Lab Report

 

Liquid Metal vs Thermal Paste 

Abstract: 

I believe liquid metal will outperform thermal paste. 20 minutes of game time was performed on the PlayStation, with both materials. Liquid metal outperformed thermal paste. Having the heatsink register a higher temperature means that the CPU is cooler. Overall, both do a respectable job at transferring heat, however, liquid metal outperformed thermal paste. 

 

Introduction: 

Many people are skeptical that liquid metal is better than thermal paste. By doing this we will discover which substance does a more effective job. This also affects how much the heatsink fan will have to work. My hypothesis is that liquid metal will do better than thermal paste. It is appropriate to do this since overheating is the main factor in CPU failure. 

 

Materials & Methods 

  • MX-4 Thermal Paste 
  • Thermal Grizzly Liquid Metal 
  • PlayStation 4 
  • PlayStation Controller 
  • Heat Thermometer 
  • Air Thermometer 
  • Tweezers 
  • Dusting Brush 
  • Heat Resistant Tape 
  • Wires 
  • Screwdriver 
  • Plastic Spreader 
  • Smartphone (Uses an app to measure decibels) 
  • TV 
  • Thermal Grizzly TG-Shield 

 

Preparation and Execution

  1. First, clean out any dust and grim in the PlayStation.  
  2. Then use the heat-resistant tape to connect the thermometer to the heatsink.  
  3. Set the air thermometer next to the PlayStation air vents.  
  4. Set up a decibel tracking app on the smartphone and place it on top of the PlayStation.
  5. Two identical tests were conducted to measure the effectiveness of the liquid metal and thermal paste.
  6. The test consists of exactly 20 minutes of playing Tom Clancy’s The Division 2.
  7. After the 20 minutes are up, note the results and take apart the PlayStation.
  8. Scrape off the thermal paste and
  9. install the Thermal Grizzly TG-Shield on the circuit part of the CPU.
  10. Wait for TG-Shield to dry and put the liquid metal on the CPU.
  11. Run the test again and jot down the results. 

 

Results: 

Thermal Paste Result 

 

Heatsink temperature: 60 Celsius (140 Fahrenheit) 

Air temperature: 52 Celsius (125 Fahrenheit) 

Fan noise: 53.7 Decibels 

 

Liquid Metal  

 

Heatsink temperature: 64 Celsius (147 Fahrenheit) 

Air temperature: 56 Celsius (133 Fahrenheit) 

Fan noise: 48.1 Decibels 

 

Discussion:  

While it may look like the Liquid metal performed worse than the thermal paste since a higher temperature was recorded. This is better for the CPU since more heat was transferred from the CPU to the heatsink. Not to mention that more heat was absorbed by the heatsink when liquid metal was in use. The fan was quieter since it had to work less. Therefore, my hypothesis was correct. 

 

Conclusion: 

This experiment will determine how effective liquid metal and thermal paste are at transferring heat generated by the CPU (Central Processes Unit). We also discovered which material had a greater heat transfer rate. My hypothesis was that liquid metal has a greater ability to transfer heat compared to thermal paste. After testing we discovered that my hypothesis was correct. It is important to learn this since overheating is the main cause of CPU failure. A cooler CPU will also improve processing speed and framerate. 

 

Acknowledgments: 

CCNY (City College of New York), How-FixIT 

 

Video Link: PS4 Pro Liquid Metal vs Thermal Paste