{"video_id":"ixr1QaP7chM","title":"Liquid Metal Killed my Laptop… Now What?","channel":"Linus Tech Tips","show":"Linus Tech Tips","published_at":"2025-12-05T14:53:29Z","duration_s":1104,"segments":[{"start_s":0.0,"end_s":5.64,"text":"The second that tech companies like Sony","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":3.24,"end_s":10.36,"text":"and Asus started putting liquid metal in their electronics, it was a matter of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":7.72,"end_s":15.36,"text":"time before this happened. Through some combination of an imperfect seal and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":13.0,"end_s":20.08,"text":"maybe a little bit of user carelessness, some of the liquid metal in my Asus ROG","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":17.68,"end_s":25.08,"text":"Flow X13 laptop leaked out from under the cooler, which resulted in this. Man,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":23.16,"end_s":28.72,"text":"I still want to try to resurrect it, but if I'm being honest, this thing is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":26.48,"end_s":34.92,"text":"probably hooped. See, regular thermal paste is intentionally so non-conductive","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":32.4,"end_s":39.12,"text":"that we were able to game on a PC that had its CPU socket literally filled with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":37.36,"end_s":44.8,"text":"the stuff. Liquid metal on the other hand, well, it's highly conductive. It's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":42.24,"end_s":48.8,"text":"metal. And it only takes the tiniest spill to bridge a couple of contacts,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":46.8,"end_s":53.92,"text":"cause a short, and probably brick your device. Man, I really hope not. This is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":51.04,"end_s":58.12,"text":"like a current-gen one with like a 4070 in it, but nothing's over till it's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":55.72,"end_s":62.16,"text":"over, and this isn't over until we dig deeper and see if we can resurrect this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":61.0,"end_s":67.465,"text":"machine. Just like I'm going to resurrect this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":64.48,"end_s":71.76,"text":"Segway THROUGH OUR SPONSOR. >> [laughter]","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":69.48,"end_s":75.96,"text":">> PLAUD. THEIR NOTEPIN IS A transcription assistant that goes where you go, easily","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":73.88,"end_s":79.8,"text":"clipping onto shirts or notebooks, and using the power of AI to summarize and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":78.04,"end_s":85.16,"text":"highlight key points of meetings or conversations. Get 20% off by using our","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":82.4,"end_s":85.16,"text":"link today.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":88.425,"end_s":90.445,"text":">> [music]","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":92.68,"end_s":99.68,"text":">> After my Framework investment disclosure, the first thing I've got to do is come clean to you guys because I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":97.92,"end_s":103.28,"text":"have not exactly been careful with this machine. I'm talking everything from","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":101.56,"end_s":108.84,"text":"holding it by the corners while I'm typing on it, tossing my computer","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":105.32,"end_s":111.84,"text":"backpack around with the laptop in it,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":108.84,"end_s":114.88,"text":"uh lttstore.com, and even while it's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":111.84,"end_s":117.84,"text":"still warm, putting it vertically into","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":114.88,"end_s":121.76,"text":"my bag, which is perhaps the most dangerous thing I did. But real talk,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":120.0,"end_s":125.64,"text":"aren't we all a little careless sometimes? I mean, this doesn't seem","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":124.0,"end_s":129.28,"text":"that bad, does it? Stop it. No, leave it alone. There's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":127.72,"end_s":134.4,"text":"been no real damage to the chassis, so Asus has clearly built a pretty rugged","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":131.4,"end_s":136.92,"text":"machine, at least on the outside, but a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":134.4,"end_s":141.56,"text":"sudden impact, especially while the machine is warm, may have contributed to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":139.4,"end_s":144.92,"text":"jarring some of the liquid metal loose from the protective shim. First, I'll","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":143.2,"end_s":149.36,"text":"just give you guys a bit of a tour of what I saw when I first opened it up.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":146.6,"end_s":153.16,"text":"So, I cracked it open and first noticed this. The way it was spread out told me","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":151.12,"end_s":156.8,"text":"that there had been some force involved in the liquid metal coming loose. I then","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":155.12,"end_s":163.56,"text":"continued to poke around inside, finding liquid metal on this heat spreader here,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":159.04,"end_s":166.2,"text":"on the PCB here, and as far away as this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":163.56,"end_s":170.48,"text":"screw in the corner of the machine here. That one was scary. That is very far for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":168.96,"end_s":173.96,"text":"it to travel. The symptoms weren't actually exactly what I showed you guys","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":172.4,"end_s":178.36,"text":"at the beginning of the video. It does power on, it just","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":176.0,"end_s":181.32,"text":"doesn't [music] boot. So, I'm maybe a little bit hopeful, but not that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":179.92,"end_s":186.96,"text":"hopeful. Oops, I'm definitely doing these in the wrong order. Oh, what is it going to be?