7700K Deliding (I need help)

[RainbowTylernol]

I've been thinking of doing a delid on my 7700K, but I need help answering a few important questions. 
A lot of tutorials and guides seems to pretty thoroughly show the process of actually deliding the chip, but few actually say anything at all about re-applying thermal compound and more importantly, re-seating the heat spreader in a perfect, centered position. 

My main questions are:
What is a good recommended deliding tool? Preferably one that you can actually buy, unlike the Rockit 88 tool kit which is unavailable anywhere.
What thermal compound should be used to replace the TIM? I've heard people recommend the liquid metal one but it's expensive. Is it really necessary?
What type of glue should be used to re-attach the heat spreader, and how do you make sure it's perfectly centered? 

[WereCat]

I used this tool. It was very easy and straight forward to delid the CPU with it.

https://www.caseking.de/en/der8auer-delid-die-mate-2-fsd8-019.html

 

Use liquid metal on the CPU die for the best results. I used Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut. You can use normal paste but you will have to replace it from time to time and you will not get as much temperature improvements as with the liquid metal. (I got 23*C better temperatures after delid with liquid metal).

 

Use a credit card or any plastic card to scrub the black goo from the PCB away easily and without risk of damaging anything.

Use Isopropyl alcohol and coffee filter or tissue/toilet paper to clean the CPU die from the old stuff.

 

Don't bother gluing the IHS back on the CPU. Just place it there and clamp it. The pressure from the motherboard clamp on the socket will hold it there just fine. Just make sure the IHS won't move/slide while you will be clamping it, hold it there with your finger until it is clamped.

 

Mount the cooler very carefully afterward, don't overtighten the screws and avoid too much pressure.

[reniat]

 

5 minutes ago, RainbowTylernol said:

I've heard people recommend the liquid metal one but it's expensive. Is it really necessary?

In my opinion, if you're going to risk a $300 CPU, you should replace it with the best possible paste. Coolaboratory liquid ultra is like $15 on amazon, so if that seems like a lot then maybe you shouldn't be risking your chip. 

 

[RainbowTylernol]

Just now, reniat said:

 

In my opinion, if you're going to risk a $300 CPU, you should replace it with the best possible paste. Coolaboratory liquid ultra is like $15 on amazon, so if that seems like a lot then maybe you shouldn't be risking your chip. 

 

Yeah I guess I was just looking in the wrong place. When I was originally digging through forum posts for info I was seeing people saying it was as much as $50 for a tube of liquid metal. 

Can you use the liquid metal again for the CPU cooler or should you just use standard thermal paste for that?