Custom PC - UK (2020-07)

der8auer Delid-

Die-Mate

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High-temperature

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TIM cleaner

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2 / USE DER8AUER DELIDDIEMATE

Mainstream CPUs can be delidded easily with a razor blade, which we’ll

cover briefly here, but the safest and easiest way is to use a der8auer

Delid-Die-Mate tool. They’re available for both Intel HEDT (bottom) and

mainstream CPUs (top) and work brilliantly by dislodging the heatspreader.

MODDING / HOW TO GUIDES

Delid Intel CPUs

How to

3 / GET HIGHPERFORMANCE PASTE

It’s best to use liquid metal paste, such as Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut,

between the CPU and heatspreader, to ensure maximum thermal

conductivity. You can use this paste between your CPU and cooler too,

as long as the latter doesn’t have an aluminium heatsink, although we

recommend using standard thermal paste here to be safe.

I

ntel has had a mixed history when it comes to solder and

thermal paste. After Sandy Bridge in 2011, Intel’s mainstream

desktop CPUs, from Ivy Bridge onwards, lacked solder between

the CPU core and heatspreader, using thermal paste instead. Intel then did

away with solder momentarily on its HEDT platform too with Skylake-X,

before hurriedly adding it back with the likes of the Core i9-9980XE, and

sticking to its guns with Cascade Lake-X too. It also added it back with the

9th-gen mainstream CPUs, such as the Core i9-9900K.

However, there are still a lot of CPUs out there, perhaps including

yours, that would benefit from delidding. This is the process of removing

the heatspreader and stock thermal paste, and replacing it with high-

performance liquid metal paste. The affects can be dramatic, with much

cooler temperatures under load and higher overclocking headroom. We

view delidding a soldered CPU as a step too far and a little risky for the

gains, but this month we’re showing you how to delid a Skylake-X CPU

oroneofIntel’svariousmainstreamCPUs that lack solder.

Antony Leather shows you how

to replace the thermal material

under your CPU’s heatspreader

toreducetemperatures

TOTAL PROJECT TIME / 2 HOURS

TOOLS YOU’LL NEED

1 / CHECK YOUR CPU ISN’T SOLDERED

Broadwell-E and earlier CPUs have soldered heatspreaders, so

attempting to remove the spreader here is dangerous. Make sure

your CPU is a 7000-series model, which includes Kaby Lake-X CPUs.

For mainstream CPUs, this means any chip between the 3000 and

8000-series – Ivy Bridge through Coffee Lake.

Thermal Grizzly

Conductonaut

overclockers.co.uk