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":184.12,"end_s":192.88,"text":"More dead? I'm giving myself a 20% chance of this thing working again after","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":188.48,"end_s":194.64,"text":"today. Oh my god. I thought like, oh,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":192.88,"end_s":199.88,"text":"it's probably that time that I like really tossed my bag, and it probably","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":197.0,"end_s":205.24,"text":"all came No, no, no. This has been like seeping out, boys. Just like Sony, Asus","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":203.0,"end_s":210.36,"text":"developed a gasket that is intended to keep all of the liquid metal between the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":207.64,"end_s":213.96,"text":"CPU die and the cooler without allowing it to leak out onto the sensitive","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":211.96,"end_s":218.72,"text":"components that either could be shorted out or, in some cases, even corroded. Uh","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":217.08,"end_s":224.32,"text":"most liquid metal that I'm aware of contains gallium, [music] which is highly corrosive to aluminum,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":222.2,"end_s":228.04,"text":"for instance, which is often present in computer systems. In order to achieve a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":226.48,"end_s":231.88,"text":"good seal, it's typical to have a protective covering around the chip that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":229.88,"end_s":237.6,"text":"the gasket seals against. As we can see here, though, the mounting pressure of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":234.4,"end_s":239.48,"text":"these springs is not that high, which","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":237.6,"end_s":244.44,"text":"appears to have allowed the liquid metal to seep out in between. And it's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":243.6,"end_s":248.2,"text":"like everywhere. To be clear, there's nothing","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":246.76,"end_s":252.12,"text":"wrong with using a low mounting pressure. Dawsdude1, back when he came","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":250.32,"end_s":256.04,"text":"up for our collab upgrading MacBooks, pointed out that Apple uses extremely","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":254.64,"end_s":259.6,"text":"low mounting pressure on some of their cooling solutions. The difference is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":257.959,"end_s":263.8,"text":"that Apple uses [music] a special thermal compound that is designed for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":262.0,"end_s":266.52,"text":"low mounting pressure applications. Liquid metal, on the other hand,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":265.04,"end_s":270.52,"text":"definitely benefits from high mounting pressure and definitely benefits from","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":268.76,"end_s":276.68,"text":"not spilling all over the place. Sorry, Asus, I'm not trying to harp on you here, but like, yikes. Do you think","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":273.92,"end_s":278.378,"text":"trying to turn it on and off again was dangerous?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":277.32,"end_s":284.88,"text":">> Yep. >> [laughter] >> Applying power to any device that you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":281.96,"end_s":289.96,"text":"think has been shorted or corroded or experienced liquid damage in any way is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":287.4,"end_s":293.72,"text":"extremely risky and dangerous. I had no way of knowing, however, that that was","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":291.8,"end_s":297.52,"text":"the issue with this device because I hadn't opened it up yet, and I hadn't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":295.48,"end_s":301.24,"text":"exposed it to any water or corrosive materials. The leak was inside us all","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":299.28,"end_s":304.4,"text":"along. The real leak was the friends we made along the way.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":302.8,"end_s":308.84,"text":"I was really hoping to avoid taking out the battery, but I don't think that's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":306.24,"end_s":312.6,"text":"happening. That tray? Oh my god, it's just tape. My","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":310.2,"end_s":316.52,"text":"motherboard is taped in. Okay, if it's all over the back, I think we could","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":314.403,"end_s":320.96,"text":"[music] be cooked. The back is clean. Well, that's a good sign. How the devil","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":319.24,"end_s":324.16,"text":"did it make it all the way over here? I have a theory. If it was traveling along","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":322.84,"end_s":327.0,"text":"the heat pipes of the cooler, it was probably staying warm the entire time while it was traveling down.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":326.848,"end_s":333.12,"text":">> [music] >> Interest. You know what? We might be able to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":330.96,"end_s":337.72,"text":"resurrect this bad boy after all. First thing we need to do is clean it.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":335.16,"end_s":340.96,"text":"And speaking with Allen Splave, who you guys might remember from some recent","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":339.04,"end_s":345.24,"text":"overclocking adventures we've done, he said the best thing is an organic","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":343.28,"end_s":349.16,"text":"solvent. So, I guess good old-fashioned isopropyl and elbow grease? Allen","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":347.24,"end_s":353.2,"text":"recommends starting with a spatula or a scraper. So, we're going to get up as","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":350.72,"end_s":357.2,"text":"much of this as we can using that before we start to wipe. Step two, wipe up as","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":355.52,"end_s":360.64,"text":"much of the grease as possible with paper towel. I don't know how well this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":358.88,"end_s":365.0,"text":"is going to work for in between some of the components on the board. Oh god,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":362.48,"end_s":369.6,"text":"there was a lot in that crack for this fan filter. As soon as I started to wipe","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":367.08,"end_s":373.48,"text":"here, it spread out like nuts. I think it's kind of a cool aesthetic.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":371.28,"end_s":377.52,"text":"Yeah, thanks, Stephen. How much you think's under here? Oh, not bad. So,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":375.6,"end_s":380.96,"text":"there's a bit here, here, here, here, and here. [music] These little balls","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":379.16,"end_s":385.32,"text":"here that are shorting out on stuff, these are bad balls. He really","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":382.48,"end_s":389.04,"text":"recommends spatulating this before I cuz I feel like I've got kind of an","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":386.72,"end_s":392.08,"text":"opportunity here to kind of slide it all off of this thing. I mean, if you want","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":390.84,"end_s":395.04,"text":"to say in front of the world that you think you know better than Splave.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":393.96,"end_s":399.72,"text":"I'm just going to >> To be fair, the instructions you you [music] sent it seems like they're for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":397.72,"end_s":402.08,"text":"his like hybrid product, right? >> No, it should be fine. You know what?