Saturday, May 12th 2012

TIM is Behind Ivy Bridge Temperatures After All

It's proven: the thermal interface material (TIM) used by Intel, inside the integrated heatspreader (IHS) of its Core "Ivy Bridge" processors are behind its higher than expected load temperatures. This assertion was first made in late-April by an Overclockers.com report, and was recently put to test by Japanese tech portal PC Watch, in which an investigator carefully removed the IHS of a Core i7-3770K processor, removed the included TIM and binding grease, and replaced them with a pair of aftermarket performance TIMs, such as OCZ Freeze and Coolaboratory Liquid Pro.

PC Watch findings show that swapping the TIM, if done right, can shave stock clock (3.5 GHz, Auto voltage) temperatures by as much as 18% (lowest temperatures by the Coolaboratory TIM), and 4.00 GHz @ 1.2V temperatures by as much as 23% (again, lowest temperatures on the Coolaboratory TIM). The change in TIM was also change the overclockability of the chip, which was then able to sustain higher core voltages to facilitate higher core clock speeds. The report concluded that Intel's decision to use thermal paste inside the IHS of its Ivy Bridge chips, instead of fluxless solder, poses a very real impact on temperatures and overclockability.
Source: PC Watch
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219 Comments on TIM is Behind Ivy Bridge Temperatures After All

#101
Jurassic1024
cadavecaBullshit. A shim is a bit of metal that will brace the CPU agains the heatsink, and prevent damage to the core. NO R&D involved, jsut a couple of measurements, and cutting some metal, or even plastic.

like this:

www.overclockersonline.net/images/articles/coppershims/durontop.jpg



www.tweaknews.net/reviews/tsr/img/shim10.jpg


You can pretty much guarantee that extreme guys are gonna want one.
Oh some homemade job? Thought so, because these won't be mass produced, which is what I was talking about. Hence the R&D reference.
Posted on Reply
#102
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
cadavecaBullshit. A shim is a bit of metal that will brace the CPU agains the heatsink, and prevent damage to the core. NO R&D involved, jsut a couple of measurements, and cutting some metal, or even plastic.

like this:

www.overclockersonline.net/images/articles/coppershims/durontop.jpg



www.tweaknews.net/reviews/tsr/img/shim10.jpg


You can pretty much guarantee that extreme guys are gonna want one.
cheap to make, and worth their weight in gold to people on watercooling after de-lidding their IHS
Posted on Reply
#103
Jurassic1024
qubitThat's true, it's a quick thing to design.

Your AMD pic reminds me of when I tried buying a shim for my Athlon XP. I put it on, put the paste on and then the heatsink... and the CPU nearly burned up through lack of proper contact. That particular bit of metal found itself in the bin in no time flat.
If you tried to buy it, how did it get on your CPU? :p
Posted on Reply
#104
Jurassic1024
Musselscheap to make, and worth their weight in gold to people on watercooling after de-lidding their IHS
Weird that people did that. I had to google back to 2002-2007 to see any reference of it.
Posted on Reply
#105
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
Jurassic1024Weird that people did that. I had to google back to 2002-2007 to see any reference of it.
its been a while since we've needed (or even been able to) remove an IHS. i did it on my socket 939 systems to replace the TIM, iirc.
Posted on Reply
#106
Jurassic1024
Musselsits been a while since we've needed (or even been able to) remove an IHS. i did it on my socket 939 systems to replace the TIM, iirc.
Why not just delid, apply better paste, then relid, rather than go right for direct contact at the risk of damaging the die? Just curious.
Posted on Reply
#107
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
Jurassic1024Why not just delid, apply better paste, then relid, rather than go right for direct contact at the risk of damaging the die? Just curious.
for the same reason we dont stack heatsinks on top of each other, better temps.


i did replace the TIM and re-lid, but i tested without and had better temps. i just didnt want to leave it that way, since i moved my system a lot to LAN parties.
Posted on Reply
#108
Jurassic1024
Musselsfor the same reason we dont stack heatsinks on top of each other, better temps.


i did replace the TIM and re-lid, but i tested without and had better temps. i just didnt want to leave it that way, since i moved my system a lot to LAN parties.
What kind of temps were you getting with it on versus off?
Posted on Reply
#109
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
Jurassic1024What kind of temps were you getting with it on versus off?
since i was on air, about 3-5C. had i been on water, i bet the difference would have been larger.
Posted on Reply
#110
Jurassic1024
Musselssince i was on air, about 3-5C. had i been on water, i bet the difference would have been larger.
Not bad. Thanks.
Posted on Reply
#111
qubit
Overclocked quantum bit
Jurassic1024If you tried to buy it, how did it get on your CPU? :p
Eh? :confused: An Athlon XP dates from 2003, so I'm talking about a decade ago, lol. Dang, TPU didn't even exist then!
Posted on Reply
#112
zomg
RejZoRCan you even get CPU's without stupid GPU being integrated in the die?
xeon ivy bridge may have gpu part on die, but it will be disabled on most models, so you will save some temperatures and tdp
making xeon ivy bridge best alternative for i7/i5 "without K" models
especially for i5 models, because most xeons have HT, and i5 don't
Posted on Reply
#113
Velvet Wafer
good for overclockers with heart, and bad for stock buyers, that dont want to cut their IHS:laugh:
Posted on Reply
#114
vega22
its good to see data which doesnt tally with what intel is saying but i want more data before i an convinced.
Posted on Reply
#115
OneCool
qubitEh? :confused: An Athlon XP dates from 2003, so I'm talking about a decade ago, lol. Dang, TPU didn't even exist then!
Yep.Back in the day. Just as fun then :D
Posted on Reply
#116
_JP_
zomgxeon ivy bridge may have gpu part on die, but it will be disabled on most models, so you will save some temperatures and tdp
making xeon ivy bridge best alternative for i7/i5 "without K" models
especially for i5 models, because most xeons have HT, and i5 don't
You have just changed my upgrade plans completely. I had forgotten about the Xeons entirely.
Posted on Reply
#117
reverze
and xeon has 8mb cache compared to 6mb that i5 has
Posted on Reply
#118
zomg
xeon ivy bridge release date is tomorrow

but they was fabricated for some time, asian market already have them

so it is still a big question what thermal solution they have inside
Posted on Reply
#119
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
I felt this was a good move actually. Overclocking took effort. I see it like this go big or go home
Posted on Reply
#121
beck24
eidairaman1so basically someone was thinkin it be cheaper or to cater to extreme overclockers
I hope some bean counter's head will roll! Unacceptable for Intel to cut quality on a new launch.
Posted on Reply
#123
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
beck24I hope some bean counter's head will roll! Unacceptable for Intel to cut quality on a new launch.
They wont n intel is not perfect
Posted on Reply
#124
jihadjoe
I don't get the aversion to using shims. Re-lidding the CPU is very inefficient compared to direct touch. Anyways we all did that shimming thing back in the day, and I'm willing to bet most people here didn't have any problems.

Those old Athlon XP/Duron days were awesome.
Posted on Reply
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