Coffee Lake Thread

[SteelCrysis]

https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3381-...-overclock

Let’s bring it back to reality. Delidding has never been a hard requirement with Intel’s processors. It becomes a requirement for serious overclocking, and it absolutely helps drive down the thermals in a way that can benefit system noise levels. With the soldered CPU, it’s still not a requirement, and the solder is better than the original Dow Corning TIM that Intel has used. Intel soldered this one out of necessity. The company could not have achieved the clocks it did – not across eight cores – without increased cooling efficiency.

Even still, it’s clearly possible to improve performance. You could also go direct die, if you really wanted to, but we’ve got to draw the line somewhere. As for whether it’s worth it, the answer is generally “no,” and more so than previous CPUs. With this one, it’s a lot of extra steps and the risk is higher for the untrained. Gains require more attempts to really get it right, more trial-and-error testing, and it’s possible that you don’t end up much better than before. If you start grinding down the die and lapping the IHS, it’s more likely you see worthwhile improvements. This isn’t like the 7980XE where we saw instant 20-degree improvements from a delid and liquid metal. It’s more tempered.

We’d only recommend delidding to people who are pushing for high clocks, competitively overclocking, or who are so neurotic about noise that an extra couple degrees and 200RPM reduction in fan speed might be meaningful.