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":400.96,"end_s":407.16,"text":"Here's what we're going to do. We're going to pull this off, and we're going to wipe that off. Okay, good. That wiped","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":405.16,"end_s":412.56,"text":"off super clean. The bottom of this heat spreader, though, yuck. Oh, man, we","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":409.6,"end_s":418.56,"text":"started out so tidy. This has clearly devolved at this point.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":415.2,"end_s":421.4,"text":"Okay, mostly clean. I mean, I'm like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":418.56,"end_s":426.12,"text":"oscillating between extremely confident and zero confidence here.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":424.48,"end_s":430.68,"text":"Sounds like me in high school. I found your problem, Asus. You've got so much","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":428.6,"end_s":435.52,"text":"freaking liquid metal in here. Look at all of this. Does more liquid","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":432.56,"end_s":438.72,"text":"metal result in better performance? No. But it results in a more consistent","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":437.28,"end_s":442.36,"text":"application where you definitely won't have too little. Can you see all that?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":440.64,"end_s":446.36,"text":"That's all the stuff that's not even on the die. I understand why they would do","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":444.36,"end_s":450.24,"text":"it this way because if you have too little liquid metal, it's obviously not","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":448.32,"end_s":453.44,"text":"going to be able to do its job. Not a big chunk of it. At what point would you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":451.88,"end_s":457.76,"text":"just go, we're going to dip it? Basically, if you get off as much as you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":455.32,"end_s":460.4,"text":"can, and it's not enough. Yeah, you can do the dip. But I'm going to try to get","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":459.2,"end_s":465.2,"text":"off as much as I can. I'm going to try to set a good example here. See, that little dot contains now, but once it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":464.08,"end_s":470.24,"text":"melts, the way this stuff spreads out, man. Actually finding the knife blade pretty","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":468.4,"end_s":473.4,"text":"good for removing chunks of it. But isn't that dangerous for damaging the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":471.6,"end_s":476.84,"text":"PCB? I mean, what am I going to do? Make it more dead? Imagine if Yeah, imagine","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":475.44,"end_s":481.56,"text":"if I was to Oh. [ __ ] Ah, shoot.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":479.56,"end_s":486.6,"text":"What'd you do? I was trying to peel liquid metal off of a little capacitor,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":484.36,"end_s":490.96,"text":"and I pulled it up. [ __ ] Did I rip the pad off, though? Maybe","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":488.68,"end_s":495.76,"text":"not. I think we can salvage this. >> got soldering tools. Yeah, we got","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":492.8,"end_s":498.88,"text":"soldering tools. Ooh. Yeah, I see. I think the pad's intact. Okay, well, if","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":497.44,"end_s":505.12,"text":"the pad's intact, we're Yeah, we're fine. Fine. Oh, no.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":502.24,"end_s":510.48,"text":"Dude, I think the liquid metal is loosening the solder. What?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":508.48,"end_s":514.52,"text":"That doesn't even make any sense. What's the material of solder? If it's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":512.159,"end_s":518.84,"text":"lead-free, then it's usually tin and or silver. This one right here was like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":516.599,"end_s":522.88,"text":"flooded in liquid metal and [music] just lifted right off. Liquid metal can","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":521.08,"end_s":526.4,"text":"absorb into solder, making it brittle and causing components to detach [music]","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":524.2,"end_s":529.36,"text":"from the board. I knew I didn't push on it that hard.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":527.56,"end_s":532.4,"text":">> Dude, we're using a knife. No, no, yeah, but I was I was using the knife as a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":531.2,"end_s":536.32,"text":"delicate tool. [music] That's what my father's murderer said. Are we going to try and attach","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":535.48,"end_s":541.88,"text":"components to the board? >> I think we should try. Before we can reattach those components, however, I do","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":540.04,"end_s":545.92,"text":"want to get off as much of the liquid metal as we can. So, what we're going to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":543.24,"end_s":549.68,"text":"do is use this hot air station at the lowest possible temperature, and then","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":547.96,"end_s":554.16,"text":"use some solder wick to try to get up the last bit of it. And it just walks","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":551.92,"end_s":559.0,"text":"around. Get over here, buddy. It's not grabbing the solder wick. Mhm. You know","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":556.4,"end_s":561.68,"text":"what? New method. I'm using the solder wick as a brush. This might be our best","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":560.92,"end_s":566.44,"text":"bet right now. >> I can't wait for the 500 comments all","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":564.12,"end_s":568.44,"text":"detailing the better ways to do this. Oh, yeah.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":567.44,"end_s":573.44,"text":"If you guys wanted the better way, you wouldn't watch LTT, though.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":571.24,"end_s":577.64,"text":"Man, I wish I could blow even harder, which normally would not be something","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":575.48,"end_s":581.48,"text":"you would want. You can actually see a lot of the little pieces making their","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":579.52,"end_s":584.92,"text":"way to the edge here. This is crazy. I would never do this to a working board.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":583.52,"end_s":588.84,"text":"Oh, yeah. Oh, we're moving it. See that?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":587.12,"end_s":591.08,"text":"Not really. You don't see it moving? >> Yeah, look at all that residue that you're creating.