[Liquid Metal Showdown] Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut vs Cool Laboratory Liquid Ultra / Pro

As some of you know, there is a new kid on the block, Grizzly Conductonaut that is also a liquid metal thermal compound with some impressive stats.

Below are the conductivity numbers for the top Liquid Metals and Traditional Paste:
(As we know the numbers don't mean everything, however, from all my tests done so far, Grizzly Conductonaut has always topped CLLU by an average of ~3C. Results may vary. However, because I am repasting, every drop in C's count. It could make all the difference in some scenarios. To each his own...)

Liquid Metals:
Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut - 73 W/mk
Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra - 38.4 W/mk
Coollaboratory Liquid Pro - 32.6 W/mk

Traditional Paste:
Gelid GC Extreme: 8.5 W/mk
Grizzly Kyronaut: 12.5 W/mk
ICD: 4.5 W/mk

I have a shot of Grizzly Conductonaut on the way and will be repasting my 17R3, yes both CPU and GPU.

Pre-Game Thoughts:

Well...numbers are numbers so we won't know until it's actually tested, but according to the conductivity numbers being almost double compared to CLLU/P....well? - As I've shared my thoughts with
@sirleeofroy, my theory is that the higher conductivity of GC could allow the AW to cool at it's maximum efficiency in respect to the laptops maximum ability to draw out the heat. So whatever that limit is, GC may allow that to happen even more effectively...who knows...however, if GC pans out to be even 1C better than CLLU/P, then it's good enough for me to switch. Why? Because when we're dancing in the territory where even 1C can make the difference of thermal throttling or not...well you get the drift. 1C equates to a lot in this sport.

What are your thoughts? Anyone else planning to try out the new cool aid? It's only ~$13 on Amazon...

* As a reminder, please refrain from any comments on the risks of liquid metal thermal compounds. We already know that lol...

Great Resources / Threads / How To's:

2016 Alienware 17 R3 Re-Paste Guide
(This is an excellent thread by: @jpowell490)

======================================================================

And the Winner is?

I've just successfully completed my re-paste/re-thermal tape and the results are very impressive. About a week ago I had re-pasted using CLLU and following the same habits as I do with all my desktop re-pastes with CLLU, I had painted it on as usual. Upon firing it up, my Core #0 was being wacho and it was very apparent that there was not enough CLLU. Crap, I had thought....because I didn't want to open it back up again, however, since I had to anyway, this is what made me take a closer look at Grizzly's new liquid metal thermal paste, Conductonaut.

During my CLLU re-paste a week ago, I had notice the stock thermal pads looking like rubbish, therefore, I had ordered some thermal pads as well...

I took my time today in re-pasting / re-taping the laptop, making sure everything was done as perfectly as possible. As you can see from the pictures, I took some painters tape to mask off the surrounding areas when cleaning off the CLLU, which by the way came off very easily with just rubbing alcohol, although I did still use formula #1 and #2 of the Arctic cleaning solution...just because.



I didn't want any of the old CLLU to touch the PCB...




The thing that took the longest was polishing off the old CLLU off of the heat sink...


Re-taping was just as enjoyable as re-pasting, because the stock blue thermal pads are complete rubbish...


Work in progress...


Thermal Pads: Fujiploy 17.0 mK/w ~ $20 for a size 60x50x0.5mm. Buy this size as it is more than enough for the entire application and you'll have some left over.


Oddly enough the contact points on the heat sink for the thermal pads had a lot of adhesive on it, so I polished those areas off for the heck of it...


Instead of using whole strips of electrical tape, I took a strip of tape and cut them into 4 smaller strips to tape over the transistors around the GPU.


I had also wanted to keep the tape inside of the metal box area. Much cleaner...


Here is all four sides covered...


I wasn't going tape around the CPU at first but...my OCD led me to cut smaller strips to cover all the gold points...


However...my OCD got to the best of me and so then I cut small strips and placed them around the CPU anyway LOL...


Getting ready to re-paste with Grizzly Conductonaut! So the syringe comes with a cap, then you have to take that off and put on the end piece as you can in the picture below...


This stuff is noticeably more liquidy than CLLU and spreads much nicer.


This stuff is awesome....very easy to work with...oh and btw I did end up using the Q-Tip that came with the kit...it is much better than the one in the CLLU kit.


The Q-Tip is way more practical as the swab itself is very tightly packed so it doesn't shed cotton everywhere like regular Q-Tips.


All set and ready to be put back together...


Painted the heat sinks...


A little more generous than before with the CLLU...I'm a firm believer that you have to use a little more on laptops than on desktops....ie..."just painting it on," ain't going to cut it on laptops. (At least from my experience and the finished product (temps) shows that to be true...I'm staring at my temps right now and can't believe it....)



