Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut in a ThinkPad

[pelegbn]

Hello,

Firstly, I hope this is the correct category...

Secondly, I have a bunch of ThinkPads I'd like to re-apply a thermal compound to [W530, W520, 14" T61p, 14" T61 and a X61], because they tend to get warmer than used to [in spite being clean].

I've read great recommendations about the liquid metal thermal compound [called "Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut"] and I was wondering whether it's compatible to the ThinkPad heatsinks [or some], as in Grizzly's product page there's the warning message - "The Conductonaut thermal grease must not be used with aluminum coolers!"

I think the heatsinks/coolers are made of copper... but I'm not 100% sure.

1. Does anyone know what are the heatsink's materials Lenovo use for each ThinkPad model I've mentioned?

2. Has anyone successfully applied the Grizzly Conductonaut to a ThinkPad [if so, to which model?]

Thanks

p.s. I've tried Lenovo's forums but to no avail.

 

[shmoochie]

Yes, I have done this to two, and I can say without a doubt that you should NOT. The thinkpad heatsinks are made out of copper (with aluminum framing) which is still slightly reactive with liquid metal. It will work wonderfully for about 3-4 months, and then you will notice it starting to overheat. Once you take it off, you'll notice that a lot of the liquid metal has been absorbed off the cpu die by the copper, and you will have to sand off the alloy that was formed before reapplying. Just use a regular TIM like Kryonaut.

Oh, and don't forget about the fact that everything around the copper heatsink is made out of aluminum and all of the capacitors are much closer together on the mobo, so you have to protect everything with liquid electrical tape or something similar. Spillage is much more likely to happen with liquid metal because it never sets up and because laptops are jostled a lot more.

 

[pelegbn]

Man, 10X a million!! I'll use the Kryonaut then. 10/10 answer [really, just the straight forward kind I was hoping for] .