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":590.28,"end_s":596.2,"text":">> Andrew sees it. >> Yeah, I got it. Yeah, but the residue I can deal with. A big glob between these","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":594.68,"end_s":599.88,"text":"components that's bridging them, I can't. You can see how much of it I'm","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":597.88,"end_s":602.76,"text":"getting out of there now though. Okay,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":601.04,"end_s":606.92,"text":"okay, things about to get crazy. We're already way past the crazy crazy zone,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":604.56,"end_s":609.76,"text":"man. That's what you think.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":610.04,"end_s":615.36,"text":"Guess what? It's lined day. We are squeezing the Do you want a smaller","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":613.4,"end_s":617.52,"text":"vessel? Nope.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":617.92,"end_s":624.84,"text":"I don't think we're going to get much cleaner than that. Now I just have to clean off these caps that fell off the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":622.56,"end_s":628.44,"text":"board. Those kind are non-polarized. Nice. And with this cleaned up, we can","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":626.88,"end_s":632.082,"text":"head over to the workshop and try and reattach them. I mean, look, Das Dude","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":630.4,"end_s":634.84,"text":"one did stuff that was like a tenth [music] this size. So, if I can't do","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":633.44,"end_s":639.12,"text":"this, then I might as well just hang up my screwdriver. This is wild, dude. I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":637.28,"end_s":641.84,"text":"was not expecting this adventure to be so interesting. Damn, there's still a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":640.6,"end_s":645.84,"text":"little bit of liquid metal on that one. Oh, we'll wipe it off. There. Okay,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":643.68,"end_s":650.48,"text":"where's our tweezers at? I actually never really work at this station, so","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":647.96,"end_s":653.32,"text":"that one goes there, and this one goes here. Hey Justin, you might want to have","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":651.96,"end_s":656.56,"text":"a look at this. There's one that I'm not 100% sure on, and it's the right","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":655.16,"end_s":660.64,"text":">> side one here. It looks okay to me though. To find out if that pad's intact, Justin's throwing some flux on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":659.36,"end_s":663.72,"text":"the board, and then he's going to tin it. If the tin sticks,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":662.36,"end_s":668.762,"text":"it means the pad's still there. Well, we appear to be okay. Nice. Yeah, just do","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":666.56,"end_s":671.839,"text":"the one, Justin. >> [laughter]","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":670.48,"end_s":674.0,"text":">> I'm just messing with him. I said I'd do it.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":675.76,"end_s":681.68,"text":"I gave up. Justin's doing it. Okay, so you got one on. I feel a lot better","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":679.88,"end_s":684.04,"text":"because this is taking him a little while.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":684.44,"end_s":689.88,"text":"Oh, jeez. Yeah, oh, I guess you're done then. >> you go, Mr. Lines. Brilliant.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":688.36,"end_s":695.32,"text":"And you guarantee it works, Justin? Yeah, 100%. It's not going to fail.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":692.2,"end_s":696.2,"text":"Barring what Linus did. Wait.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":695.32,"end_s":700.203,"text":"Yeah, you can't even tell where it was, dude, can you? I know you put it in the wrong spot.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":699.44,"end_s":702.223,"text":"What do you mean? >> [laughter]","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":703.839,"end_s":710.72,"text":">> All right. >> for real this time. Yeah, I mean, that kind of looks on there, right? I was poking poking it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":709.08,"end_s":714.44,"text":"with this. It wasn't moving, so I think it's okay. Okay. Well, let's see if it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":712.76,"end_s":718.48,"text":"works. Good luck, everybody. Good luck, everybody.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":716.64,"end_s":721.88,"text":"Ah, fudge. I got so absorbed in the adventure that I forgot to clean the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":719.839,"end_s":725.6,"text":"cooler. Dude, what an adventure this has been, whether we get a working laptop","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":723.44,"end_s":728.76,"text":"out of it or not. Yeah, the real laptop was the friends you made along the way.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":727.24,"end_s":733.28,"text":"Thanks, David. Time to get my birth-iversary on. Hell yeah. Everybody,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":731.28,"end_s":737.32,"text":"it's Justin's birthday. Hey, happy birthday, Justin. Oh, thank you. The","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":735.12,"end_s":739.92,"text":"real birthday. I mean, there's certain things that I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":738.28,"end_s":745.48,"text":"don't really have to plug in just to find out if it's going to work, like these Wi-Fi antennas, but feel like if","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":743.6,"end_s":749.56,"text":"I'm putting it back together, I might as well swing for the fences, right?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":747.24,"end_s":753.72,"text":">> Yeah, baby. Is uh liquid metal good for you? Oh, dude, Silver Surfer. Direct","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":752.24,"end_s":757.08,"text":"contact with liquid metal can be harmful.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":755.36,"end_s":760.48,"text":"And the severity depends on the specific type of metal.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":758.76,"end_s":766.12,"text":"Liquid mercury Okay, no. What is it? Is it liquid Yeah, but what is it? >> It's a gallium. Yeah, you're fine. No,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":763.6,"end_s":771.24,"text":"I'm just So long as you don't ingest it. Uh okay, let's get some PTM 7950.