Tip:

When removing and/or putting the Mobo back into place, start with inserting the right side of Mobo first (USB C side) and make sure the PCB is under that little clip that you see in the picture. This will save a lot of unnecessary bending of the Mobo. Once you have the right side nice and clipped in, the rest will fall into place with ease. Hope this helps...Cheers



===========================Drum Roll Please===========================
And the winner is...Grizzly Conductonaut. I'm extremely happy with the results and the temps are holding strong...

Idle Temps: ~8C cooler than Grizzly Kyronaut.


CLLU Idle and Under load Temps:



Gaming Temps: 52-55C! That's ~8C to ~10C cooler than Grizzly Kyronaut.


Video Encoding: (Mostly all CPU)


wPrime Scores: Not too shabby...The 1024M run is at #2 World Ranking at the moment. Someone beat it! I'm all for that....the 6820HK is a beast!


Below are the BEFORE and AFTER temps after running wPrime v1.55 on both of my 17R3's. One of my 17R3 still has stock paste (for testing and temp data), while the other 17R3 has been repasted with Grizzly Conductonaut.

As you can see the package temp for example is a difference of 21C.

BEFORE: (Stock Paste on 17R3 #1)


AFTER: (Grizzly Conductonaut on 17R3 #2)

 

Why you should re-paste your CPU and GPU:







Enough said. Look at that factory rubbish gunk. Shame....

Stock Temps:


================================================================

Optional Insurance if you're paranoid:

1. Tape over any transistors around your CPU (if any) and GPU with electrical tape.


(Thanks @judal57 for the pic.)

2. Use a good quality electrical tape, not some cheap dollar store one. I prefer the Super 33+ as it is thinner / stretchier than the 88, while having the same heat rating of 105C.



================================================================

Is this your first time re-pasting? Not confident enough to use the liquid cool aid?

Then I'd recommend going with a traditional paste that is non conductive in this order.

Grizzly Kyronaut
GELid Extreme

That's it!
...

Anyone of those will do the job and is pretty much fail proof. Also for Skylakes, use the line method on the CPU and a pea dot on the GPU. You'll be good to go...

================================================================

How to clean your CPU / GPU: See Post #15

 

I would love to re-paste mine but after 2 mainboard failure replacements within a week of purchase I am now very nervous that it won't turn on again after putting it back together.

 

hah I know that feel. I was really up for it but after experiencing issues out of the box I've decided to wait a while until I'm more confident in the durability / longevity of the hardware.

 

The pic with the liquid ultra applied is actually iffy. I originally followed that picture when pasting mine and due to the thick nature of thermal tape, the heatsink was not making any contact because of the thermal tape laying on the surrounding bracket. Since the bracket is already slightly raised, putting additional thick material on top only further keeps the heatsink away from the die. If it works for you then outstanding, but if your machine heats up VERY quickly under load then that would be your number 1 culprit. It's best to cut out thin strips of thermal tape that ONLY covers the transistors. Kind of wedges in between. Your transistors will still be well protected and completely isolated without adding additional gap between die and heatsink. I'd post a pic but I forgot what thread I posted my process in.

Edit: Perhaps it's because I have the thicker type of thermal tape that caused all these problems. If you go with the thinner kinds you should be fine. But even then there's no need to be overlapping that area unless you're doing a seriously sloppy paste job. Probably need more than 1 tube if you're spreading it to the point where it reaches the surrounding frame.

 

I did exactly what you've mentioned in taping thin strips only over the transistors by taking a strip of tape and slicing it in half so that it only stays inside the metal rectangle housing of the GPU.

When I open it back up in a few days for my repaste (Grizzly Conductonaut) and thermal pad replacement, I'll be redoing everything again....

 

You forgot the other cheap alternative. Phobya Liquid metal(Thermal Conductivity: 40 W/mK).
There is no difference in the cooling capacity between them. Clu is still the better option as its easier to spread and is an slightly thicker liquid. Price isn't a problem as you don't need to reapply often.

 

Update: Okay fellas it looks like the Grizzly Conductonaut is out for delivery! I have to head out of town for the weekend, however, come Monday I will be re-pasting along with re-thermal padding. Now I can't wait until Monday!

Also, in the repaste guide thread, I had inquired about using the thermal pads to cover the transistors vs using electrical tape. I'll stick to using the electrical tape, however, due to my first application being too thin (I had just painted it on there like I have with all my desktop CPU's) I am going to be a little more generous this time. (Don't worry, generous doesn't mean creating a pool of liquid metal LOL...it just means a tiny bit more than what I had used before since the heatsinks on laptops are generally not as flush as desktop heatsinks.) My Core #0 seems to not have enough liquid metal on there as it has a mind of its own.

