Is de-lidding and adding liquid metal to cpu going to hurt me if I plan ln2

[FlashRZ]

Basically, I am practicing with ambient cooling techniques right now, and as you all know, one involves delidding the cpu, cleaning, then adding a little liquid metal in certain spots before replacing lid and adding thermal paste and viola, 20 degrees C cooler under stress with, say, a noctua fan. If I didn't lay that all out right, keep in mind, I'm still researching how to do this flawlessly for the first time. Anyway, what I'd like to know is if I will be shooting myself in the foot if I have aspirations to use the CPU that's been treated using ln2 cooling one day? I've heard Kingpin say he has to use a special thermal comound for ln2 because the regular stuff just freezes at very low temps (with an audible pop.) If that's the case, would the same be true for the chips treated with liquid metal? Basically, what I'm asking is are we looking at what I'd like to call a 'Terminator 2 scenario'?

 

[Johan45]

Don't use liquid metal if you plan on freezing the CPU. A high quality TIM is used instead, I have had success with Gelid Extreme, tried Cryonaut but not a fan. Have some KPC TIM (good deal on a bunch of stuff when someone else retired) here now but haven't tried that yet either. So far I haven't found the right technique to keep mine from popping, some day.

 

[FlashRZ]

Thanks Johan, I appreciate ya man. By the way, I heard kingpin made his own thermal paste for ln2, link here: https://kingpincooling.com/products/kpx-high-preformance-thermal-compound-3g
Don’t know if that’s of interest to you, but it’s supposed to not pop under ln2 stress.

 

[Johan45]

That's what I meant by KPC TIM I have some but haven't tried it yet. TG Cryonaut isn't supposed to pop either but it does. The guy I got the KPC from suggested lightly sanding(lapping) the inside of the IHS, says it helps the TIM stick to it? We'll see some day

 

[caddi daddi]

why do you not run them neked under ln2?

 

[EarthDog]

Same reason we dont run naked on a regular cooler.... risk mainly.

 

[(G{in}[AK)TION]]

why do you not run them neked under ln2?

If you were really hot, would you able to run out In the winter cold for long?

I never did ln2 cooling myself, but that's how I kind of see it if one did direct to die cooling with ln2.

 

[EarthDog]

Let me clarify...risk of CRUSHING the die beneath the pot.

It's been done, plenty, before.. don't get me wrong. But, its just not worth it when you can delid, apply a paste that won't crack/pop, put the IHS back on, and run just fine.

 

[Johan45]

Let me clarify...risk of CRUSHING the die beneath the pot.

I killed an i7 6700K just like that, that die is very thin and it doesn't take much flex in the (thin) PCB to crack it. That was a hard (expensive) lesson.