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":770.16,"end_s":776.56,"text":"So, we were looking it up. Are your fingers feeling tingly yet? No. But","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":774.48,"end_s":780.04,"text":"my brain is feeling pretty excited about my laptop working again. Unlike the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":778.56,"end_s":783.56,"text":"liquid metal we had on here before, it doesn't actually matter if we apply too","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":781.68,"end_s":788.08,"text":"much PTM 7950 [music] because it is non-conductive, and it is an ideal","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":785.68,"end_s":791.249,"text":"thermal paste for direct die cooling like we're doing here. I still can't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":790.04,"end_s":795.44,"text":"believe that it knocked those components [music] off the board. Yeah, does that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":793.08,"end_s":799.76,"text":"mean that there's more than a little bit on it? Potentially. But they didn't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":797.36,"end_s":803.72,"text":"break right now, so Yep. So, they're not my problem. Okay,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":801.32,"end_s":806.12,"text":"battery's connected, boys. This is it. It's showtime.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":805.659,"end_s":808.989,"text":">> [sighs] >> Ah. >> [laughter]","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":809.16,"end_s":815.44,"text":">> Work. It continues coming to screw I really want this to work. I really like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":813.36,"end_s":819.52,"text":"this laptop. And now that I've gone and trashed on Asus's thermal compound,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":818.08,"end_s":823.28,"text":"Asus is probably not going to send me another one. So, I really need to fix","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":821.32,"end_s":827.36,"text":"it. Here we go. Oh, these are coming soon, by the way.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":824.72,"end_s":832.8,"text":"Finally, I just saw the final packaging design very recently. I'm super super","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":829.92,"end_s":835.72,"text":"excited for our cables. Is it even Is there a charging","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":833.839,"end_s":839.44,"text":"indicator? Normally, yes. Wow, this is like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":837.68,"end_s":846.28,"text":"more deader than I would have anticipated. The only thing I'm thinking","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":842.48,"end_s":847.92,"text":"is that cap might not be","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":846.28,"end_s":851.959,"text":"on right. Is it worth putting all the screws in like It is probably worth","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":850.44,"end_s":855.6,"text":"trying, yes. Wait, I missed a fan header. Okay, that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":854.04,"end_s":859.72,"text":"actually might prevent it from doing anything. Like a couple I can see, but","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":857.839,"end_s":865.16,"text":"for it to not have any indication whatsoever that I have something plugged","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":862.04,"end_s":865.16,"text":"into it, like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":865.24,"end_s":869.249,"text":"The charging light's on. >> [sighs]","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":869.52,"end_s":876.24,"text":">> This is this is the behavior that I saw before. So, let's not get too excited","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":874.0,"end_s":880.6,"text":"here. I think we're cooked.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":877.88,"end_s":884.4,"text":"Try the like Asus charger. Who knows? It can be a thing though. Using the OEM","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":882.4,"end_s":887.88,"text":"charger can enable it to quick charge a little bit faster from a very dead","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":886.0,"end_s":890.6,"text":"state. Hey, well, definitely thinks it's charging still.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":894.24,"end_s":899.44,"text":"So thirsty since I didn't drink anything today. >> Five minutes later.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":902.44,"end_s":907.68,"text":"No days through. As tragic as that was, we still want to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":905.8,"end_s":911.2,"text":"find out if the liquid metal is worth risking the life of your laptop for. To","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":909.8,"end_s":918.48,"text":"do that, we're going to hand this laptop over to the lab so they can test it before we replace the liquid metal with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":914.64,"end_s":920.4,"text":"PTM 7950. Well, we [ __ ] around.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":918.48,"end_s":925.92,"text":"Time to find out. Unfortunately, we were not able to repair my machine, but we do","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":924.079,"end_s":930.079,"text":"have our backup machine here, and we ran a bunch of tests in the Labs with the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":927.959,"end_s":935.079,"text":"liquid metal from the factory, and now we've replaced it with PTM 7950 to find","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":932.88,"end_s":939.24,"text":"out. We really like F1 24 as a thermal benchmark because, yes, it stresses the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":937.2,"end_s":943.68,"text":"system extremely hard, especially when we're running it with ray tracing like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":940.44,"end_s":946.44,"text":"this, but also, it's a real-world load.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":943.68,"end_s":949.44,"text":"We're not in just running a power virus. That's what they're called? Really?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":947.72,"end_s":955.12,"text":"Yeah. Sounds so hardcore to say. Like combustor or like OCCT. That's my","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":951.92,"end_s":955.12,"text":"favorite metal band.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":955.68,"end_s":961.12,"text":"And this is not what we expected. We","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":958.68,"end_s":963.959,"text":"intended to just do an ad hoc test here on the set and be like, \"Hmm, yeah,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":962.28,"end_s":967.44,"text":"well, the CPU temperatures are they look about the same.