Is delidding a 4790k now a necessity?

PTRACER · 5 Sep 2021 at 10:12

I just paired a 3070 Ti with my 4790k, but I noticed that after a little while, performance degrades, I get FPS spikes and the PC seems to get really hot.

When I ran a stress test on the CPU, I found the Core 0 temp spiked almost immediately to 100C, Core 1 was 80C+, while Core 3 and 4 was as low as 57C-60C. This is with the CPU at stock speed/voltages and turbo mode disabled. CPU-Z showed the CPU throttling down to 3.2GHz after just a few minutes on the stress test.

I have quite a beefy aircooler, I replaced the thermal paste twice and cleaned everything out just to be sure but I couldn't feel the CPU cooler getting hot until the processor itself had been running for quite a while. I figured that there can't be effective heat transfer from the CPU die to the IHS in the first place, because everything else seems fine.

Given how old the 4790ks are now, is delidding it and replacing the old TIM a necessity for all owners of this CPU?

I know there are a lot of people still running it and want to pair them with the latest RTX series of cards, but are worried about bottlenecks. It seems natural to get CPU bottlenecks if their 4790ks are overheating/throttling due to their age....

PTRACER · 5 Sep 2021 at 15:22

I opened up the Core Temp app while I had GTA5 running. Core 0 was up at 91-97C. It's not just the stress tests overstretching my CPU.

PTRACER · 7 Sep 2021 at 04:57

Thanks Too Tall.

I bought the kit and the liquid metal, I'll report how it went afterwards!

Just in case people are interested. Core temps on Idle:

Core temps after 20 seconds of full load (only 20s!):

PTRACER · 8 Sep 2021 at 15:11

I have to say that delidding has been overwhelmingly successful

Core temps BEFORE - 20 seconds of load at stock: 96C / 79C / 63C / 57C

Core temps AFTER - 10 minutes of load and an overclock: 78C / 76C / 78C / 78C

PTRACER · 8 Sep 2021 at 17:05

Junk said:
Very nice!

Delidding really does work wonders. I have an i7 7700k that it shaved similar amounts off, albeit at 5ghz. Bear in mind though after a long while it will need cleaning down and re-applying. Actually mine may have been 4 years before noticing spikes on one core again - but it was an overnight thing rather than slow degredation. Re-de-lidding fixed again! There was barely any trace of the original liquid metal inside.

Thought i'd mention this an nobody ever seems to!

Thanks!

It's my first time delidding, over my past XX number of years of PC building it was always portrayed as a bad thing to do so I avoided even learning about it. In reality, it's dead easy to do, very little risk if you take the proper precautions and it's saved me from buying a new processor. If I can get another 4 years out of this thing I'll be laughing.

And you're right, I haven't heard anything about the long time effects of using liquid metal, but at least it doesn't need to be done as often as regular thermal paste, and I have no problem with attempting the process again in future if necessary,

PTRACER · 9 Sep 2021 at 04:34

Joxeon said:
Did it noticeably improve gaming performance?

Yes, but mainly because my CPU was throttling to as low as 3.2GHz when under load.

I've maxed out GTAV at 1080p and getting 90-115fps during normal play, with occasional dips to 40-50fps when there's a lot going on on-screen.

OldKitMan said:
When I delidded my 3770k I didn't bother gluing it back together so if I ever need to do it again it will be a lot quicker and easier.

Link here for anyone interested: Adventures in Delidding | Overclockers UK Forums

I scraped on the lightest amount of black sealant onto the 'wings' of the IHS, and then immediately screwed my CPU cooler on top of it (using it as a clamp). It's just enough to stick it down without creating too much of a gap between the IHS and the top of the die.

PTRACER · 6 Feb 2023 at 05:55

1.5 years later - I had to give this another try.

CPU was idling at 55C+ and instantly spiked to 100C whenever I put any kind of load on the CPU. I de-lidded the CPU heatsink and found the liquid metal (Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut) had totally dried onto the surface of the heatsink (or reacted with it somehow) and there was nothing left on the die itself except a black smudge. Neither alcohol, acetone, fingernails or a credit card would remove this stuff from the heatsink, so I resorted to 1200 grit and 1500 grit sandpaper. Polished it lightly until I had a somewhat clean surface. Now I'm idling in the 38-39C range and struggling to get above 67-68C after 10 mins of heavy load, which is WAY better than before.

Looks like I have saved my CPU from death once again!

PTRACER · 6 Feb 2023 at 13:41

Cyber-Mav said:
I delidded my old opteron 170 and went direct die cooling, is it possible for you to go direct die too?

I thought about it but I'm worried about damaging the die when I screw down my cooler.

PTRACER · 7 Feb 2023 at 01:59

Cyber-Mav said:
Dunno if dies are more fragile these days but back in the days of the athlon xp etc everything was direct die and it be very rare to ever hear of dies getting damaged due to cooler mounting. Granted these days pc building is far simpler so anyone can do it and no real skill or knowledge is needed. Watch YouTube vids and do as... Except for that one vid.. you know which one i mean.

I think so