Ryzen 9000 delid leads to first Zen 5 death — shared photos expose cracked dies and leftover solder

Content creator and extreme overclocker Tony Yu had the rare privilege of being one of (if not the) first people to delid one of AMD's brand new Ryzen 9000 processors, which will contend with the best CPUs . Sadly, the content creator revealed photos of his delidding attempt failing, resulting in a cracked and broken Zen 5 CPU.

The Zen 5 chip can be seen with the IHS removed from the CPU. The exposed die shot reveals the unsuccessful delid, revealing a cracked I/O die on the Ryzen chip and an unclean break on the IHS, with material still mated to the soldering points that shouldn't be where the I/O die would be located.

Yu's unsuccessful attempt shows how dangerous delidding can be. Delidding is a term that specifies removing the integrated heat spreader off of a semiconductor chip, exposing the physical die underneath. Delidding difficulty depends significantly on the specific CPU model and whether or not the die is soldered to the IHS. If the CPU utilizes thermal paste between the die and the IHS, it is generally easier to remove the IHS. If the chip is soldered, excellent care and work must be executed to ensure the chip survives the delidding process.

Delidding is done primarily by overclockers, enthusiasts, and extreme overclockers to boost cooling performance. Removing the IHS enables users to access the CPU die directly, allowing them to cool the chip directly from the die. Attaching a cooler directly to the die is more energy efficient. Generally, it results in lower temperatures than transferring the heat through the IHS and directly to the CPU cooler.

There may not be much reason to delid a Ryzen 9000 CPU since AMD uses solder to install the IHS on Ryzen 9000, which yields better thermal conductivity than thermal paste — which Intel is typically known for doing. So, for regular usage, users shouldn't gain significant temperature improvements from delidding AMD's latest processors specifically.

Regardless, it is cool to see what the CPU looks like underneath. Yu is also an extreme overclocker, so there's a good chance he delidded the chip for extreme overclocking.

Ryzen 9000 is AMD's latest generation of processors based on the Zen 5 CPU architecture. Reviews for The Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X went live earlier this morning. Both chips will be available starting tomorrow. Meanwhile, AMD's higher-end Ryzen 9 9950X and 9900X will go on sale next Thursday, August 15.