\" Yeah, that's not what","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":965.4,"end_s":973.32,"text":"happened. It turns out that our result was that with the PTM 7950 thermal pad,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":970.56,"end_s":977.76,"text":"we actually got either slightly better thermals or we got about the same","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":975.68,"end_s":981.88,"text":"thermals with a slightly higher clock speed on the CPU, meaning that the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":979.72,"end_s":986.4,"text":"liquid metal did not outperform our phase change thermal pad except in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":984.0,"end_s":990.36,"text":"extreme CPU loads. So, we can see why Asus chose to use it. We need to be","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":988.32,"end_s":994.839,"text":"really careful about this because that pad is available on lttstore.com, and we","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":992.76,"end_s":999.04,"text":"didn't want to oversell it. We don't know for sure if on a higher-end","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":997.16,"end_s":1002.52,"text":"configuration of this laptop, you would get the same result. Remember, this is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1000.88,"end_s":1006.68,"text":"not quite the same machine that we originally started with. Maybe Asus has","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1005.12,"end_s":1011.32,"text":"certain configurations where the liquid metal really does give a tangible","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1008.56,"end_s":1019.0,"text":"benefit, but as far as it went here, no, it didn't. And PTM 7950 is supposed","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1015.36,"end_s":1021.36,"text":"to improve ever so slightly over time","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1019.0,"end_s":1025.16,"text":"while lasting a very, very long time, which I couldn't necessarily say about","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1023.32,"end_s":1029.88,"text":"my liquid metal situation. So, take all of this with a grain of salt like you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1026.839,"end_s":1031.32,"text":"take our sponsor. Take it. Plaud. No","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1029.88,"end_s":1034.679,"text":"time to take notes? Terrible at multitasking? Forget about trying to jot","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1033.36,"end_s":1040.439,"text":"stuff down while you're holding a conversation thanks to Plaud's NotePin.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1036.64,"end_s":1043.199,"text":"Using GPT 4.1, Plaud 3.7 Sonnet, and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1040.439,"end_s":1046.8,"text":"Gemini 2.5 Pro, the NotePin can listen in to your conversations or meetings and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1045.28,"end_s":1050.56,"text":"generate structured summaries and highlight key points, all without you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1048.56,"end_s":1053.679,"text":"needing to pick up a pen or type a single word. Take it around with you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1052.32,"end_s":1057.64,"text":"everywhere. You can clip it on your shirt, wear it as a necklace, or let","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1055.84,"end_s":1061.32,"text":"your imagination run wild and have it somewhere I'm not even thinking about.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1060.04,"end_s":1066.28,"text":"Whatever works for you. To start recording, simply give it a quick press, and whatever it picks up can be easily","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1064.8,"end_s":1069.679,"text":"referenced later thanks to their AI-enhanced search function. And if","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1068.16,"end_s":1074.56,"text":"you're worried about security, all of your data is secured and safeguarded by","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1071.76,"end_s":1078.8,"text":"AWS, compliant with HIPAA and SOC2 standards. With over 112 supported","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1076.76,"end_s":1082.679,"text":"languages and up to 20 hours of continuous recording, the Plaud NotePin","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1081.0,"end_s":1086.88,"text":"is definitely worth checking out. You can even save 20% by going through our","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1084.92,"end_s":1089.92,"text":"link in the video description. If you enjoyed this video and you just like the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":1088.36,"end_s":1093.4,"text":"energy of me and David ripping things apart, how about the time we both","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1091.36,"end_s":1097.48,"text":"upgraded our retro handhelds? That was fun.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1095.08,"end_s":1102.2,"text":"I have used it twice [music] since then. I used my Vita a lot until it fell off","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":1099.48,"end_s":1102.2,"text":"the roof of my car.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"The second that tech companies like Sony and Asus started putting liquid metal in their electronics, it was a matter of time before this happened. Through some combination of an imperfect seal and maybe a little bit of user carelessness, some of the liquid metal in my Asus ROG Flow X13 laptop leaked out from under the cooler, which resulted in this. Man, I still want to try to resurrect it, but if I'm being honest, this thing is probably hooped. See, regular thermal paste is intentionally so non-conductive that we were able to game on a PC that had its CPU socket literally filled with the stuff. Liquid metal on the other hand, well, it's highly conductive. It's metal. And it only takes the tiniest spill to bridge a couple of contacts, cause a short, and probably brick your device. Man, I really hope not. This is like a current-gen one with like a 4070 in it, but nothing's over till it's over, and this isn't over until we dig deeper and see if we can resurrect this machine. Just like I'm going to resurrect this Segway THROUGH OUR SPONSOR. >> [laughter] >> PLAUD. THEIR NOTEPIN IS A transcription assistant that goes where you go, easily clipping onto shirts or notebooks, and using the power of AI to summarize and highlight key points of meetings or conversations. Get 20% off by using our link today. >> [music] >> After my Framework investment disclosure, the first thing I've got to do is come clean to you guys because I have not exactly been careful with this machine. I'm talking everything from holding it by the corners while I'm typing on it, tossing my computer backpack around with the laptop in it, uh lttstore.com, and even while it's still warm, putting it vertically into my bag, which is perhaps the most dangerous thing I did. But real talk, aren't we all a little careless sometimes? I mean, this doesn't seem that bad, does it? Stop it. No, leave it alone. There's been no real damage to the chassis, so Asus has clearly built a pretty rugged machine, at least on the outside, but a sudden impact, especially while the machine is warm, may have contributed to jarring some of the liquid metal loose from the protective shim. First, I'll just give you guys a bit of a tour of what I saw when I first opened it up. So, I cracked it open and first noticed this. The way it was spread out told me that there had been some force involved in the liquid metal coming loose. I then continued to poke around inside, finding liquid metal on this heat spreader here, on the PCB here, and as far away as this screw in the corner of the machine here. That one was scary. That is very far for it to travel. The symptoms weren't actually exactly what I showed you guys at the beginning of the video. It does power on, it just doesn't [music] boot. So, I'm maybe a little bit hopeful, but not that hopeful. Oops, I'm definitely doing these in the wrong order. Oh, what is it going to be? More dead? I'm giving myself a 20% chance of this thing working again after today. Oh my god. I thought like, oh, it's