I'm all for cutting thin strips of electrical tape to only cover the transistors around the GPU; keeping the tape inside of the metal square box, however, I'm debating if I should even bother taping around the CPU? What do yall think? Honestly, I'm not too paranoid about taping it up, as I know it won't lava over like some think it does and am only doing it just because...for free insurance sake?

My AW sits on the desk 99% of the time so stays stationary. Even when I do take it with me occasionally on trips, I handle it pretty carefully / balanced, making sure to not hold it from the corner only to prevent any flex.

 

How much clu did you actually apply before spreading it around with the cotton swab?

 

I didn't use a cotton swap, instead a small brush that came with the CLLU. One of the most annoying things is finding strands from the cotton mixed in the liquid metal as you spread it around. I don't know what they were thinking of back then, including cotton swaps in the earlier kits to spread this stuff...

The amount was enough to cover the entire area of the CPU and GPU with a little small bead left over which I used to paint the heat sink. When I say that I probably put too little, I am referencing that to what I normally paint on my desktop CPU.

 

I don't have the brush, only cotton swab since I bought conductonaut :|

 

No problem. Works just as well

 

I've also found that a wooden toothpick works well to spread the liquid metal. Just hold it on its side and spread it out evenly. I actually prefer this over the brush as a lot of liquid gets stuck in the bristles which is a waste.

It takes a lot of patience, but it gets the job done...and very well.

 

Thanks for the suggestion.

How do you remove lm paste from bare die btw? Without scratch heatsink/silicon?

 

I first use a plastic card / or anything plasticy and flimpsy to scrape the big chunks of paste off of the die. [If you're removing liquid metal, I use a Q-Tip to soak up as much as possible before putting any solution / alcohol on there. You don't want to get the liquid paste everywhere as it's a pain in the rear, let alone dangerous and messy.] Take your time...

Then I drop some formula #1 on there and it soak for about a minute or two and wipe it clean.

Next I take a coffee filter (cut them in strips) and spray some 70%+ Isopropyl alcohol onto the coffee filter and wipe it down over and over again until the coffee filter shows no more residue of the paste coming off...ie...keep cleaning it until the coffee filter is clean where it is white.

Then I drop some formula #2 on there and let it soak for a minute or two. Next, I use the coffee filter to polish it clean.

Tip: I've found it best to scrape/remove/dab off as much paste as possible from the start to make for a clean, cleaning session, otherwise that crap gets all over the place and just makes a mess.

 

Can you do it with just 99% alcohol?

 

Moonshine is best...jk. ...

Yes, anything over 70%. 99% works too...just evaporates faster....= good thing.

Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

 

Ok, thanks.

 

Instead of brushes and cotton swabs I just used the tip of the tube to spread the liquid ultra where the stuff comes out of. Minimize waste. And it's not damaging, not like you're scraping the tube against the die to get something off.

 

Guys, did I do it right?

 

Today's the day...I'll try to post the updates in real time...

Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

And there we have it fellas...going to grab some lunch and then to pasting....

Stay tuned....



Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

That was Grizzly Kryonaut that lost performance.

The new stuff I'm using is the Grizzly Conductonaut (The new Liquid Metal.)


Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

Well guys here we are! The computer is all fired up and here I am typing away...it made it through the surgery LOL...

One thing that I can say for sure is...WOW...and I'm so glad to have recorded all my past temps with stock paste, Grizzly Kyronaut, CLLU and now Grizzly Conductonaut.

I've noticed that all the temps are lower all around and as far as gaming temps they are ~8C cooler than Grizzly Kyronaut. I'll update the OP(2) with all the details and screen shots.

I'm pretty excited...this is awesome...going to take her for a spin on the highway (game...BF4)...brb...

Here are some shots right before putting it all back together.


That right there is $20 worth of thermal tape folks haha...


Painted the heat sink...


A little more generous than before with the CLLU...I'm a firm believer that you have to use a little more on laptops than on desktops....ie..."just painting it on," ain't going to cut it on laptops. (At least from my experience and the finished product (temps) shows that to be true...I'm staring at my temps right now and can't believe it....)


I still won't use a regular Q-Tip to apply liquid metal, but the one that comes with the Grizzly Conductonaut kit is different and works great....no shedding of cotton fibers...

Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

 

Thermal paste waffle maker, I love it.

 

I WANT THIS TO MY ALUMINUM HEATSINK!!!

 

I literally just had waffles LOL....and that's relevant because I'm about to take the AW apart now for the repaste/repadding! Here we go!

