A little clarification on the hooks remark at 5:55. If your cooler uses the hooks OR retains the AMD backplate and doesn't replace it, then it should be compatible. Just wanted to clarify that. Not many coolers use their own backplate on AMD. Most AM4 coolers will be just fine but not ALL.

I wish they hadn't worried about cooler compatability and just made the thermal transfer as good as possible.

Hey Jay. NH-D15 (and any Noctua Cooler) works perfectly with AM5, as long as it has the AM4 bracket. I've done all my Ryzen 7000 testing with NH-D15 with cero issues. You just happened to have an older NH-D15. Noctua provides AM4 bracket for free, btw.

Little update for Jay and other viewers. I just bought a Noctua NH-D15 for my 5800x 3d in august. The latest versions come with a diagonally slotted bracket for AM3 or AM4. If you buy new you're good to go. If you buy used, beware because the old ones clearly didn't have the slot on the bracket.

GN is planning to do a regular IHS - lapped IHS - direct die cooling comparison once the der8auer delidding tool arrives. Probably taking off a couple of millimeters from the IHS. According to Igor's Lab (and der8auer) it seems to be 3.42mm thick.

The NH-D15 qualifies for a free mounting kit if you have a version that came out before the AM4 socket war released. The AM4 mounting kit uses the stock rear plate, thus it will work on AM5 as well.

I believe Noctua has an AM5 bracket available now that should make all their stuff compatible. Good news for my next build plan

I'm curious if the 3D cache is taller and the extra 2mm was actually chosen to accommodate the x3D chips

WHY MUST you make me remember, using the flat head method to put CPU coolers, I will NEVER forget, cracking a motherboard when the flat head slipped off that retention device. Way back in high school when I built my first Athlon 1.4ghz (computer with money earned bagging groceries). IF eVGA wasn't going through it's current issue, I'd love to see KINGPIN play around with some of the ideas Jay mentioned.

I find it interesting that despite the 2mm too thick IHS, that CPU can run that much load and clock at these thermals. I originally wanted to get a Ryzen R7 7700X, but now I'm rather considering a Ryzen 7 7800X3D or something like that early next year because honestly, I intend to game on the system and if that thing is anything like the R7 5800X3D but with the thinned IHS (since 3d cache will make the die thicker anyways), thus compensating slightly for the temperatures, it could be an absolute beast.

Is it possible that the extra thickness could also allow for more headroom for vertical stacked dies in the future without having to update the platform?

Optimum Tech put out a fantastic video over undervolting these AMD 7000 series CPUs. I'd love to see that kind of undervolting paired with the delided CPU

It's going to be really interesting to see all the top enthusiasts tackle this issue. If the thermals we're seeing really are because of the thick IHS, i'd have to imagine AMD will have to rethink it if they see similar to better performance with the lower temps.

FAQ: Which Noctua CPU coolers are compatible with AMD AM5? "AM5 (LGA 1718) is AMD’s upcoming socket for its next-generation Ryzen 7000 (Zen 4) series processors. Please refer to our socket compatibility overview in the Noctua Compatibility Centre (NCC) to see which Noctua CPU cooler models support socket AM5 out of the box or via mounting upgrade kits. In short, all Noctua coolers and mounting kits that support AM4 are upwards compatible with socket AM5, except the NH-L9a-AM4 and the NM-AM4-L9aL9i. All Noctua AM4 mountings except the ones of the NH-L9a-AM4 and the NM-AM4-L9aL9i attach to the threads of the standard AM4 stock backplate. Since these backplate threads and their pattern are identical on AM4 and AM5, our AM4 mountings that attach to the standard AMD backplate also support AM5. This means that all SE-AM4 models as well as all Noctua multi-socket coolers purchased since 01/2019 already support socket AM5. Multi-socket coolers purchased before this date that have already been upgraded to AM4 using the NM-AM4 or NM-AM4-UxS kits also require no further upgrades. Older multi-socket coolers that have been purchased before 2019 and have not yet been upgraded to AM4 can be made compatible with AM5 using the NM-AM4 or NM-AM4-UxS upgrade kits. The NH-L9a-AM4 and the NM-AM4-L9aL9i are not compatible with AM5 because they require replacing the standard AMD backplate with a custom one, which isn’t possible on AM5. A dedicated AM5 upgrade kit for NH-L9a, NH-L9a-AM4 and NH-L9i coolers is in preparation." so if you have the AM4 mounting kit you should be good