probably that time that I like really tossed my bag, and it probably all came No, no, no. This has been like seeping out, boys. Just like Sony, Asus developed a gasket that is intended to keep all of the liquid metal between the CPU die and the cooler without allowing it to leak out onto the sensitive components that either could be shorted out or, in some cases, even corroded. Uh most liquid metal that I'm aware of contains gallium, [music] which is highly corrosive to aluminum, for instance, which is often present in computer systems. In order to achieve a good seal, it's typical to have a protective covering around the chip that the gasket seals against. As we can see here, though, the mounting pressure of these springs is not that high, which appears to have allowed the liquid metal to seep out in between. And it's like everywhere. To be clear, there's nothing wrong with using a low mounting pressure. Dawsdude1, back when he came up for our collab upgrading MacBooks, pointed out that Apple uses extremely low mounting pressure on some of their cooling solutions. The difference is that Apple uses [music] a special thermal compound that is designed for low mounting pressure applications. Liquid metal, on the other hand, definitely benefits from high mounting pressure and definitely benefits from not spilling all over the place. Sorry, Asus, I'm not trying to harp on you here, but like, yikes. Do you think trying to turn it on and off again was dangerous? >> Yep. >> [laughter] >> Applying power to any device that you think has been shorted or corroded or experienced liquid damage in any way is extremely risky and dangerous. I had no way of knowing, however, that that was the issue with this device because I hadn't opened it up yet, and I hadn't exposed it to any water or corrosive materials. The leak was inside us all along. The real leak was the friends we made along the way. I was really hoping to avoid taking out the battery, but I don't think that's happening. That tray? Oh my god, it's just tape. My motherboard is taped in. Okay, if it's all over the back, I think we could [music] be cooked. The back is clean. Well, that's a good sign. How the devil did it make it all the way over here? I have a theory. If it was traveling along the heat pipes of the cooler, it was probably staying warm the entire time while it was traveling down. >> [music] >> Interest. You know what? We might be able to resurrect this bad boy after all. First thing we need to do is clean it. And speaking with Allen Splave, who you guys might remember from some recent overclocking adventures we've done, he said the best thing is an organic solvent. So, I guess good old-fashioned isopropyl and elbow grease? Allen recommends starting with a spatula or a scraper. So, we're going to get up as much of this as we can using that before we start to wipe. Step two, wipe up as much of the grease as possible with paper towel. I don't know how well this is going to work for in between some of the components on the board. Oh god, there was a lot in that crack for this fan filter. As soon as I started to wipe here, it spread out like nuts. I think it's kind of a cool aesthetic. Yeah, thanks, Stephen. How much you think's under here? Oh, not bad. So, there's a bit here, here, here, here, and here. [music] These little balls here that are shorting out on stuff, these are bad balls. He really recommends spatulating this before I cuz I feel like I've got kind of an opportunity here to kind of slide it all off of this thing. I mean, if you want to say in front of the world that you think you know better than Splave. I'm just going to >> To be fair, the instructions you you [music] sent it seems like they're for his like hybrid product, right? >> No, it should be fine. You know what? Here's what we're going to do. We're going to pull this off, and we're going to wipe that off. Okay, good. That wiped off super clean. The bottom of this heat spreader, though, yuck. Oh, man, we started out so tidy. This has clearly devolved at this point. Okay, mostly clean. I mean, I'm like oscillating between extremely confident and zero confidence here. Sounds like me in high school. I found your problem, Asus. You've got so much freaking liquid metal in here. Look at all of this. Does more liquid metal result in better performance? No. But it results in a more consistent application where you definitely won't have too little. Can you see all that? That's all the stuff that's not even on the die. I understand why they would do it this way because if you have too little liquid metal, it's obviously not going to be able to do its job. Not a big chunk of it. At what point would you just go, we're going to dip it? Basically, if you get off as much as you can, and it's not enough. Yeah, you can do the dip. But I'm going to try to get off as much as I can. I'm going to try to set a good example here. See, that little dot contains now, but once it melts, the way this stuff spreads out, man. Actually finding the knife blade pretty good for removing chunks of it. But isn't that dangerous for damaging the PCB? I mean, what am I going to do? Make it more dead? Imagine if Yeah, imagine if I was to Oh. [ __ ] Ah, shoot. What'd you do? I was trying to peel liquid metal off of a little capacitor, and I pulled it up. [ __ ] Did I rip the pad off, though? Maybe not. I think we can salvage this. >> got soldering tools. Yeah, we got soldering tools. Ooh. Yeah, I see. I think the pad's intact. Okay, well, if the pad's intact, we're Yeah, we're fine. Fine. Oh, no. Dude, I think the liquid metal is loosening the solder. What? That doesn't even make any sense. What's the material of solder? If it's lead-free, then it's usually tin and or silver. This one right here was like flooded in liquid metal and [music] just lifted right off. Liquid metal can absorb into solder, making it brittle and causing components to detach [music] from the board. I knew I didn't push on it that hard. >> Dude, we're using a knife. No, no, yeah, but I was I was using the knife as a delicate tool. [music] That's what my father's murderer said. Are we going to try and attach components to the board? >> I think we should try. Before we can reattach those components, however, I do want to get off as much of the liquid metal as we can. So, what we're going to do is use this hot air station at the lowest possible temperature, and then use some solder wick to try to get up the last bit of it. And it just walks around. Get over here, buddy. It's not grabbing the solder wick. Mhm. You know what? New method. I'm using the solder wick as a brush. This might be our best bet right now. >> I can't wait for the 500 comments all detailing the better ways to do this. Oh, yeah. If you guys wanted the better way, you wouldn't watch LTT, though. Man, I wish I could blow even harder, which normally would not be something you would want. You can actually see a lot of the little pieces making their way to the edge here. This is crazy. I would never do this to a working board. Oh, yeah. Oh, we're moving it. See that? Not really. You don't see it moving? >> Yeah, look at all that residue that you're creating. >> Andrew sees it. >> Yeah, I got it. Yeah, but the residue I can deal with. A big glob between these components that's bridging them, I can't. You can see how much of it I'm getting out of there now though. Okay, okay, things about to get crazy. We're already way