). Great video btw.

[@EddyGraphic]

WTF dude? 😂

[@adrianintheweb]

Please try out liquid metal cooling on 2019 MacBook Pro 16" with its brand new 8 cores.

[@hatchet646]

There is a video on this topic where a guy named bobsagget823 commented this what i think sums it all up quite good: "When gallium is in contact with pure copper, the differences in electrode potential favors the gallium and copper to alloy, which will eventually consume the gallium completely[1] (Ga + Cu → CuGa2 [67%] + Cu3Ga [11%], and both products are stable until 175C)[1][2]. The liquid metal will literally into the copper until the gallium is gone, which causes the copper to turn silver-ish. The non-gallium components (indium, tin) of the liquid metal[3], which are solid at room temperature, get left behind - and that stuff is hardened deposit that you were trying to scrub off the heatsink. Note that at higher temperatures, the reaction between gallium and the copper heatsink only gets faster."

[@hatchet646]

Also from the sources i read including this comment liquid metal mods are more safe for desktop cpus where the LM makes contact with the nickel coated IHS, whereas on the other hand in laptops where the order is cpu-thermal paste-heatsink, or cpu-LM-copper heatsink in this case.

[@jonathonrosalia9345]

love it so adding any reputable thermal paste to a MacBook improves temps good advice might do my aging 2012 but it runs in the 30s-70s so I haven't really had a reason to get in that deep. the fan control app is a god sent though.

[@EposVox]

C200 looking 🔥

[@snazzy]

Thanks man! Still learning my way around it, but I’m already a fan.

[@Rox_Fox94]

The reason why your die is scratched is because of the included qtip. when you spread the metall with it, it causes the scratches on purpose so that so that the liquid metal can stick better

[@BetaProductionz]

Hi, i performed the same mod on a macbook pro 15 inch and after a few months noticed performance getting WORSE... when i opened it back up the liquid metal had all soaked into the copper shim and dried out - it also formed high and low spots on the copper shim. I believe this amalgamation effect caused the reduction in performance. I cleaned it as best I could (the copper still has the liquid metal residue) and applied regular thermal paste after which performance was restored.

[@paco_rider]

1:47 "y eso no seria bueno" hahah yo made me laugh, i'm spanish, that was a very good pronunciation

[@ThisIsTechToday]

Notification squad! Video looks great! This is the C200?

[@snazzy]

It is! I'm still trying to learn my way around it and not every shot is picture-perfect, but I'm on my way slowly and surely. lol

[@ThisIsTechToday]

It looks good for figuring it out, so I think you're off to a great start :)

[@dhruvmeena96]

If you want to use a liquid metal with bare copper... The liquid metal will form an alloy with copper which is ok, BUT you need to reapply it after a month because the liquid metal that forms an alloy fuse to the copper and you have less liquid metal than before. After one or two times of reapplying the liquid metal, the alloy layer will protect the rest of the liquid metal from further alloy formation, about the performance the alloy layer heat conductivity is identical to that of bare copper, so don't worry about it. After that, you can just reapply it once a year like when you use a liquid metal with a nickel-plated heatsink. This information is from der8auer, he works with Thermal Grizzly the company that made this liquid metal. In summary, using a liquid metal with bare copper for the first time you need to reapply it after one month (you can use acetone to clean the old liquid metal) then after one month do it again (2nd reapply), after that, you can just replace it once a year.

[@finnbarrhamill4737]

Can you do a video about how to disassemble the MacBook Pro and apply the thermal paste? A walkthrough would be very helpful!!!

[@justadaniel]

So has a really low melting point for a metal. It solidifies in room temperature air, and melts in your hand (85.58°F/29.76°C). In fact that's exactly what that metal is known for. It's the "safe, non-toxic" liquid metal for hands to play with that isn't mercury. Now what I believe is happened, is what you are getting on the top of the heat sink is such a thin layer, it solidifies instantly. If this is true then you can put it in your hand or something warm, and it'll just straight up come off. Also, having a metal interact with a possible alloy, not so good. Hope this helps!

[@snazzy]

justadaniel Luckily liquid metal isn’t just gallium. Some of the other additives push the melting point clear down to -20 C, so it has to get really cold to actually turn back into a solid. :)

[@justadaniel]

Oh, well I didn't know that. I thought it was just gallium. Make sense since it seems super watery. Thanks for the info snazzy, keep it up!

[@dandan6683]

the way you clean it scratches the die

[@davidortiz6977]

Snazzy: In fact, it only took me eight minutes and thirty seconds. So I'm pretty proud of myself for that. Louis Rossmann: Amature numbers.