So, Jay is experiencing the "cutting edge purchasers" issues that he talked about in a previous video... that these new chips + plus new socket: they're going to come with bugs and some issues which AMD will need to sort out before the next update release (the 3D cache ones next year)

Noctua says: "Since the stack-up height (height of the CPU and socket combined) as well as the backplate threads and their pattern are identical on AM4 and AM5, all Noctua coolers and mounting kits that support AM4 are upwards compatible with socket AM5, except the NH-L9a-AM4 and the NM-AM4-L9aL9i". So the NH-D15 will work.

Worth pointing out that with a taller z axis, if they wanted to do 3d v cache on later sku's it would be significantly easier to add. Just something that crossed my mind while watching debuars video

Well now I wanna see what Der8auer learned. I'm not planning on moving to AM5 until the 3D Vcache models are out, so hopefully by then his mounting mechanism improvements will also be out.

You have to think about the future v-cache models! The tolerance stack up gets pretty tight if you don't have the extra thickness to be able to remove later from the IHS. They made it work with AM4, but it was a limited run. I think making the IHS thicker has to be considered as a potential learning from the 5800X3D launch.

I would also be super interested in hearing about the thinner IHS test. Because having 2mm of thickness purely for the sake of backwards compatibility seems like a terrible idea. Honestly it seems far more reasonable for them to have released a spec for the mount to the motherboard manufacturers on how to raise the socket 2mm and say "this is a thing that will allow AM4 cooler compatibility" and either make it an optional thing that motherboard manufacturers can adopt if they so desire or make it a required thing so they can say "and AM5 is compatible with AM4 coolers*"

Funfact, you can still use AM2 coolers from the Athlon64 days on a AM5 socket as longs its using clips. Personally I use a AM3 cooler (from a Phenom quad core) on my Ryzen 3 3200G in my HTPC because I had a Noctua fan for it (and it probably cools better, the stockcooler was designed for a 120W CPU and has a lot of copper) . Unfortunately they did change the socket holes between AM3 and AM4 so you can't use Ryzen screw-in stock coolers on Athlon XP for example. Tough you can use the Ryzen 7 clip coolers on them which is kinda funny.

7:35 actually they have been saying all along only AM4 coolers that don't use a custom backplate will be compatible, but Jay must have missed that part of the announcement.

I watched DerBauer's video already, and I think you did a really good job of "lowering the entry level" for viewers of the content with this. You captured his points well, but catered to your audience (less likely to get into the extremes of "enthusiast modding", as well paid full tribute to his work! I'm looking forward to seeing more and more what people do with this platform, going forward, as well as how it inspires AMD to do better ^_^

I like the coolers with the hooks because they level the cooler contact surface with the CPU contact surface, they do so automatically, applying even pressure all over the contact patch.

But if they didn't make coolers compatible, people would be screaming that now you have to buy a new cooler - which would probably not be the case, but you'd need an AM5 compatibility set. It was a good time to do it, but before launch a lot of people were worried about cooler compatibility. It's sort of damned if you do and damned if you don't. Also I do remember AMD saying that coolers without custom backplate would be incompatible. Though it was easy to miss in all "most AM4 coolers will be 100% compatible" hype that I've seen.