past the crazy crazy zone, man. That's what you think. Guess what? It's lined day. We are squeezing the Do you want a smaller vessel? Nope. I don't think we're going to get much cleaner than that. Now I just have to clean off these caps that fell off the board. Those kind are non-polarized. Nice. And with this cleaned up, we can head over to the workshop and try and reattach them. I mean, look, Das Dude one did stuff that was like a tenth [music] this size. So, if I can't do this, then I might as well just hang up my screwdriver. This is wild, dude. I was not expecting this adventure to be so interesting. Damn, there's still a little bit of liquid metal on that one. Oh, we'll wipe it off. There. Okay, where's our tweezers at? I actually never really work at this station, so that one goes there, and this one goes here. Hey Justin, you might want to have a look at this. There's one that I'm not 100% sure on, and it's the right >> side one here. It looks okay to me though. To find out if that pad's intact, Justin's throwing some flux on the board, and then he's going to tin it. If the tin sticks, it means the pad's still there. Well, we appear to be okay. Nice. Yeah, just do the one, Justin. >> [laughter] >> I'm just messing with him. I said I'd do it. I gave up. Justin's doing it. Okay, so you got one on. I feel a lot better because this is taking him a little while. Oh, jeez. Yeah, oh, I guess you're done then. >> you go, Mr. Lines. Brilliant. And you guarantee it works, Justin? Yeah, 100%. It's not going to fail. Barring what Linus did. Wait. Yeah, you can't even tell where it was, dude, can you? I know you put it in the wrong spot. What do you mean? >> [laughter] >> All right. >> for real this time. Yeah, I mean, that kind of looks on there, right? I was poking poking it with this. It wasn't moving, so I think it's okay. Okay. Well, let's see if it works. Good luck, everybody. Good luck, everybody. Ah, fudge. I got so absorbed in the adventure that I forgot to clean the cooler. Dude, what an adventure this has been, whether we get a working laptop out of it or not. Yeah, the real laptop was the friends you made along the way. Thanks, David. Time to get my birth-iversary on. Hell yeah. Everybody, it's Justin's birthday. Hey, happy birthday, Justin. Oh, thank you. The real birthday. I mean, there's certain things that I don't really have to plug in just to find out if it's going to work, like these Wi-Fi antennas, but feel like if I'm putting it back together, I might as well swing for the fences, right? >> Yeah, baby. Is uh liquid metal good for you? Oh, dude, Silver Surfer. Direct contact with liquid metal can be harmful. And the severity depends on the specific type of metal. Liquid mercury Okay, no. What is it? Is it liquid Yeah, but what is it? >> It's a gallium. Yeah, you're fine. No, I'm just So long as you don't ingest it. Uh okay, let's get some PTM 7950. So, we were looking it up. Are your fingers feeling tingly yet? No. But my brain is feeling pretty excited about my laptop working again. Unlike the liquid metal we had on here before, it doesn't actually matter if we apply too much PTM 7950 [music] because it is non-conductive, and it is an ideal thermal paste for direct die cooling like we're doing here. I still can't believe that it knocked those components [music] off the board. Yeah, does that mean that there's more than a little bit on it? Potentially. But they didn't break right now, so Yep. So, they're not my problem. Okay, battery's connected, boys. This is it. It's showtime. >> [sighs] >> Ah. >> [laughter] >> Work. It continues coming to screw I really want this to work. I really like this laptop. And now that I've gone and trashed on Asus's thermal compound, Asus is probably not going to send me another one. So, I really need to fix it. Here we go. Oh, these are coming soon, by the way. Finally, I just saw the final packaging design very recently. I'm super super excited for our cables. Is it even Is there a charging indicator? Normally, yes. Wow, this is like more deader than I would have anticipated. The only thing I'm thinking is that cap might not be on right. Is it worth putting all the screws in like It is probably worth trying, yes. Wait, I missed a fan header. Okay, that actually might prevent it from doing anything. Like a couple I can see, but for it to not have any indication whatsoever that I have something plugged into it, like The charging light's on. >> [sighs] >> This is this is the behavior that I saw before. So, let's not get too excited here. I think we're cooked. Try the like Asus charger. Who knows? It can be a thing though. Using the OEM charger can enable it to quick charge a little bit faster from a very dead state. Hey, well, definitely thinks it's charging still. So thirsty since I didn't drink anything today. >> Five minutes later. No days through. As tragic as that was, we still want to find out if the liquid metal is worth risking the life of your laptop for. To do that, we're going to hand this laptop over to the lab so they can test it before we replace the liquid metal with PTM 7950. Well, we [ __ ] around. Time to find out. Unfortunately, we were not able to repair my machine, but we do have our backup machine here, and we ran a bunch of tests in the Labs with the liquid metal from the factory, and now we've replaced it with PTM 7950 to find out. We really like F1 24 as a thermal benchmark because, yes, it stresses the system extremely hard, especially when we're running it with ray tracing like this, but also, it's a real-world load. We're not in just running a power virus. That's what they're called? Really? Yeah. Sounds so hardcore to say. Like combustor or like OCCT. That's my favorite metal band. And this is not what we expected. We intended to just do an ad hoc test here on the set and be like, \"Hmm, yeah, well, the CPU temperatures are they look about the same.\" Yeah, that's not what happened. It turns out that our result was that with the PTM 7950 thermal pad, we actually got either slightly better thermals or we got about the same thermals with a slightly higher clock speed on the CPU, meaning that the liquid metal did not outperform our phase change thermal pad except in extreme CPU loads. So, we can see why Asus chose to use it. We need to be really careful about this because that pad is available on lttstore.com, and we didn't want to oversell it. We don't know for sure if on a higher-end configuration of this laptop, you would get the same result. Remember, this is not quite the same machine that we originally started with. Maybe Asus has certain configurations where the liquid metal really does give a tangible benefit, but as far as it went here, no, it didn't. And PTM 7950 is supposed to improve ever so slightly over time while lasting a very, very long time, which I couldn't necessarily say about my liquid metal situation. So, take all of this with a grain of salt like you take our sponsor. Take it. Plaud. No time to take notes? Terrible at multitasking? Forget about trying to jot stuff down while you're holding a conversation thanks to Plaud's NotePin. 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If you enjoyed this video and you just like the energy of me and David ripping things apart, how about the time we both upgraded our retro handhelds? That was fun. I have used it twice [music] since then. I used my Vita a lot until it fell off the roof of my car."}