swaaye wrote:
It's a gallium alloy IIRC and is liquid metal indeed. It's not going to harden unless you chill it. Keep anything aluminum away from it.
All liquid metal TIM's harden after the first thermal cycle. I use several makes and types (some are sold in a solid leaf that melts and reflows to fill in gaps then solidify again), but all are a pain in the butt to clean up. They should only be used on high performance chips and cooling blocks, and if the cooling method is left in place for extended periods. All of them stain metal so you will not be able to read chip info after use. Make sure you write all the details down.
It's great stuff and worth the price and effort if you know what you're doing, but its not for every situation. All liquid metal TIM's melt aluminum on contact, but are safe of nickel and copper. They are best used on liquid cooling setups for CPU's and pure copper GPU fansinks.
As for my vintage or generic (or work related) rigs, I use MX2 or MX4 that I get in 60+ gram tubes. I go through about 7-8 tubes a year and grab which ever is cheaper at the time. It's great performance for cost, lasts for many years before needing to be replaced, and easy to clean and apply.
When I used to do extreme overclocking, I used dry ice and mounted with a super hefty glob of ceramique as it doesn't freeze up at those temps. It just becomes a sort of super goo.