Noctua always just sends new brackets for old coolers (for free). Got them for 3 AM4 builds

Eh, honestly, I was never under the assumption that ALL AM4 coolers were compatible, AMD was saying as far back as January at least that there WOULD be exceptions, and I would MUCH rather have the fixed backplate than the removable one("it's a feature, not a bug"). As far as the ultra-thick heat spreader, that's a non-issue to me as well, since tuning and a good cooler handle these CPUs under standard use cases(in other words, not 'playing benchmarks'). I don't "need" my CPU to run cooler than what we're seeing with basic tuning - but, hey, I am still into seeing the hardcore enthusiast stuff like delidding.

Old guy here: many CPUs back in the 80's were soldered on (even with full-size desktop and tower PCs!) or had a socket mechanism that required a lot of force with a special tool and it was so difficult to guarantee proper CPU removal and installation that most of the time, we just ordered motherboards with CPUs pre-mounted to avoid having to do it ourselves! Not to mention, a CPU with a motherboard could easily be $1000 just for a mainstream combo and did not include features we take for granted today, such as built-in sound, USB, video, or sometimes even keyboard/mouse inputs!

You can get an AM4 bracket kit from Noctua for the D15. Also, all the new sold D15 come with the good brackets.

15:00 NH-D15 has an upgrade kit if your cooler is older than 2019 (it is clearly mentioned on their website), I have the same cooler that I have had since 2017, so with AM4, I had to order that $8 kit called NM-AM4 to make it work! it also has short and long brackets for cooler orientation!

Here's a thought: Could AMD incorporate a vapor chamber inside the IHS and make the top of the IHS copper? Perhaps they could release two SKUs of each CPU. A normal IHS version and an upgraded IHS like just mentioned. I'm not an expert in coolers and heatsinks, so I have no idea if this could be feasible.

@jayztwocents 21c isn't just because of the thick IHS, it's because of the IHS in general. The 2mm will add some but not much. Saw the same thing delidding 4770k and running with and without IHS, you remove a layer of thermal compound that needs to be passed through which is most of the difference, i'd challenge you to grind 2mm off of the IHS and run it again to see what this decision by AMD really cost us.

I'm wondering if someone will sell replacement heatspreaders with vaporchambers that fit in the 3mm thick top part

I wonder if the reason why they designed it like this is because of the upcoming Zen4 3D. The v-cache sits on top, and while Zen3 v-cache was done in a way that didn't affect overall z height on AM4, maybe on Zen4 it will affect z height. So in X3D Zen4 processors they will just use a different IHS and it'll end up being thinner than regular Zen4 IHS. Theorizing of course. But it's plausible.

Like they say adopting bleeding edge technology comes with all the blood of all the issues that come with it being fresh technology.

On the bright side, this means you can make 2mm worth of mistakes when lapping.

I never damaged an AMD motherboard with a screwdriver because I could never bring myself to use one to force the mounting clips down (been building PCs since the old Athlon XP days as well). I just spent a bunch of extra time fighting with the clips with my hands. Got my first Noctua cooler (an NH-U12S) a few weeks ago and fell in love with how much easier it was to install, even compared to other brands of aftermarket coolers I've used before.

I'm thinking the thicker IHS is for the future. If they plan to keep the socket for a few it gives them room to have taller dies later on and keep compatibility.

this makes me wonder if a part of just making the z height a little thicker wasn't just compatability with older coolers, but also to leave extra height room for the upcoming 3D stacking. just so they would have additional room for the cache with a smaller ihs on those skus....

The hard thing about making this chip as thermally compatible as possible s AMD wants to keep returns down to a minimum. What AMD needs to do is make a Delidded version available but in order to buy it, you have to sign off on the warranty or some limited warranty on it. gives people the chance to buy a delidded version to get better thermals.

