News Snapdragon X Elite with liquid metal thermal paste yields disappointing results

[Admin]

A notebook reviewer swapped the thermal paste application on his X Elite laptop to liquid metal to improve thermals. Sadly, the liquid metal application did little to enhance thermals, only lowering max temps by two degrees Celsius.

Snapdragon X Elite with liquid metal thermal paste yields disappointing results : Read more

 

[Notton]

A few thoughts

Use Honeywell PTM7950, what is this, 2018?
It's only hitting 88C in a thin and light, which is perfectly acceptable
Are we sure it's actually 88C? I thought temp/power/usage monitoring software wasn't working on this chip just yet
It seems to be boosting higher/longer to fill in any gains from the improved thermal performance.
Try pointing a large fan at the bottom and see if there is any extra performance to be gained by improving the cooling


Slapping on liquid metal is the last thing I would have tried.
Taking the bottom cover off and blasting a large fan at it would be my first choice.

 

[bit_user]

Yeah, I'd say a few % performance improvement + 2 degree peak temperature reduction is actually pretty good for just replacing the thermal compound. As @Notton suggested, the chassis is probably heat-soaked and really just needs a beefier cooler and/or better ventilation.

 

[Amdlova]

its why I use a rubber case on my s23... with power savings all the time...
Qualcomm CPU it's good to fry a EGG on it. In summer when reach 40 c the phone become a finger print remover.

Bad intel cpus now your time to shine over this ARM afterburner

 

[HideOut]

A few thoughts

Use Honeywell PTM7950, what is this, 2018?
It's only hitting 88C in a thin and light, which is perfectly acceptable
Are we sure it's actually 88C? I thought temp/power/usage monitoring software wasn't working on this chip just yet
It seems to be boosting higher/longer to fill in any gains from the improved thermal performance.
Try pointing a large fan at the bottom and see if there is any extra performance to be gained by improving the cooling


Slapping on liquid metal is the last thing I would have tried.
Taking the bottom cover off and blasting a large fan at it would be my first choice.

yep, im sure most users would get a thin/light and do the remove parts thing. That'll work great on the train on the way to work or home.

 

[tamalero]

yep, im sure most users would get a thin/light and do the remove parts thing. That'll work great on the train on the way to work or home.

Even less people would use liquid metal...

 

[CmdrShepard]

Yeah, I'd say a few % performance improvement + 2 degree peak temperature reduction is actually pretty good for just replacing the thermal compound. As @Notton suggested, the chassis is probably heat-soaked and really just needs a beefier cooler and/or better ventilation.

All the risks associated with liquid metal application are hardly worth those 2-3% gain.

It seems that nowadays people don't get basic laws of physics -- smaller surface => worse heat transfer, and Snapdragon has even less die surface than Intel notebook let alone desktop CPUs which are already hard enough to cool.

 

[bit_user]

It seems that nowadays people don't get basic laws of physics -- smaller surface => worse heat transfer, and Snapdragon has even less die surface than Intel notebook let alone desktop CPUs which are already hard enough to cool.

But it doesn't clock as high.

Also, I think it's using the same process as AMD's phoenix APUs. I'll bet the core sizes are pretty similar, too.

 

[Kondamin]

Petty they didn’t launch a small desktop version equipped with a decent heat sink and fan

 

[das_stig]

"Asus might provide a new firmware update that further optimizes the cooling and performance" - another pre-scripted excuse!!

Reviews and reporters need to stop, making excuses for manufacturers of rubbish equipment, if the Snap-X and the Vivo is too slow, runs too hot and has poor cooling to save a few pennies on the BOM, then say so. Your supposed to do these reviews/reportsf on behalf of consumers so we don't get ripped off and have know what to expect.

Unless your too chicken sh!t and no longer independently unbiased, preferring to keep the manufacturers happy for access to products to report on, resulting in advertising sales???

 

[Notton]

yep, im sure most users would get a thin/light and do the remove parts thing. That'll work great on the train on the way to work or home.

They are benchmarking it. They had to remove the bottom cover to apply liquid metal in the first place.
Why don't you read the article?

 

[watzupken]

I think it just proves that heat transfer is not the issue. The chip itself is not that power hungry, so it is not surprising that improving the heat transfer don't do much. In the case of x86, the "45W" TDP is not really fixed because of the concept of "turbo" or "boost". I feel because of the surge in power draw and heat, having liquid metal will help transfer the heat away faster, allowing the chip to sustain a longer boost. But as the heatsink becomes saturated with heat, it will throttle anyway. But the longer it boost, the better the performance.

 

[bit_user]

Petty they didn’t launch a small desktop version equipped with a decent heat sink and fan

They made a dev kit, which is basically that.

https://www.qualcomm.com/news/relea...s-development-for-copilot--pcs-with-snapdrago
​

In time, we might see similar systems emerge from partners.