How To How to Delid Your Processor and Why it's Worth It

[abryant]

Delidding, the process of removing your CPUs integrated heat sink and replacing its thermal paste with better material, is fairly easy with the right tools. Read more here.

ZAK STOREY
Zak Storey is an editor at Tom's Hardware specializing in system-building, liquid-cooling and overclocking.

 

[geofelt]

A very nice story with all the caveats.
For a non enthusiast user, you can have this done professionally with a warranty for about the same cost as the materials described here. Silicon lottery, for example.

Worth is somethin only YOU can decide.

 

[Arbie]

From what I've read, it would be idiotic to delid any AMD Ryzen processor because unlike Intel they (1) already have good thermal paste; and (2) have elaborate power-management sensors attached to the lid. You'd be crazy to destroy the PrecisionBoost circuits for the tiny gain (if any) of a delid.

In fact almost no one will benefit from even overclocking a Ryzen since doing so will turn off PB. You can get faster clocks but at a huge power cost. Let AMD's superior technology (which BTW you paid less for) do its job.

Toms should be well enough informed to know - and make clear - that this whole story makes sense only for Intel CPUs... if anyone is still buying those dinosaurs.

 

[Onus]

A much better title would have been: "How to Delid Your Processor and When it's Worth it." For most people, a vast majority of the time, it's simply not worthwhile, nor worth the risk, even if it's lower now than it has been in the past.

 

[hotaru251]

I have watched many delidding ppl (including de8baur himself which if you enjoy that stuff.... https://www.youtube.com/user/der8auer has english and german versions of i think every video of his) and they also put liquid metal on the IHS underside.

assume something to do with letting the metal "merge" better than if it was just wet pressing agaisnt dry. (2 sides havign saem surface tension merge easier)

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

While I enjoyed the article, I feel $43 bucks and up for a tool to reduce risk during IHS removal from an Intel CPU, doesn't amortize well with the cost of a single CPU, especially the article's budget model example, and helps showcase AMD's current value. Tom's has demonstrated the negligible value of delidding Ryzen CPU models using thermal paste.

 

[bit_user]

Delidding, the process of removing your CPUs integrated heat sink and replacing its thermal paste with better material, is fairly easy with the right tools. Read more here.

Thanks for this. Rather overdue, I think, but I welcome more of this sort of coverage.

I once tried delidding with the razor blade method, but chickened out early on. So far, I've only gone as far as lapping (there's another article idea for you, BTW).

I do think it would've benefited from a list of recent CPU models with solder TIM. At the very least, you could've provided a more prominent warning that people confirm their CPU is not soldered, before attempting this.

I also think you could've mentioned direct-die cooling, but maybe you're saving that for its own article.

 

[JamesSneed]

I would have liked to have seen a list of CPU's that use TIM. That would have made this article complete as I'm sure many people reading this do not know which CPU's are candidates. For example t he i9-9900K is soldered.

 

[hotaru251]

i think all of the 9000 series are soldered.

 

[mac_angel]

i think all of the 9000 series are soldered.

what about the Skylake-X refresh? Anyone know if they are soldered? I'm interested in getting a Core i9 9920X or 9940X

 

[hotaru251]

what about the Skylake-X refresh? Anyone know if they are soldered? I'm interested in getting a Core i9 9920X or 9940X

With its refreshed Skylake-X CPUs, Intel has resumed soldering the die to the integrated heat spreader (or IHS).

quick google search lead me to this link with the above statemnt

Intel bolsters Core X CPUs with higher clocks, more cache, and solder

Along with its refreshed Coffee Lake chips, Intel announced an update to its Skylake-X CPUs for the X299 platform yesterday morning. While the underlying architecture of these parts is the...

techreport.com

so i think tis any 9000 series is soldered.

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

With its refreshed Skylake-X CPUs, Intel has resumed soldering the die to the integrated heat spreader (or IHS).

quick google search lead me to this link with the above statemnt

Intel bolsters Core X CPUs with higher clocks, more cache, and solder

Along with its refreshed Coffee Lake chips, Intel announced an update to its Skylake-X CPUs for the X299 platform yesterday morning. While the underlying architecture of these parts is the...

techreport.com

so i think tis any 9000 series is soldered.

A blanket statement that all 9000 series Intel CPU SKUs will be soldered is likely as it is with Ryzen. They're all soldered, until they aren't. It's doubtful Intel is soldering to please customers, rather, they probably needed improved thermals at the top end to accommodate the dials they turned up. Intel told Tom's the i3-9x "F" parts won't be soldered (last paragraph.)

 

[hotaru251]

A blanket statement that all 9000 series Intel CPU SKUs will be soldered is likely as it is with Ryzen. They're all soldered, until they aren't. It's doubtful Intel is soldering to please customers, rather, they probably needed improved thermals at the top end to accommodate the dials they turned up. Intel told Tom's the i3-9x "F" parts won't be soldered (last paragraph.)

TBH "f" sku shouldnt even exist <_<

and i know they likely did it for thermals (as even with solder they run warm)

 

[Cableaddict]

Delidding, the process of removing your CPUs integrated heat sink and replacing its thermal paste with better material, is fairly easy with the right tools. Read more here.

ZAK STOREY
Zak Storey is an editor at Tom's Hardware specializing in system-building, liquid-cooling and overclocking.

Delidding, the process of removing your CPUs integrated heat sink and replacing its thermal paste with better material, is fairly easy with the right tools. Read more here.

ZAK STOREY
Zak Storey is an editor at Tom's Hardware specializing in system-building, liquid-cooling and overclocking.

You should have started this article with your comment right t the end: The current 9th generation cpu's all have solder-based TIM.
Still, that begs the questions:
1: Even with a 9th gen cpu, could replacing the stock TIM with liquid metal offer any improvement?
2: Could it even be done?

 

[geofelt]

Another good argument for not delidding a 9th gen intel processor.
Intel has released a new automatic overclocking tool called "intel Performance maximizer"
Different from the intel extreme utility(XTU).
It depends on a stock 9th gen K processor, and from what I read it really does the job well.
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/processors/core/performance-maximizer.html