Adventures in Delidding

[OldKitMan]

I got a 3770k recently as an upgrade to my 2500k. Upon plugging it in even at stock core 0 would almost hit the thermal limit of 105 - core 3 was about 20 degrees lower. This was using Prime 95 maximum stress, heat, etc test.

I was aware of the crappy paste used inside so decided to have a go at delidding it. After watching numerous videos on youtube I ordered up some liquid metal, an ebay delid tool and set to work.
The tools for the job:



CPU in the delidder


Concrete paste


Cleaned up IHS:


Cleaned up die:


Liquid Metal applied:


Die back in the socket - decided to not reseal as Steve from Gamers Nexus said not to bother in one of his videos.


IHS placed on top and retainer fixed down:


Ran Prime95 again for 30 minutes on the Small FFTs test and got this:



Overall - wasn't too difficult or fiddly and the difference is substantial. What's your thoughts on the temps, are they acceptable (Corsair H110 280MM radiator used for this)?

Will look into the overclocking now.

 

[OldKitMan]

You dropped 40 degrees?
WOW
There must have been such an imbalance in that chip, or the original HS placement must have been poor.
Either way, fantastic result!

yes, was hitting over 100 degrees on core 0 and about 80 on core 3 running prime 95 at stock. The thermal paste I removed was rock hard so I expect the temps have increased over the years gradually. I did repaste a couple of times before opening it in case I had messed it up but results were consistently bad - youtube showed a few people with similar imbalance in temps across the cores.

The other thing it's validated for me is the H110 is still up to the job so when I upgrade I just need to find an AM4 bracket for it.