Repasting with CooLaboratory Liquid Ultra, any tips before I start?

I use both all the time, but I do not see that much variance between them. They are normally within about 2°C of the same. I think the data polling rate may be a tad slower on ThrottleStop and that could account for the difference when temps are on the rise.

 

that's interesting, on mine the difference is always around 6 - 8 degrees, not only on the rise or going down.

EDIT: ontopic: i've tested both methods of applying liquid ultra to cpu and heatsink and only to the cpu now quite a few times, and in my experience as of the temps i saw using both methods it really doesn't make a difference. at least on the same heatsink (where the contact to the cpu stays the same).

 

This stuff is amazing.

I think it was the old thermal compound I was using or I wasnt applying it right or the compound broke down over the years. I was using arctic sliver 5 for many years. I had the same tube, the biggest one they had, bought at Fry's.

For some reason I could not get the cpu, 3920xm above 4.5. I checked the temps and they were very high, around 100C+. I tried to get go 4.4 but the temps were still very high, over 95C+ and it would throttle.

I bought a tube of this stuff over 1.5 weeks ago but I was nervous in applying it. It must of been the warning in the back of the box, "do not apply any .....over aluminum heatsink or dont get any on it". Or just plain scared to ruin a very expensive laptop.

I paid $13 something on Amazon for a very small tube of it. I thought, wow this stuff is very expensive for the amount you get. I grabbed a tube of the largest Arctic Silver 5 tube at Fry's for about $27 many years ago. But I had to apply it since the arctic silver 5 has broken down. I repasted this alienware laptop many times to try to get the temps down but nothing happened. Even on my other work laptop, the temps were spiking upwards.

I applied it, I applied a very small amount like people said. The amount of less than a rice kernel. I reassembled the laptop up, it was the fastest tear down and built up ever for me, around 20 min. The alienware started right up, I was really thinking I hope I dont see flames or black smoke coming from the rear or flames shooting up from around the battery area. But my fears were gone when it started up without problems.

I checked out the temps with hwmonitor at stock speeds and "WOW!!" shoot right to my head. This stuff really works and it works really good. I dont remember seeing temps this low ever. I dont remember the actual temps, sorry.

I proceed to give it some overclock on the 3920xm to 4.1, temps were still very low. The fans are not even at high yet. I finally went all out and tried 4.5. With artic silver 5, at 4.5ghz, the laptop would get over 100C and throttle down. The temps with liquid ultra are at 92C at 4.5.

I did not go any higher since I dont need any more speed.

This processor, i7-3920xm, is sitting at
4.4ghz
vcore at 1.321--i might try for lower vcore in the future, but its stable and I love it
temps at 88C
room temp is kinda warm, maybe around 77F. I like it hot.

I might see over the next week how high i can overclock this CPU. BTW, I run this CPU 100% 24/7 running BOINC, its like Folding@Home. I run my processors harder in 1 day than most people do in several weeks.

I also repasted my work laptop with liquid ultra, the temps dropped about 10C. That one has a 2670qm and also runs 24/7 at 100%.

I wonder how long with it last at 24/7 operations.

 

So finally i exchange my M18xR2 3920XM CPU IC24 paste to C.Liquid Ultra compound.First time i use very little amount only CPU die.The results was on very bad.When run 1024M test at 4,3GHz 10-15sec later 2 die was ~100°C.Need again disassemble my machine...When i removed the heatsink,i see at once where the error.I looked brother Mr.Fox old test pictures and was on same the results my testsThermal Testing - Liquid Ultra - Fresh Paste - Imgur.All die the temp not the same.2 die always higher ~5-7°C.I think we all use 0,5mm thermal pad the CPU transistors place and this not good idea
.Please see my pictures:


Here my results: All test was on still 4000RPM fan speed,my room temp ~23-24°C

ICDiamond24 vs Liquid Ultra 4GHz:


ICDiamond vs Liquid Ultra 4,2GHz:

 

Great work Well I have had experienced cooling issues in the past even using softest thermal pads of ~0.5mm on the transistors indicated by you, since I have removed those and have not used anything since. However, I may put some thermal paste next time as that wont disturb the CPU die placement on the heatsink and some extra heat transfer from components to the heatsink could be just beneficial for longlivety of the system in the long run.

