Looking for a way to lower Ryzen 7000 series CPU temperatures? Some PC builders have reportedly shaved the heatspreader on their Zen 4 processors to improve cooling.

PC hardware YouTuber JayzTwoCents (open in new tab) (via Tom's Hardware (open in new tab)) lowered the temperature of his Ryzen 9 7950X by up to 10°C by shaving 0.08 mm off the CPU's IHS Ryzen 7000 The CPU's internal heatspreader is 3.6 mm thick to be compatible with AM4 motherboard coolers.

This method is called lapping (open in new tab) and requires polishing tools, cleaning materials, and patience. This method is done to remove the small air gap between the CPU and the heatsink to improve heat conduction, in this case simply to reduce the thickness of the heatspreader. The goal is the same: better cooling and improved performance.

Wrapping is not a new technique; it has been around for overclockers for a long time. However, it has fallen out of favor in recent years, along with replacing thermal paste on unsoldered chips with liquid metal or a more suitable paste. Today, chipmakers tend to do this themselves. Clearly, we were overdue for a comeback.

JayzTwoCents saw the temperature drop from about 95°C to 85°C. He saw a slight temperature increase (about 90°C) when all cores were maxed out to 5.40 GHz. Still, despite the need for polishing tools and sandpaper, the results were surprisingly effective.

This hack is not for the layman, and one must make sure that excess particulates and residue are removed after the lapping process.

Attempting to perform this modification on a CPU will void your warranty, so please use extreme caution. If the cooler is cut too low or the CPU is not installed correctly, the gap from the CPU to the cooler can cause temperatures to rise. The same problem can occur if you choose to remove the IMS altogether. This is what hardware YouTuber der8auer (open in new tab) did and saw temperature drops of up to 20°C.

Again, this was done in the old days (half a century ago) with processors, and you can still buy copper IHS kits (opens in new tab) if you dare to risk removing the IHS from a soldered CPU.

The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (opens in new tab) is a powerful multi-threaded monster known for running hot, so you can see why hardware enthusiasts are looking for ways to cool it without spending cash on expensive CPU coolers. Also, scraping and sanding things is objectively fun.