Here’s what liquid metal can do to an aluminum GPU heatsink

Liquid metal is known to be an extraordinary thermal conductor, but if not used properly, it can do more harm than good. One example of misusing this thermal product is to transfer heat from a chip to an aluminium heatsink, as you can see in Der8auer's latest video.

Liquid metal thermal conductivity is superior to even the best thermal pastes. However, there are a few risks to consider when using it. First, it's not as easy to apply, even compared to the densest thermal pastes. Moreover, you'll also have to pay attention not to spill it onto other electric components, as it will probably shorten them. As if all that wasn't enough, you should also consider the material of the heatsink you're going to use to cool the heat source, as depending on the material, it may react to it.

Take Der8auer's latest video, for example. Here we see an RTX 2060 that was reportedly overheating and throttling. After inspecting, he found out the GPU transferred the produced heat to the aluminium heatsink via liquid metal. The previous owner had apparently applied the liquid metal correctly. Still, because this thermal compound is based on galium, it formed an alloy with the aluminium from the heatsink (it does the same with aluminium-zinc alloy and steel). This reaction ended up damaging the heatsink.

To solve the issue with the heatsink, Der8auer used a CNC machine to scratch the corrosion from the aluminium. Additionally, he removed the liquid metal remaining, replaced the thermal pads and applied a new thermal paste to replace the liquid metal. After finishing the process and testing the GPU, we see that it's working correctly and at much lower temperatures.

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KitGuru says: If this happens to you and, like many of us, you don't have a CNC machine at hand, you can buy an aftermarket heatsink. It's probably the best alternative you'll have.

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