 

I expecting 4.6GHz in Wprime 1024M after re paste Then you can post it in your thread i7-6820HK @ 4.3GHz Stable | 4.6GHz Max
Ps. If you don't already know... Your XTU score (Current World Rank # 1) 1388 in your sig is obselute and others have the record. Time for new bench?

 

CLLU wipes off very easily just with alcohol for those who are curious...







Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

 

Lol that's super cautious. Guess I was ballsy when I applied my liquid ultra. Don't use brush! Wasted paste! use the tip of the applicator to spread!

 

Sigh....polished the lights out of it....



Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

Coming along...had to go grab some stuff for dinner...now back at it...

Cutting the thermal pads now...





Smoothing out the thermal pad contact points for the heck of it....



Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

 

I've been using the Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra for 2 years now. Great stuff.... but this new stuff seems even better!! I'm excited for the updates!!!

 

Prepping the CPU and GPU....mostly the GPU though...







Finished...



Ready to roll...





Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

 

like a pro !!! and dont forget to apply thermal pads on the other side of the mainboard

 

Wow...this stuff is a lot more liquidy than CLLU...spreads nicely....





Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

 

Wait wasn't the grizzly one the paste that dried out after a few months? Speaking of drying out, does liquid ultra dry out after a year or two?

 

Great post +rep. Waiting on my conductonaut. Should arrive today.

 

Very nice! You're going to love this stuff...it's awesome...

I've updated the OP.

 

Nice reduced temp Can you post max temp and Wprime results from your max OC? If you have results from use of other paste also, this would be informative for others.

 

Well, it looks like I'm re-pasting with Grizzly Conductonaut then!!!

Brilliant work @iunlock , I will do the same when I get back from my holiday, just gonna order the stuff now.....

 

Thanks mate. Yea it was fun, especially with the whole excitement factor of not knowing what to expect from something so new.

I've been staring at my temps for the past few hours LOL....gaming, browsing, editing, rendering, work stuff, etc...

When I was gaming at 1440p the GPU stayed rock solid at 52C....I was beginning to think something was wrong, like my sensor was broken or something haha...after a while it topped off at 57C, but then it went back down to 52C.

I'm extremely impressed...

 

Really nice clean tape and spread job there. Well done.

 

I am still going to re paste with that!!! but with the Coollaboratory Liquid works well for me!



What's your fan speed at idle?? Your CPU is drawing 8 watts and I'm only at 600mW....

 

This is tried and well tested before. So no surprise thanks

 

good results i tell you conductonaut is amazing.

but know i want to see OC O_O !!!! we need OC results !!! cpu and gpu !!! let us know how far this beast can go

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-liquid-ultra-pro.791489/page-3#post-10257902

 

Interested to see what it will do on a 920XM

 

Got it today. Didn't notice until I got home but there was a hole in the bottom of the plastic bag it comes in. The applicator tip is missing as well as one of the cotton swabs. I'm gonna try to install it anyway without the tip. Returning it is not gonna be worth the hassle at this point. Should have results posted tomorrow.

 

Where did you all order from?

 

Amazon.

Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

 

Conductonaut is the real deal guys. I just ran some tests on my M15X with 920xm both stock and OC'd to 3.2GHz (24T on all cores).

Ambient Temp: 21C

TEST 1: 920XM Stock Clocks / Prime 95 @ 10 Minutes

Core 1: 76C
Core 2: 76C
Core 3: 75C
Core 4: 78C

TEST 2: 920XM OC'd / Prime 95 @ 10 Minutes

Core 1: 91C
Core 2: 93C
Core 3: 90C
Core 4: 94C

Previously I was using Gelid GC Extreme which is already a good paste. Overclocked to 3.2GHz using the Gelid paste, a Prime95 run would last just under a minute before the system would shut down. The last observed temp before shutdown was 98C. I was expecting the PC to shutdown with Conductonaut as well. I certainly wasn't expecting it to last a full 10 minutes of Prime95 .

Temps are even better with my modified Cooler Master U3 which you can read about here (I updated it to include my Conductonaut results):

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/another-coolermaster-u3-bottom-tray-mod.789298/page-5

 

Excellent! Great stuff...Congrats on your 10min run as well.

Conductonaut is the real deal indeed...whether you may have been able to achieve this with CLLU is beside the point; rather my theory of the Conductonaut with its ability of having ~double the conductivity numbers than CLLU, you have proven to shed light on the theory. Not to mention the lower temps that I am seeing as well on my end....



Cheers

 

Only thing missing from first post is the liquid ultra temps unless I somehow missed it. Would be good if we can have direct number comparisons under your particular testing.