Good job

out of topic question: can system board be removed from the chassis along with CPU heatsink intact installed on it or has it all go apart in order to remove motherboard safely? Thanks

 

So can i only 6 pictures upload per one post

Here some new results:

ICDiamond vs Liquid Ultra 4,3GHz

View attachment 109373

Liquid Ultra 4,6GHz fun test

 

I cannot remember now if the M18x, 18 or both. At least one of them you cannot access one of the screws without removing the CPU heat sink.

Great job!

 

well, its the case with m18xR1/R2 at least now Anyway I had a go in reverting back to black chassis and did looked in to checking how my LiquidUltra TIM holding on there, and to my surprise it was doing great, just like I have had it just applied still in liquid form. There were few things I didnt like and few things I must mention:

If liquid ultra was applied little too much or has squezed out and escaped the surfaces - expect fatal problems if it ran trough the system (thankfully not my case)
RTV silicone I used was soft and easy to remove from HS but not from CPU PCB. I had to unplug heatsink along with cpu, then gently twist the CPU away from the heatsink so it did came off pretty easy I must say. After cleaning and spending ~half hour gently scrubbing the RTV silicone of the CPU PCB I thought - I got to get a way around this awful procedure or I had to dump the LiquidUltra as TIM... well I loved low-low temps too much so I have came with brill Idea I have now covered entire CPU PCB surface with clear sealing tape (but not DIE) and so next time I need to remove this damn thing I just peal the tape off along with the goo and Liquid ultra run-offs. I am happy I have used this method and used extra care applying this silicone-dam, I encourage you all do same precaution next time repasting. This time i took extra measures and after inspecting the HeatSink I think I can see LiquidUltra eating bits of copper at certain areas, these are microscopic size holes if can be called so, but are traces of something that wasnt there before! I suppose its the quality of the heatsink to blame, as if it was more pure copper this wouldnt have happened, or maybe Im wrong and its the LiquidUtra doing its magic...? I wonder how will same heatsink will look 6-12 months down the line after one single application lasting this long...? Anyway Im not too stressed about this, heatsinks are cheap to come by, so I just primed both surfaces this time CPU and HS and added more silicone (different, softer, weaker automotive silicone) knowing it will be easier to remove with tape masking on CPU PCB too... and applied some MX-4 on mosfets nearby CPU socket, ones that heatsink hover over them, and last thing last - I have forgotten to place mSATA pcb back on the inside of the black chassis! pitty me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Didnt wanna tear down again immediately as my TIM job has just been put together and that has to come off, be cleaned, reapplied again etc, and its damn late....Ah I suppose few months down the line maybe I will be more curious how is my TIM doing and I will do complete teardown again and then I will put things in place as they should have been.... well night is killing me so no surprise I have forgotten one of most important things.. At least nothing else left forgotten

Loading ton of photos of this evening job, so its for you to gaze and judge



























Nite!

PS: This teardown was done ~28 Days Later reminds me the zombie movie 28 Days Later

 

Great info here. I'm glad all is well I inside your beast. I don't think there is cause for too much concern with the Heatsink getting eaten. It looks like some serious staining though...meh
Nice little trick with the silicon too. That would be great for anyone feeling brave on the GPU.
Lastly what a Royal PITA you forgot to reinstall your mSata. The MB has to come out just to snap that cable on

 

After seeing UltraGSM's photos, I could not stand it any more and decided to take mine apart to see what it looked like after 6 weeks+ of heavy overclocking and it was awesome. Everything was perfect and paste evenly coated. There was no mess or "leakage" at all. I was very impressed with what I saw on the CPU and GPUs. Now the heat sink copper plate has a silver rectangle that seems to be smoother and less porous than before, so the gallium apparently filled imperfections. I did use the green scuff pad on the copper (did not need to on the die surfaces) and they looked very nice when I was done prepping them for re-paste. Now I wished I would have just left it alone and not wasted my time and thermal paste, but as they say, "curiosity killed the cat" LOL. Luckily, I'm not dead yet and neither is my über-beast.