News - Intel cuts corners on Ivy Bridge Thermal Interface Material (TIM)

[keithwalton]

I seem to recall enthusiasts complaining that they couldn't remove the IHS and thus extract the last 1/2% out of the chip. Seems intel cant win ...
out of interest what is the melting point of this fluxless solder ? could also be the chip thermal density is high enough that hotspots could cause issues with the solder

[watercooled]

Melting point is in the area of 200C depending on the alloy used, really not a concern for use on a CPU, and TIMs would probably boil off/decompose before that anyway. There's nothing special about 'fluxless' solder as it keeps getting referred to - it's just solder. Fluxless simply tells us the solder used doesn't have a flux core used to clean oxidation from surfaces, which would be pretty useless when used this way anyway. Similar stuff is used in bars by plumbers by the ton, it's nothing special.

People complaining about not being able to remove soldered IHS are mostly misinformed, the solder will give a far better conduction path than any TIM could, and it transfers the heat to a much larger surface area (the heat spreader - hence the name) allowing a poorer conductor i.e. TIM to be used between it and the heatsink effectively.