should i delid my cpu? (4790k)

zassou · October 25, 2019

so this cpu of mine have gotten worse, core temp at idle has increased to ~42 degree (bios). when measred last or 2 years ago it was barely over 40 even in hotter days. i think the intel toothpaste have dried up.

i wanted to properly overclock it and since when i got this chip back in 2015, ive never tried to unlock its fullest potential, which to me is stable at 4.5g when doing heavy calculating work like transcoding. it barely holds in 4.3 and without stupid voltages it wont even run well in 4.4, and the temps are

in stock settings the motherboard is in adaptive voltage mod, and that will make it as high as 1.28v even not overclocking. so ive set to fixed voltage mode with base voltage 1.079v (cpu-z reads 1.1v) and a +0.05v offset, basically locked the voltage to tame its inner fire. otherwise i would hit 105+ on prime 95, in stock setting, i mind you.

im using a cooler master 240 clc, a non-astek model with square block. i have double checked the mounting pressure, applied fresh and right amount thermal grease (it's not a good one i admit, generic grey chinese goop, 6W/m-K or so). and the spread is good too.

i suspect the bios reads the core temp while usually when we are talking about cpu temps, we use package temps. core temps tend to warmer than package temp, but again, idling at bios with fans spins at maximum speed, 42 is still a tad too warm.

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i have limited budget due to the place i live in and the postage is not cheap. if i gonna do it i have to make compromises.

so, this is the plan.

deliding: i want to delid the chip using my small pcb repairing vise. deliding tool from that coke zero guy is too expensive and probably not worth the cost if i only use it once. and im not gonna reseal the ihs.

or should i buy cheaper chinese alternative deliding tool?

thermal materials: i was going to use conductonaut but again its out of my reach. so i turs to other brand, recently thermalright makes a alternative liquid metal called silver king. for the same volume it's nearly half of the price.

since all liquid metal products are just galinstan alloy with probably minor difference in composition, i think its performance will be pretty close to thermal grizzly's.

as for the paste, im gonna use gc-extreme, it's a good paste with solid street cred, and one seller is near me so i can save some postage.

what im not clear is how much paste and liquid metal i need. it comes in 1g and 3g package, i want to know how many applies in each one. and the gc-extreme only in 3.5g in syring and 10g bottle too, i will use the paste on both cpu and gpu.

anyway i need a lot of advices, thanks

Semper · October 25, 2019

1g should be plenty sufficient for multiple applications. A small drop properly spread out is all it takes.

I've always idled around 40c during summer, 20-30c during winter with my 4790k (slightly overclocked/undervolted, 4.5 @1.2v - 40%(40c)-100%(70c) fan curve), but under load, I'm able to keep it right around 70c. Both are acceptable to me. I did delid my 4790k last year though, as my load temperatures were pushing the low-mid 80's, the delid did make a significant impact on that aspect. My idles didn't change all that much. My paste was dry and flaky.

As always, delidding is done at your own risk, moreso if you opt to not use a specialized tool. YMMV, I know it can be done safely with tools, but it's not something that I recommend. I can't speak to anything but conductonaut on this matter, it's all I've used.