[@averaguilar]

"Y eso no sería bueno, entonces..." you got my subscription as I heard that caballero!!!, I am from Mexico.

[@yurytelenkov6282]

i'm also added liquid metal to my new Macbook pro 15" 2016 two month ago. Temperature is dropped from 100 celsius to 71 at full cpu load. And i don't care about safety of heatsink, it's super cheap part of macbook, you can get new one for 30$. And i also think that overheating of macbook with stock thermal paste can make life time is much shorter. P.S Sorry for my english, i'm from Russia

[@kevingm123456]

KZbin recommendations make a good choice on me showing me your videos, keep the great job 👍🏼 I’m new subscriber after watching several videos on the past few days

[@upandright]

Just wanted to say that you're awesome Quinn! Thanks youtube for finally recomeding something that I actually like .

[@snazzy]

Glad to have you, Jhonny! Hope to stay around these parts for years to come. :)

[@lule642]

Liquid metal (gallium/indium) is also reacting with copper. However, it "eats" away the copper way slower than it would do with an aluminium heatsink. So when it starts to be a problem (if it would ever be), you are probably already using a new macbook.

[@xNeFShARkx]

I would keep the Liquid metal instead of the kryonaut paste, simple because any degree that you can get lower within a notebook\laptop is worth it! Because they can Thermal throttle pretty easy and as you can see nothing did spill on your application outside the die and also because i saw several tests with more than a year with liquid metal applications that did not lose any performance what so ever, so i don't think that you need to annual replace it!

[@nesdennis9753]

brother you're a trailblazer with this video! thanks a lot! Let me just confirm - does all this void your macbook warranty? it does, doesn't it?

[@plokko1]

I had the same experience on a desktop: when i unmounted the copper waterblock it was silver, the liquid metal penetrated the copper deeply so even sandpaper won't fix it. Nothin major just an aesthetical issue but if warranty is at stake it's worth to know.

[@aliananza1990]

Try CoolerMaster Mastergel maker nano , its low key amazing for laptops because its viscosity is very high and so is its thermal conductivity almost as good as kryonaut and you get more for your money definitely. I only found a few references to the coolermaster mastergel maker nano im suprised how well it works. It's thermal conuctivity is 11 W/m.k which is very close to Kryonaut.

[@dansmith6990]

"low key" moron.

[@aliananza1990]

@@dansmith6990?

[@VainRegret]

Arctic MX-2? Really? I mean, it's an okay paste, but for someone that paid for liquid metal, you should at least get a top-tier thermal paste like GC-Extreme.

[@sterkriger2572]

Well in the video before this he used Kryonaut which is the best you can get.

[@VainRegret]

Then why the hell did he downgrade to MX-2?

[@MJ-uk6lu]

MX-2 is totally fine. If you buy paste from good brand difference between them is minimal.

[@hxhgonkill]

mx2 is like a 1-2c difference... why are you going off the rails

[@MJ-uk6lu]

ab12 Yeah, it's like budget king of thermal pastes. Sadly only one sold in big syringes in my country. Lots of choice between smaller ones.

[@smokeduv]

My guess is that the copper is only a copper plating over aluminum (it's not so good to plate aluminum, but anyway, it can be done), so the gallium alloy penetrated the copper pretty fast and made a little bit of galvanic corrosion. I'd just place it again and look again for any damage in future months (like in your case which was 3 months). I'm a chemist, but I don't know how the cooler is made, so it's just a guess. If I were in that situation, i'd go crazy and do a DIY coper plating on the cooler again just for the lols

[@shaxerooney]

"Circling by Snazzy Labs" I think the circling added a lot to the clip

[@AnonymousUser77254]

That circle is the definition of fair use.

[@james2042]

liquid metal does alloy with copper, but does not really damage it. The other issue is Apple is known for using low quality materials, so its possible that copper shim is not mostly copper

[@rars0n]

Dude, you're surprisingly funny. I had no idea you did this and I'm impressed that you did and even more impressed that you provided a follow-up video. My KZbin backlog has prevented me from watching more of your videos but I'm glad this one popped up. I don't think liquid metal, when properly applied, requires annual replacement. But if you're worried about that (or any other LM concerns) then I highly recommend Kryonaut (which was shown in at least one of the graphs in this video). It's really easy to work with, non-conductive, and in my experience, gets VERY close to Conductonaut in performance. My other go-to is Arctic MX-4. This just seems like a great all-around paste that has great thermal properties, a much lower price than the Thermal Grizzly stuff, and is easy to apply. For the record, I would have not applied any liquid metal to the heat sink, especially since it seems like you used a good bit of it on the CPU itself (I probably would have used half of what you used). But it didn't seem to cause any real problems, which is awesome! Is it worth it for the average user, probably not. I'd go with Kryonaut or MX-4 if I was super concerned about not replacing paste over the next 5 years, although I have not had a problem with either Thermal Grizzly product over long-term use. Pretty much anything is better than the stock paste Apple uses.