The first thing that immediately came to mind the first time I seen the IHS design of this line was that it is just ridiculously too thick which is likely part of the thermal issue but anyway it is impressive once delided how far the temps drop.

but for normal users they probably would just use the 105 watt mode, if most of the media showing how to use it, but rn seems most medias doesn't show off the 105 eco mode

There was definitely an engineer that thought "hey, why don't we make 2 brackets: a small, inner one for LGA socket mounting and a separate outer bracket for cooler mounting? That way we can offset the cooler mounting bracket to have lower z-height, keeping our IHS thinner and allowing universal AM4 cooler compatibility?" Probably the same dude who knew the challenger would blow up.

What's also odd about AM4 and ryzen was some chips came with the Wraith Prism cooler that used the brackets and then some came with the Wraith Stealth cooler that had you remove the clips. So even with AM4 AMD had no consistency themself.

Hey Jay, not sure if your reference to the few degree difference was technically accurate. I believe der8auer was discussing the difference between the standard conductonaut and the version he was using which is preproduction. I think it is therefore difficult to separate the impact of liquid metal vs direct-die at this time. Can't wait to see your testing!

Thank goodness for the JTC block being compatible! I was worried about that cause I have it in my rig and wanted to use it if I upgrade to am5. Thanks for putting my worries to bed Jay!

I saw that delidding video. Even using regular thermal compound and getting 18-19 degrees cooler would still allow for some pretty nice overclocking with higher frequencies and voltage and still staying under that 95 degree throttle limit.The only reason I can see for doing it this way is if the dies for the X3d versions would be enough thicker that they need the space to maintain compatibility for those. They may also be looking at allowing for thicker dies for the 8000 series since they did say they'd keep AM5 for at least 5 years. That doesn't excuse crippling the performance of the current 7000 series like that. Leave it to the cooler makers to deal with the difference in height. It sucks that you'll have to basically dump your warranty to get the performance you're actually paying for. The upside is this will likely blow Intel 13th gen performance right out of the water for pretty much any application. Forget boost clock. I bet people will be able to hit 6Ghz on all cores with a decent chip and cooler. I expect there might be a business opportunity for de-lidding services. The way Roman did it was risky as heck. Ideally you'd want to melt or at least soften the indium solder they used while doing the de-lidding. In theory that shouldn't damage anything if the temperature was controlled since they'd have had to heat the die up to solder the IHS to it in the first place. That might also soften the glue holding it down.

I thought the 2 or 3 degrees that was mentioned in Der8auer video was because he was using a different Not For Sale yet Liquid Metal, and the 20 Degrees Temperature difference was due to the Fact that he did Direct Die Cooling - There wasnt a mention of Temperature with IHS but he did say it wouldnt help having a thick IHS

JayzTwoCents I think the best test for comparing the thickness of the IHS would be to sand it down 2MM so it leaves the same factory thermal interface between the die and the IHS. The only variable in this case would be the flatness of the stock IHS so maybe do a stock test along with a lapped test and an overlapped 2mm test. If I had the hardware id try it myself.

I actually have AM5 with the Arctic 360 AiO and the Arctic offset Mount. Like this it works really good

The D15 is compatible.... the problem is that you have an old version that didn't include the AM4 bracket... there is the free upgrade since AM4 times... actually is the same bracket of the U12A that you show...

How did I know that the screwdriver was named hammerhead from Jay talking about it in a few videos and Jay still doesn’t know the name of it lol

Yes Tech City, experimented with under-volting a 7950X. I found the results impressive to say the least. It does seem that AMD and Intel are just add voltage to achieve speed.

There was a similar issue with the initial release of LGA 1700 where the standoffs were not the exact height that they needed to be. The Z-axis is different on LGA 1200 versus LGA 1700.

The be quiet DRP4 uses brackets in the other direction (compared with the showed Pure FX), but be quiet released a press statement saying the DRP4 is still compatible.

I have that same screwdriver. I bought mine at Lowes. I love that thing and keep it in my laptop bag at all times. I also have a LTT driver on the way too. The cordless driver works great for rack mounting gear because you normally need to hold the gear in one hand and try to get at least one screw in and a manual driver makes it very difficult.

The thicker IHS for the first AM5 CPUs may simply be to account for the upcoming CPUs that have a bunch 3D V-cache stacked on top. AMD had to thin out the Zen 3 CCD and cache module in the 5800X3D to make it fit. I can imagine that having to shave off part of the silicon to make things fit isn't ideal.

EDIT2: As stated in the replies to this post, the NH-D15 does now come with AM4 mounting kit as well as the Intel kit, and is fully compatible with AM5. Jay has a *very* old model of the cooler, which is why his didn't include the AM4-kit. Original post and first edit: The NH-D15 has a separate model for the AM4-socket, which lets you mount the cooler whichever way you'd like. That's why AM4 is not mentioned on the box Jay has, it's probably an intel one. I think you can buy the AM4-compatible brackets separately. I also don't remember if it has a separate backplate or if it uses the one that AM4 comes with. EDIT: There's another comment here by Stunlokked that has Noctua's statement on AM5-compatibility, which confirms that the AM4-compatible cooler of NH-D15 will work on AM5.

I've ordered the 7950X, and I'm about to wait for the release of the Die Guard from Der8auer to use it properly and with Conductonaut LM. A brand new NH-D15 is already waiting on the table. Only thing that scares me is to delid it, but I'll have to be brave enough to do it anyway, cause there's no way I'll keep a CPU running for years with permanent overheating values...

I use a corsair AIO which uses a screw-type hook so I'm good for now if I decide to upgrade. I see where Jay is coming from on the mounting mechanisms that use the hooks. Some of them are fairly easy to connect to those hooks, I can see how it's not ideal compared to the 4 mounting posts.

A benefit of a thicker IHS is that it is less likely to warp. LGA 1700's warping IHS problem probably would not be as bad if it was thicker. As for the attached backplate, one of the most annoying thing is trying to keep the AM4 backplate in place while trying to attach a cooler to it if it is already in a case. The attached backplate does make mounting in a installed motherboard much easier.

hopefully AMD will ditch this cross-compatibility with AM4 and make a proper mount. Cooling companies can just make adapter kits like they did when AM4 came out.

I think the IHS is that thick to leave room for the 3DV cache and keep the Z-height the same when those CPUs are released. Remember the 5800X3D can't be overclocked because of cooling and it had something to do with the Z-height.

I think a good way of explaining "no such thing as too cold" is "No such thing as too cold while above ambient temp"

The 20C drop that der8auer saw suggests that the heat spreader didn't do its job (spreading heat) very well - 20C matches up pretty well with the thermal gradient a 4.5mm thick 142mm^2 copper chunk would have at 275W (about 21.8K assuming 400W/mK thermal conductivity)

Jay. Have anyone considered that the 2mm of the IHS might be there until the 3D cache models come out? That would allow for bit thicker silicon instead having the problems 5800X3D has?

Roman didn't say that liquid metal accounted for only 2-3°C , his comment in regards to liquid metal was that he was using an unreleased (improved ) version of Conductonaut which compared to standard Conductonaut could shave another 2-3°C at best.

I’m happy to see what’s to come. I won’t be upgrading any time soon as I just recently moved to a ryzen 7 5700g with a 3060 ti. But then again i purposely stay a few versions behind. I wait the kinks and things to be worked out.

There's a lot of Coolers on am4 that use the backplate but not the hooks. You take those off and screw into the backplate. Those are perfectly compatible with am5

I'm wondering if they are somehow planning on making the next generations CPU's taller in which case the taller ihs could just be a stopgap to insure longer socket compatibility. 3d v-cache maybe?

If der8auer goes forwards with such a test, please CNC the "spacer" to have the same volume as the IHS while maintaining the same contact area shape and size. There's a lot of material on the original IHS extending past the main contact areas on each side (cooler and die sides respectively). Being part of the IHS, these "zones" of the IHS add to IHS mass, and will soak up heat but not be in direct contact with the cooler coldplate. If we skimp on including that mass, or make the spacer completely flat so its entire surface area directly contacts the coldplate, then tests will generate better results for improper reasons (vs the now-flawed test conditions we intend to simulate).

IIRC der8auer said, the 1°C-3°C improvement are not about using liquid metal. He said, that the liquid metal he used isnt publicly available and it should be about 1-3°C better than the liquid metal, which is already available.

Regarding AMD backplates and EK blocks, I'm pretty sure my current setup has my EK standoffs straight into Asrock's backplate. The hole spacing and threads were the same so i just used the stock backplate. I don't know if the same would work with AM5 though.

I think for the NHD-15 you need the nm-am4 mounting kit. Well, i think it's possible they also took some height space for their 3D cache CPU But i think it would have been smarter to increase the internal pin and raise the internal of the cpu to have the core as high inside as possible

I have found that your links below in the description do not work for me, they take me to a generic home page on Amazon but not your product. Just thought you may want to know, the video was very helpful, thanks Jay.

The D15 uses secufirm2, the same as the NH-U12A, you should be able to use the adapters from the NH-U12A on the D15 (the current version of the D15 already comes with them). If you have an old D15 you can ask Noctua to give you the adapters for AM4/AM5 for free.

They pretty much condemned the whole socket so people can save few bucks and reuse some compatible cooler.

This might have been said/asked already. It is inevitable that a 3DX version of the new 7000 series CPU's will be released, was the extra thickness already put into the IHS so it can be thinned when the 3DX part is put on top of the die keeping the same height as it is now?

HI Jay, so what your telling me is this new AMD IHS is bigger/thicker than it should be...sort of like when I order a small item from Amazon and it comes in this HUGE box with tons of bubble wrap?

On my old Dell XPS intel motherboard that had a similar problem I just removed the retention bracket / backplate, and just layed the cpu down and mounted the cooler to hold it in haha

I was planning on waiting for the 3d to come out to make my upgrade choice and this video make me happy that I am doing that. hopefully everything is settled by then

It isnt just the "hooks" Jay. Its compatible with any cooler that uses the old AM4 Style Backplate as a whole. Of which there are quite a few.

So I actually had a similar problem when moving to the X670E-E chipset to accompany my Ryzen 9 7900X. I was unaware of this issue because I am fairly new to this PC building shtick, but I learned quickly and got familiar with the PC building process, so also please excuse me for lack of correct terminology when describing this situation, I will also attempt to explain this in a descriptive easy to understand manner for beginners like myself. I have a ASUS ROG STRIX X670E-E Gaming WiFi motherboard. My CPU cooler is a Corsair H170i LCD Elite AIO. When mounting my CPU cooler with the black plastic hook-on pieces that the standoffs would go in, there was a gap between the surface of my CPU, and the metal underside that contacts and cools the CPU. I only noticed because after 2 or 3 attempted bootups crashing, each lasting progressively shorter, that the likely root cause was not some defective parts, but the CPU heating up from boot until it hit TJmax and auto shutdown. Since each boot was shorter and shorter, I attributed that to the fact that the heat built up hasn't dissipated, so it starts at a hotter point each time, taking it less time to crash. So naturally I removed the cooler, and noticed that the thermal paste did not spread at all, telling me that there was no contact between the CPU surface and the cooler's underside. My solution to get rid of the gap, was to remove the black metal hook pieces from the process, even though it was recommended I use them, and just directly screw the standoffs into the motherboard holes (thank god the threads actually fit), and install it from there and then use the thumbscrews to hold it in place, entirely skipping the installation of the black plastic pieces that Jay displays at 3:59 in the video. After I did that, there was good surface contact and my PC stopped crashing because now it was actually getting cooled unlike before. Not for every single case, but be aware that the guides or recommended installation methods in your cooler are not always going to actually work and you'll possibly have to find an alternative way to get it on.

Remember back in the day, the two-end clip system was even used on bare, heat-spreader-less CPUs like my AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (which was not an easy first PC build, but it was a great value if you managed to install everything without damage) It had this weird flathead-notch bracket that people used to slip off and pierce through their motherboards with, or chip the edges of the CPU die from asymmetric pressure. It was the wild west of PC building lmao

I'm waiting for the crazy cooling experiments on these chips by Jay

der8auer's direct die mechanism is going to be amazing and also a great improvement in terms of temps

seriously, a New CPU for like 300-400 USD, a new MB for like 600USD, new Ram for like 130USD, and then trying to use an old CPU cooler to save 50-60 USD......sometimes it seems we try to find issues where there are none. I would imagine 99% of people who upgrade will buy a new cooler as well.

They should have made the PCB below the die thicker instead of the heat spreader. That would avoid the increased thermal resistance and still allow retaining the external dimensions for the thicker vcache dies (by using a thinner PCB). Building a PCB with varying thickness for dies with different thickness is also doable with standard fabrication methods, in fact, raising up the current dies while keeping the edge thickness can be done the same way, producing a more thermally efficient version of current SKUs.

You could 3d print a bracket that's a few mm lower (or halve its current thickness) than the IHS and then sand down the IHS to the 3d print and see how much of a difference that can make. Just an idea before you de-lid it. Der-Bauer did kill a 7950X doing so after all XD (Not to say you will have that issue, I am sure he will fix that bug with his de-lid kit.)

D15 has come with am4 mounting hardware for a long while now and got the hardware if it didn't come with them if you contacted them. The one shown here is an extremely old one (before they started doing the black even) before am4 really took off to have the hardware included.

Bought the Thermalright AM5 Secure frame (black) for my 7800X3D. With the Lian li Galahad II Trinity Inf 360, and used the TF7 paste that came with the Thermalright bracket. Stress tested the system for some hours, and cpu goes 82/83 tops. While gaming 70/75.

In theory, if you have access to a vertical mill, you could mill out the extra 2mm of IHS and leave an outer border. This would make using liquid metal much safer, and more importantly, should eliminate the risk of damaging the chiplets while attempting to delid a soldered IHS. Obviously the contact plate of any cooler would have to account for this, but it could easily be done with the same mill.

They sould have broken z compatibility, some coolers even need to use an adapter because the backplate anyway...

I'm thoroughly expecting for the 8000 series CPUS that all of the current AIOs will still work but there will be some sort of adapter kit because the IHS will be thinner. Thinking about my h170i all Corsair would have had to do would be make a set of screws that are slightly shorter than the elite retention kit that comes with the newer Corsair AIOs.

The Nh-d15 shouldn't be marked as a fail, because they have fantastic customer service and you can get the AM4 mounting kit for it, which DOES work with the AM5 socket. Also their current NHD15 packaging includes the AM4 kit which means it is AM5 compatible unless you have a really old model and can't be bothered to get the AM4 kit.

The Hammerhead screwdriver was taken off market. The Skil 4v with circuit sense SD561204 is the direct replacement model for anyone looking for the exact replacement.

Great idea for a video and nice to see your own version of a production cooler block will fit and has very nice quality of life features that still work on AM5.

Love the content as always. Entertaining and informative, great combo! As you say, the IHS is a lot thicker, wouldn't lapping a little off the IHS help reduce temps as well ? Obviously need to be careful of the height tolerances and contact with the cooler cold plate.

The IHS thickness is probably something AMD did in order to make the AM5 socket last more, considering that they can always shave it from the inside for 3d stacking chips further down the line. The stupidest thing they did with the Zen 4 is actually putting the CCDs - the cpu's hottest components - at its bottom instead of in the center. Hence all the offsets on the market already making you lose a few degrees by simply positioning the cooler lower.

Noctua ones will have free mounting kits available if you don't have proper the AM4 kit, like they did with AM4 when it came out. Noctua are ace in Supporting that way