4 ms·

This is cool. I knew a guy who literally painted gallium onto his processors as thermal paste. He said it worked really well.

wlesieutre 10y ago
Gallium-based thermal compounds are commercially available, often called "liquid metal". See "Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra" for one example. They're very effective, but must be used with extreme care because aluminum is highly soluble in liquid gallium. Aluminum is the most common material for heatsinks, and it will literally dissolve if the gallium touches it. Gallium is also electrically conductive, so if you accidentally dripped any into your processor socket I assume you're going to have a problem. If you're careful with it and make sure to get a cooler with a copper contact area, it'll cool more effectively than traditional thermal pastes. I thought about trying it, but it seemed like more hassle than it was worth.
- throwawayish 10y ago
  > Aluminum is the most common material for heatsinks, Aluminium is the most common material for heatsink fins. The cold plate is almost always (nickel-plated) copper.
- david-given 10y ago
  Gallium does really weird things to aluminium. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHHI2Lk79cY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHHI2Lk79cY
ohazi 10y ago
This sounds like a recipe for disaster. Aluminum doesn't last very long near Gallium: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HKpMYJ-6go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HKpMYJ-6go Did he apply it directly to the top of the chip die or to one of those aluminum package covers? Did he use a copper heat-sink? Is somebody's leg being pulled?
- antisthenes 10y ago
  The chip package cover is usually nickel, not aluminum, and even if it was, it could be sanded away to copper. The other side (heatsink with fan) probably had to have been full copper (not the pipe/aluminum) Either way, it doesn't seem worth the effort for marginal gains.

wlesieutre 10y ago

Gallium-based thermal compounds are commercially available, often called "liquid metal". See "Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra" for one example. They're very effective, but must be used with extreme care because aluminum is highly soluble in liquid gallium. Aluminum is the most common material for heatsinks, and it will literally dissolve if the gallium touches it. Gallium is also electrically conductive, so if you accidentally dripped any into your processor socket I assume you're going to have a problem. If you're careful with it and make sure to get a cooler with a copper contact area, it'll cool more effectively than traditional thermal pastes. I thought about trying it, but it seemed like more hassle than it was worth.

throwawayish 10y ago
> Aluminum is the most common material for heatsinks, Aluminium is the most common material for heatsink fins. The cold plate is almost always (nickel-plated) copper.
david-given 10y ago
Gallium does really weird things to aluminium. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHHI2Lk79cY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHHI2Lk79cY

ohazi 10y ago

This sounds like a recipe for disaster. Aluminum doesn't last very long near Gallium: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HKpMYJ-6go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HKpMYJ-6go Did he apply it directly to the top of the chip die or to one of those aluminum package covers? Did he use a copper heat-sink? Is somebody's leg being pulled?

antisthenes 10y ago
The chip package cover is usually nickel, not aluminum, and even if it was, it could be sanded away to copper. The other side (heatsink with fan) probably had to have been full copper (not the pipe/aluminum) Either way, it doesn't seem worth the effort for marginal gains.