Ryzen 7 7800X3D IHS shape

Associate
Joined
29 Feb 2024
Posts
6
Location
Inverness
Hi everyone. Im building a new PC using the Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU and when i opened the box i had an initial concern/quesion.

The IHS of the CPU is not the same perfect square that previous generations have been as it has several small cutouts around the border. My question is this. Will the bracket on my motherboard/AIO cooler cover these to prevent thermal paste from getting into those cutouts and onto the smaller chips and pieces in those areas. I didnt get anything else other than the CPU in the box and i dont know of any products that are purchaseable to add on if that makes sense.

I realise this is a very paranoid and silly question but i would appreciate any and all advice.

Thank you in advance.
AMD%20Ryzen%207%207800X3D%20Processor%20Featured%20Image.jpg
 
Bracket won't no, if you want to put a cover over it to stop paste 'spilling' look at Noctua or Thermal Grizzly as they both offer a shield, something that isn't required imo, dot in the middle or manually spread your paste and you'll be fine.
what about the thermal paste thats already on the copper plate of my AIO will that be fine?
 
yeah its brand new my question was will there be a risk of any paste on the excess surface area not touching the IHS damaging the chips that are visible on the CPU
Mayhem will ensue if even the tiniest bit of thermal paste gets on them think gizmo and water, the computer will transform into murderbot assassin during the night and the unthinkable will happen.
 
While you can't depend on it, usually the pre-applied paste on a heatsink is a non-conductive type, so aside from making a bit of a mess it shouldn't have any impact if it gets pushed out a bit.

Personally I'd be inclined to remove it and apply something like Arctic MX-4 to the CPU or if you want to spread it to ensure there isn't "pump out" look at the Thermal Grizzly products, alternatively you could use a thermal pad but generally they have slightly worse performance than well applied paste.
 
While you can't depend on it, usually the pre-applied paste on a heatsink is a non-conductive type, so aside from making a bit of a mess it shouldn't have any impact if it gets pushed out a bit.

Personally I'd be inclined to remove it and apply something like Arctic MX-4 to the CPU or if you want to spread it to ensure there isn't "pump out" look at the Thermal Grizzly products, alternatively you could use a thermal pad but generally they have slightly worse performance than well applied paste.
i looked at the thermal grizzly shield things that they sell but unfortunately they are out of stock and i dont see any other brand selling something similar. Im going to take the chance and run the set up as is. Stock thermal paste on my last AIO seemed perfectly fine and the one im using in the new build is a bigger AIO so better heat transfer as well.
 
Plenty in stock, but as other have said, as long as you are using a non conductive TIM, then theres nothing to worry about, just a bit of extra cleanup to do if you decide to remove the cooler and change the paste, then youll just need some cotton swabs (Q-Tips) and some IPA to get in the gaps.

This if you dont want to remove the AM5 retention frame

Or this if you do want to replace the retention frame:
 
If it helps, since AM5 released, I haven't seen a single post of: "I fried my CPU because of thermal paste" and I doubt everyone is using non-conductive paste.

Agreed, and to be honest, most of those SMD's are coated in some sort of hot glue type substance, the gold pad looking ones are nothing, I expect they are just a universal CPU package PCBs and high power CPU's probably have SMD's in those spots.
 
Last edited:
had a similar concern with dads one recently so opted for non conductive noctua paste and it came with a little thin clear plastic thing that fits around the heat spreader to stop any excess spreading out, also used the wee spreader thing that came with my thermal grizzly from when i fitted my cpu a while back, due to the odd shape and wanted to make sure the whole thing had paste on it
:)

the only time i truley wet my pants was an early build with a athlon 64 and i used too much and ended up with bits of paste all round the cpu socket after the heat sink was fitted and it was arctic silver 5 which is conductive lol
 
Last edited:
had a similar concern with dads one recently so opted for non conductive noctua paste and it came with a little thin clear plastic thing that fits around the heat spreader to stop any excess spreading out, also used the wee spreader thing that came with my thermal grizzly from when i fitted my cpu a while back, due to the odd shape and wanted to make sure the whole thing had paste on it
:)

the only time i truley wet my pants was an early build with a athlon 64 and i used too much and ended up with bits of paste all round the cpu socket after the heat sink was fitted and it was arctic silver 5 which is conductive lol
That's what I bought. And exactly what happened to me. Luckily mine was non conductive. I would have cried otherwise.

I had it in the CPU pins and everything. No idea how. Just got everywhere.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom