Asus has been placing liquid metallic on cell dies utilized in its laptops for a couple of years at this level. Liquid metallic as a TIM has its place, however it’s a extremely inconsistent answer to an issue that may be solved by different supplies. Such was the case with u/nicknickmeetnick, whose Zephyrus M16 gaming laptop computer was overheating and restarting by itself. Turns out, the instability got here from a difficulty born from the manufacturing facility — the liquid metallic utilized on the CPU had slowly eaten away on the heatsink and virtually reached the silicon itself.
Liquid Metal should be forbidden! The only good about it is the corrosion it causes makes the new thermal paste more efficient being closer to the core.
from r/ZephyrusM16
The put up above explains the ordeal intimately and the way the consumer finally mounted their issues. The laptop computer in query is a Zephyrus M16 mannequin from 2022 with an Intel Core i9-12900H processor that was purchased simply over three years in the past. During this era, the laptop computer was largely used for light-weight duties as an alternative of gaming or something that’d stress it. However, as of late, Nick began to run into varied points the place his laptop computer would overheat and thermal throttle to the purpose of hard-crashing. Before it’d crash, efficiency in video games would already be degraded.
Nick felt his machine was getting hotter than typical, so he ordered some PTM7950 section change materials to repaste the growing older {hardware}. He was prepared to make use of GD900 thermal paste, however upon opening the laptop computer, he found one thing stunning. The liquid metallic on the CPU was so poorly utilized that the overheating processor made a few of the liquid metallic burn onto the heatsink. Underneath, there’s solely a skinny lid that protects the silicon, and Asus applies liquid metallic on high of that as nicely. The metallic right here had additionally spilled out of its devoted cavity.
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We needn’t let you know why that will be a devastating and instantaneous disaster. Liquid metallic is electrically conductive, which implies if it comes into contact with surrounding componentry, it could create microbridges that may quick something in the way in which. Asus, nevertheless, appears to be mixing some abrasive chemical substances into the liquid metallic to make it extra adhesive, such that it sticks to the die higher. Unfortunately, these chemical substances eat away on the metallic over time and trigger corrosion.
That’s ostensibly what wore out the heatsink and virtually the lid beneath as nicely. Had the consumer waited for only a whereas longer, the liquid metallic may’ve seeped onto the die itself. Thankfully, the rogue TIM was eliminated simply in time, however even that course of was fairly attention-grabbing. The OP defined how he used dried cotton to control the present liquid metallic into sanding away the corrosion earlier than taking all the things out. For that, he used plenty of isopropyl alcohol with cotton sticks to kind the liquid metallic right into a blob that was straightforward to pluck away with painter’s tape.
Once the CPU was good and clear (nicely, as clear as attainable), OP re-applied GD900 thermal paste and closed all the things again up. Right away, the temperatures improved tenfold, and the laptop computer ran a lot cooler. Remember, the PTM7950 hasn’t even arrived but, so it’s going to solely get higher from right here. The random reboots stopped, and the one recreation Nick performs along with his children is now working thrice as easily. Removing the liquid metallic tripled his FPS and restored the Zephyrus M16 to its full glory.
He suggested others to do the identical. In reality, he suggests banning liquid metallic completely from electronics. It should not be utilized in laptops to start with since they’re moveable gadgets that transfer lots, however even discrete GPUs that sit still for years face problems. This wasn’t an isolated case both. A easy Google search returned a dozen different posts on Reddit about liquid metal woes on Asus laptops, which simply goes to indicate that automated, assembly-line liquid metallic software remains to be not excellent.
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