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Asus details how it has brought 'liquid metal to the masses'

by Mark Tyson on 6 April 2020, 13:41

Tags: ASUSTeK (TPE:2357)

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Last week Intel launched its 10th Gen Core H-series CPUs for gaming and creator laptops. One of the first new laptops we looked at featuring the Comet Lake-H processors was the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 gaming laptop. Asus has revealed that the entire 2020 lineup of ROG gaming laptops with 10th Gen Intel Core processors have a special secret sauce so they can provide optimal performance and be effectively cooled - Conductonaut from Thermal Grizzly.

As seasoned enthusiasts and OC experts will attest, using 'liquid metal' thermal paste isn't as straight forward as the traditional compounds. Firstly liquid metal, as per the name, can flow away / out of the area you wish to cool, secondly it is electrically as well as thermally conductive so hazardous to spill, and thirdly it reacts with aluminium which might feature in some of your PC components. However, the prize is worth it for some, if mitigations and precautions are taken - excellent heat conductivity between processor and cooler.

Asus began its liquid metal experiments with the ROG Mothership and ROG G703 laptops a year ago. At that time it was using experienced production operatives to apply the compound correctly. Since that time it has been working on automating the process for the benefits of consistency, accuracy, and cost. After trying multiple combinations of production line machinery Asus has settled on the following process:

  • The die is set into a stainless steel shim
  • A 'special sponge' of 0.1mm height surrounds the die
  • A mechanized arm wets its brush in a container of liquid metal and then glides back and forth across the CPU
  • The above happens 17 times, in a natural painting arc
  • A stainless steel nozzle adds two more drops of liquid metal
  • A silicon 'brush' design (chosen from 30 alternatives) spreads the compound
  • The cooler is fixed into place

Asus notes that Intel CPUs have a restricted area around the die that is completely free of capacitors, making them suitable for this process.

Patents have been filed by Asus with regard to the liquid metal application process and sponge barrier. ROG laptops with Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut liquid metal will be available in Q2 of this year.

As an aside, overclocker Der8auer recently took possession of an Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (AMD Renoir processor) and manually upgraded with liquid metal - see the video embedded below. This laptop's performance enjoyed an uplift that meant it could achieve the same single core Cinebench R20 score as the desktop R7 3600X - and Der8auer was impressed.



HEXUS Forums :: 10 Comments

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I had to do a double take:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquidmetal

They are talking abut liquid metal thermal compound,not liquidmetal alloy which was used in various applications such as USB flash drives years ago.
“Last week Intel launched its 10th Gen Core H-series CPUs for gaming and creator laptops”

Are Creator laptops a middle brand between laptops and workstations, or is the term another Marketing ploy to sell the exact same laptops with nothing different included?
excalibur1814
Are Creator laptops a middle brand between laptops and workstations, or is the term another Marketing ploy to sell the exact same laptops with nothing different included?
Bit of both but mostly a marketing ploy….at least in the Nvidia side of things.

Geforce cards now have 2 driver choices, one is ‘optimised’ for content creation, ie adobe etc, the other is more games focused…. in all honesty not a lot of difference and no idea why they couldn't just bundle it together. Not to mention people have been using ‘quadro’ drivers on geforce cards for years too, there's that little difference lol.

There is a little crossover with ‘workstations’ where they have quadro cards but in most cases it's a geforce based rig with ‘creator ready’ drivers.
Good, they finally starting to put descent thermal compound :)
Imagine what will happen when they do it with a CPU manufactured using technology invented AFTER 2015! :)