De-Lidding my 7700k!

Gimbal · 1 Jul 2017 at 20:55

Hi guys, just thought i would share my experience of de-lidding my CPU.

I OC'd my 7700k to 5ghz @ 1.3v and was lovely and stable, but with one issue. I noticed temp spikes up to 85'c from average 50-60'c in games, this caused irritating fan surges that annoyed me... mostly the wife. I looked for a solution to this and learned about "De-lidding" which involves removing the IHS and replacing the stock Intel TIM on the die. I managed to find this "Rocket Cool De-lidder tool" from america which made the whole process look simple, without having to use a scalpel. Well, it arrived today so i gave it a go. It was nice and easy, and only took about 10 mins. The stock TIM intel use is crap, so i cleaned it off with some isopropyl alcohol and scraped the residue silicone sealant off the edges. All cleaned up, I taped around the die to stop any accidental spillage, then applied Cool Laboratory liquid pro to the die with a Qtip. The de-lidding tool also has a handy "re-lidding" attachment to properly secure the IHS back onto the die. I placed the CPU into the attachment, placed a small dot of gel superglue to each corner of the IHS, and put it in place. The attachment then screws down, holding the IHS in place to allow the glue / sillicone to cure. After about an hour, i put the cpu back into the machine and fired her up.
Intel Burn test read a max temp of 65'c (was 92'c before de-lidding) The temp spikes in games have gone, and are about 10-15'c cooler on average.

Total result and i am so happy i did it, fan surges have gone, and have a quieter fan curve, happy days

http://imgur.com/a/zO0Rs

gavinh87 · 1 Jul 2017 at 21:37

Glad it went ok for you. There are plenty of horror stories regarding delidding.

AiiR · 1 Jul 2017 at 23:55

I still can't believe that this has become such common practice that there's even specialised tools for it now. For a CPU costing north of £300, it's crazy that you need to butcher it apart and replace the TIM to get acceptable temperatures.

Gimbal · 2 Jul 2017 at 00:23

AiiR said:
I still can't believe that this has become such common practice that there's even specialised tools for it now. For a CPU costing north of £300, it's crazy that you need to butcher it apart and replace the TIM to get acceptable temperatures.

Yeah, i agree... Shouldnt have to do it.

Doug2507 · 2 Jul 2017 at 08:18

Well, not really. Intel only have to ensure the chip operates within spec at stock clocks. Pushing the chip 25% past stock is entirely down to the user and if that requires delid to do it then so be it. No point whining about it, just get on with it.

Gimbal · 2 Jul 2017 at 08:40

Doug2507 said:
Well, not really. Intel only have to ensure the chip operates within spec at stock clocks. Pushing the chip 25% past stock is entirely down to the user and if that requires delid to do it then so be it. No point whining about it, just get on with it.

Who's whining? I already did it lol.. I just agree that a chip that costs £300+ that is a "K" and is designed to be overclocked should have a better thermal compound than the tacky TIM that intel use. There are a lot of people who are having huge temp spikes, even at stock speeds! This is all down to Intel cutting corners, and saving $.

Kelt · 2 Jul 2017 at 08:44

If people stopped buying these pasty chips, Intel would change them soon enough.

pastymuncher · 2 Jul 2017 at 13:25

Doug2507 said:
Well, not really. Intel only have to ensure the chip operates within spec at stock clocks. Pushing the chip 25% past stock is entirely down to the user and if that requires delid to do it then so be it. No point whining about it, just get on with it.

Intel charges a premium for a unlocked cpu that can be overclocked so the least they could do is put some decent thermal paste in it. It never used to be a problem and back in the socket 775 days it was not uncommon to get a 100% overclock while still having decent temps. Intel swapped from a soldered IHS to crappy thermal paste while at the same time resticting overclocking to only a couple of unlocked cpu's, then charging a premium for them and people end up having to void their warranties by delidding the cpu just to get sensible temps. Why people can't see what is wrong with this scenario is beyond me.

Gimbal · 2 Jul 2017 at 14:11

pastymuncher said:
Intel charges a premium for a unlocked cpu that can be overclocked so the least they could do is put some decent thermal paste in it. It never used to be a problem and back in the socket 775 days it was not uncommon to get a 100% overclock while still having decent temps. Intel swapped from a soldered IHS to crappy thermal paste while at the same time resticting overclocking to only a couple of unlocked cpu's, then charging a premium for them and people end up having to void their warranties by delidding the cpu just to get sensible temps. Why people can't see what is wrong with this scenario is beyond me.

Well said

SCOLANATOR · 2 Jul 2017 at 23:15

Delidded my 6700k, went well. After seeing the paste Intel uses for myself I feel really ripped off. It's just not acceptable to be using such low quality TIM on a £320 processor.

http://imgur.com/a/YA42J

pastymuncher · 3 Jul 2017 at 09:16

Was your paste hard? The paste on my 4790k was and when cleaning it up it just crumbled which is not what you would expect a paste to do. It's a truly shocking state of affairs.

SCOLANATOR · 3 Jul 2017 at 11:12

pastymuncher said:
Was your paste hard? The paste on my 4790k was and when cleaning it up it just crumbled which is not what you would expect a paste to do. It's a truly shocking state of affairs.

Paste was sort of powdery, felt like really crap stuff. Seen a good reduction in temps since reapplying Liquid Metal Ultra and TG Kryonaut.

Gimbal · 3 Jul 2017 at 13:41

The paste on mine was kind of rubbery, and the coverage was awful.

jabbz · 5 Jul 2017 at 00:51

Can't you send it to intel and ask them to do their job, as they should know by now.
Better still get AMD to give them some tips lol!

Doogles · 8 Jul 2017 at 00:50

Doug2507 said:
Well, not really. Intel only have to ensure the chip operates within spec at stock clocks. Pushing the chip 25% past stock is entirely down to the user and if that requires delid to do it then so be it. No point whining about it, just get on with it.

Even though you pay for it to be overclockable and they charge for it, meanwhile AMD allow all chips unlocked and overclockable without paying the premium for it.

jabbz · 8 Jul 2017 at 02:53

This is the problem with intel they take the P@#S!

Gerard · 8 Jul 2017 at 02:54

Would using superglue not be a bit dodgy if you ever need to de-lid it again? Obviously that would stick better than the gasket type material they use, would think it could potentially pull some of the substrate off if you de-lidded it again.

Gimbal · 8 Jul 2017 at 20:11

Gerard said:
Would using superglue not be a bit dodgy if you ever need to de-lid it again? Obviously that would stick better than the gasket type material they use, would think it could potentially pull some of the substrate off if you de-lidded it again.

Its gel, like a quick drying silicone, so is flexible, heat resistant and able to be taken apart again... but tbh, there really shouldn't be any need to de-lid again as i have good temps.

Disco_P · 8 Jul 2017 at 20:25

My 3570K had rubbery thermal paste though it had seen a fair few years of use before i did the deed.

http://imgur.com/a/MeoX1

Gerard · 8 Jul 2017 at 20:28

Gimbal said:
Its gel, like a quick drying silicone, so is flexible, heat resistant and able to be taken apart again... but tbh, there really shouldn't be any need to de-lid again as i have good temps.

Suppose so, ordered one of those de-lidders for my 6700k as its temps can rocket sometimes. Some of the diagrams I've seen seem to suggest that in a lot of cases the actual die isn't really even making contact with the ihs, more so the very top of the thermal paste is touching it and not much else. So the thermal paste is essentially working as a gap filler in some instances to bridge the gap from the die to the ihs. Pretty shoddy to say the least.