Intel Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X CPU Lids Will Not Soldered – Still Using TIM

By Nathan Kirsch

A number of sites today have been reporting that Intel will not be soldering down the lid on the upcoming Intel Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X processors based on word from renowned overclocker der8auer. The news has upset many enthusiasts as they feel Intel should spend the extra money to solder the lids onto to have far superior CPU temperatures.

Intel Core i9 X-Series

We directly asked our contacts at Intel if they would be using Thermal Interface Material (TIM) on Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X and got the following statement back in an e-mail.

Intel is using the same thermal interface material as was used on the prior Intel Core X-series processor (Broadwell-E). We dont share further detail on TIM as it pertains to Intel products as performance characteristics of our thermal interface material is considered Intel intellectual property.

The news that Intel isn’t soldering down the lid is good news for der8auer though as he just happens to sell enthusiast friendly delidding tools that take off the Integrated Heat Spreader on Intel processors quickly with minimal risk to the processor. His DELID DIE MATE 2 (DDM2) is just one example of the many Intel CPU delid tools that have come out in recent years. You also have the Rockit 88 or if you wanted to 3D print your own tool you can download free plans for an Intel Kaby Lake delid tool! There are also relid attachment kits that you can purchase!

Delidding a processor can drop temperatures on a quad-core Haswell processor by roughly 10-20C, so it has to make a dramatic difference. Enthusiasts are speculating that delidding an Intel Core i9-7980XE with 18-cores right will have even better results since it has four times as many cores. We’ve seen people at Computex 2017 say that you can expect temperatures of over 85C on the 165W TDP Skylake-X parts and thus the reason for required water cooling. It looks like Intel Core i9 X-series processors are going to be interesting to overclock due to the low thermal headroom thanks to having so many cores!

Here is the latest video der8auer has up about the Delid Die Mate X (DDM-X) that he is making for Skylake X where it seems a 20-30C temperature drop might be possible by delidding the processor.