[@rars0n]

Also, I don't think Simple Green is a good idea in an ultrasonic cleaner. I'm sure someone recommended it to you somewhere, but... no. I mean, it's fine for the heatsink, absolutely, but you wouldn't want to put the logic board in that. I'm impressed that you used an ultrasonic cleaner though.

[@karimroshdy6432]

would you please make a step by step dissasembly and tear down video for macbook pro 2016 and later ....please a video for some one who is a newbie

[@danielgeorgiou8409]

Usually liquid gallium hardens up when cooled, and copper transfers the heat away and cools it.

[@djhmax09]

Nice, crispy video quinn!

[@philthy.basement]

Thanks for taking the risk for us and the update 💪🏻

[@astone_ua]

Wow, I love Setapp and now they’re your sponsor, great :)

[@CataclysmZA]

Graphene pads would be even less stress and give you the same benefits of liquid metal along with a pain-free installation process.

[@upawa]

Was waiting for this video so bad 🙏

[@Iammorph]

I think if you put a coat of nail polish in the aluminum parts of the heatsink you shouldn't be worried about liquid metal. Stil you can get the 7% improvement without problems (except the keyboard) of the liquid metal.

[@letro73]

The new camera is amazing!

[@LoganDark4357]

I don't know whether or not you intended this, but the Setapp ad was just the *perfect* length so I could hit L once and immediately get back to the video. Thank you.

[@snazzy]

Hah not intentional, but glad to hear it.

[@AtanasMinkovFeed]

Old video, but I bet it's "dry" at the cooler contact surface because Gallium is a solid metal at room temperature. Melting point is about 85.6 F.

[@lenn55]

Why the heck doesn't Apple use better thermal conductive paste??????

[@terrry9709]

*i dunno*

[@khomchat1]

@@terrry9709 other laptops don't exactly use high quality thermal paste too. Even so why does Apple cut corners on the cooling.

[@mindaugasmateika4048]

Greed.

[@levicochrane]

That c200 looks great Quinn. Good colour grade too!

[@snazzy]

Levi Cochrane Thank you!!

[@maxeggm]

Great video! Just thought about placing liquid metal to my macbook. Thank you for experiment!

[@deokureta108]

nice insight tho i won't go back to thermal paste because i saw a 20°c improvement with LM haha

[@JDW-]

Now give us a thermal-paste-replacement-walkthru on the last great MBP (you know, the 15" 2015 model), and we can all walk away winners!

[@pineapplej7310]

Copper is not a perfectly solid material. Pretty much all metals are porous, meaning they have small holes in them that go throughout the entire structure of the object. What happens is the liquid metal actually slightly absorbs into those pores, and if anything it’s beneficial for the transfer of heat because there is less air getting in the way of thermal transmission. You are wrong about Gallium interacting with copper, It simply does not react under regular circumstances. The part about aluminum is perfectly correct however. The copper that Apple uses on the heat sink is most likely an alloy with other metals in it to make it more effective and /or cheaper. That means that there might be other contaminants that are reacting with the gallium, such as aluminum

[@FynnleyH]

Thats normal, the metal fills all the microscratches of the heatsink. Didnt have this on my GPUs or my waterblock (copper), but my CPUs IHS (I believe thats nickel? correct me please) was all black (liquid metal goes black if the particles are small enough, thats how i got the idea with the microscratches). No way of getting it off except some good ol sandpaper :/ PS: This filling of microscratches is actually nothing bad, its good! If you are gonna have normal thermalpaste on it some time later it will actually have better transfer, because the microscratches thermalpaste cant reach are filled up by something thermally conductive giving it more area to transfer heat with. Hope this helped!

[@lemmonsinmyeyes]

The copper is only very thin on the cpu cooler, its electro-plated. the bulk is aluminum. So, after prolonged time, the liquid metal will either migrate past the plating or erode it entirely. As the plating is only like, an atom thick.

[@Dmwntkp99]

L.M safest with die and nickle plated contact, it's a good idea just to use a durable thermal paste with other alloys instead.

