Ryzen 7 5800X3D
The term "delidding" means that procedure, practiced essentially almost exclusively by overclocking enthusiasts, which consists in removing the Integrated Heat Spreader (IHS) from the processor, obviously avoiding damage to the chip. Recently, an enthusiast known as Madness dabbled in delidding a Ryzen 7 5800X3D and, at the urging of an editor at Hardware Luxx, shared some of the findings. Primarily, delidding is done to maximize overclocking, as the CPU can potentially be cooled more effectively. This is also what was found on the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, as the processor was able to run at higher Boost rates, consume less power, and have temperatures below 10 ° C while running the Forza Horizon 5 video game.To carry out this delicate operation, Madness used sharp knives to pry the edges of the IHS, as well as a heat gun, set between 150 and 200 ° C. Compared to other models, delidding a processor like the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is quite risky, as there are multiple components close to the IHS, so it is possible to accidentally damage the CPU. Instead of replacing the factory Thermal Interface Material (TIM) with a more efficient liquid metal compound, Madness simply added Conductonaut to the die and replaced the IHS. The results obtained, in any case, were quite interesting.
Photo Credit: Madness! / Twitter
The Ryzen 7 5800X3D CPU gets a delid for improved temperatures
In context: In recent years, delidding has gradually become a lost art due to improvements in modern IHS design, the use of better thermal interface materials, and idiot-proof tools for the delidding process. However, it's always a pleasant surprise when a processor like the Ryzen 7 5800X3D that marks the end of an era gets delidded by an enthusiast who believes the reward is well worth the risks.
Earlier this month, an anonymous overclocker delidded an engineering sample from the upcoming Ryzen 7000 CPU lineup and revealed the bare dies in all their glory along with the first new integrated heat spreader (IHS) design change in years.
Normally, this procedure is only done by enthusiasts looking to reduce operating temperatures without the use of exotic cooling hardware. For obvious reasons, the Ryzen 7000 series processor delid was only a tease meant to showcase how AMD is working around some of the problems of moving to an LGA socket for the new CPUs. At the same time, it looks like it will be a more daunting task than on any previous CPU due to the way capacitors are arranged on the interposer.
This week, another overclocker going by @Madness7771 on Twitter revealed he had delidded the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, the last processor of the AM4 era. There are no surprises in terms of what's under the IHS — a core complex die and SoC die are present, and one can also observe some nonconductive protective goop where a second core complex die would have been if AMD had decided to make a Ryzen 9 5900X3D.
What's interesting about this delid is that replacing the factory liquid metal with some of Thermal Grizzly's Conductonaut led to the CPU running 10 degrees Celsius cooler and maintaining higher clocks during gaming workloads. Madness says this was a worthwhile improvement as the 5800X3D would previously reach temperatures of up to 90 degrees during long gaming sessions in titles like Forza Horizon 5.
That said, delidding a modern processor produces more modest results than it used to while requiring a great deal of patience and finesse. Madness used classic tools like razor blades and a heat gun to do the job, and it goes without saying this procedure carries a high risk of damaging the delicate core complex die with the stacked 3D V-Cache.
Overall, the results are impressive, and there's little one can do to further improve how the Ryzen 7 5800X3D performs. Overclocking isn't officially supported due to design limitations, but there are signs that manufacturers like MSI may add some limited overclocking support on select high-end AM4 motherboards shortly.