AMD Ryzen 7 Processors Use Solder TIM Shows Ryzen Delidding Photo

Professional overclocker Der8auer has successfully delidded an AMD Ryzen 7 1700 processor to reveal that AMD is using an indium-based solder for the Thermal Interface Material (TIM) betwen the die and the CPU lid on this processor series. It took the seasoned overclocker three processors to get the task complete succecssfully, so this likely isn’t something you’ll want to try at home on your brand new $329 8-core processor.

He first had to cut clean through all the black adhesive on the exterior of the Integrated Heat Spreader (IHS) with a razor blade. Once that was down he wedged razer blades under the lid to put some pressure on it away from the green silicon body. He then put it in a special thermal block that heated up to 170C to melt the solder that goes back to a liquid state around 150C.

Once the processor neared 150C it did indeed ‘pop’ off after a few unnerving crackles and revealed that solder was indeed used on the Ryzen 7 series. The top YouTube comment on der8auer’s video which was “Gold plating, high quality solder and silicone protected caps. Intel should be ashamed.” Maybe this will get Intel to step it up and move back to solder? Der8auer plans on delidding more Ryzen CPUs this weekend and overclock them with direct die cooling. That should be really interesting! The video of his AMD Ryzen 7 1700 delidding can be seen below.