[@vinceopra]

I dig this crispy c200 footage! :)

[@snazzy]

Thanks, Vince! 😊

[@MPdude237]

I don’t know about this laptops but In other videos, most benchmarks on other laptops get a temp drop of about 20C. I have heard the fans don’t spin up until 80C on the macs so that might be the thing.

[@quetzacoatlx]

Try washing it with hydrochloric acid. Copper and Nickel are resist to HCl but Gallium and Indium are soluble.

[@jach99]

I think that the liquid metal alloyed with some copper and it must've formed a solid alloy on the heatsink itself. Shouldn't be that much of an issue tho. To be honest, I think forming a solid alloy might be a good thing actually, then you can be sure it stays put...as long as it doesn't crack or something and then you'd get a teeny tiny air gap

[@marshkid1]

Sales man at microcenter talked me out of it. I was clueless.

[@The_Noticer.]

Liquid metal only increases thermal conductivity, meaning it removes any delta-T. It does not make your cooling better, so in laptops you will likely only see a difference in transient temperatures, not so much static temperatures after x-amount of time.

[@only1ydk]

I'm going to put this on my Intel Pentium 4 HT

[@MJ-uk6lu]

MoonZow Best fix for Pentium 4 HT is Athlon 64.

[@GavinHurdTheReal]

Video looks incredible! Great vid, Quinn! :D

[@snazzy]

Cheers, Gavin!

[@taith2]

Liquid metal reacts with copper, very slowly. It takes around 1 year until whole process makes it necessary for replacement. Make it 3 times or so till it will stop reacting.

[@kristiandawe85]

I love the linus style segway to the sponsor

[@WinrichNaujoks]

Segway! I actually needed to think about that for a quick second!

[@keithwhisman]

I’m thinking about using gold leaf foil as a thermal interface compound.

[@listentome2179]

Thanks for the update. I was thinking to use liquid metal on my macbook too. After this, will definitely avoid it.

[@SvenskaIdioterna]

I have a gaming computer, was somewhat thinking about liquid metal for it but at the end of the day, I don't feel like it's worth it. It'll cool enough anyway, especially with a good cooling pad. I'll just get the best normal paste on the market and replace the stock one.

[@taijiangah]

You should do a video on graphite thermal pads

[@briannado4994]

You have to use your hand and elbow grease and actually use some sand paper to bring the original color back.

[@bjoernlubetzki]

Take a look at the newest videos from Der8auer. He did the same thing on his Lenovo laptop and showed a scratch test. He scratched the surface of the cooler to see, if t is real copper, or just copper plated aluminum. That should have been something you should have done. And it is totally normal to see a discoloration. The liquid metal will destroy every metal, but you said it is a 7% increase in temps and a huge increase in silence. I used Thermalgrizzly Kryonaut on my 2015 MacBook Pro. It still gets loud and hot. I am really considering liquid metal.

[@darrene.mathews5566]

You are right: cucumbers are indeed quite quiet. I have never heard one protest, even when I am eating it.

[@KDCloudy]

Excellent video as always, Quinn! The C200 footage looking hawt. I was wondering if you could help me out by letting me know how is your baseline MacBook Pro holding up? Planning to make the upgrade next month and really curious how the 13" model is at video editing, with 256GB storage. Thanks!

[@ForgeStudiosWRZ]

I’m not Quinn, but I would recommend building a hackintosh if you aren’t going to utilize the portability that much. If you are, I would wait until the new MacBook Pro refresh comes later down the year.

[@theshadowman1398]

Didn't knew that liquid metal needed to be replaced after a year.

[@mahanc3167]

This seems to be the case with my PS5, and since a few months it has been heating up a lot more.

[@izunapfol]

Some people have had LM keep its performance for 2 years. I think it's worth doing if you can do it.

[@woswasdenni1914]

1. LM DOES NOT DRY OUT, it canntodry on air, its liquid state is it physical properties of its components. it does not contian water, the metal itself is the liquid. 2. what you refer to drying out is the process of foring an alloy with copper. its properties changes to it will no longer be liquid. 3. its performances decreases when forming that alloy, so you need to reapply until thers no copper left that could take in that gallium. then it will stay as is forever, however compared to initial results with worse thermal properties. 4. the real issue with LM is getting the perfect amount so it never seeps out. once it does is quit deadly in a laptop as it moves around like hell proper cleaning is more like decontamination. yea sadly not the solution to win it all and yes proper highend thermal paste is to be prefered.

[@faded111]

The exact same thing happened to my acer predator when I used liquid metal! Mine dried out because contact wasn't great. I couldn't get it off for the life of me so I just left it looking like that and everything's still fine.