In the end, although I purchased some black ATV sealant, went w/out any.
Mainly because many articles pointed out that the adhesive would defeat the purpose of delidding. So I did my 4790K with liquid metal & used one of the Rockit 88 custom copper IHS (along with their delid tool), worked perfectly. All I had to do was sit the prepped die into the socket, placed the IHS down gently & while holding just enough pressure to prevent movement, locked down the lever. The replacement IHS was just as slick as the cleaned mating surface of the Noctua NH-D15 cooler, so very little AS5 was used, spread a thin layer & installed.
Project was a huge success, didn't (like with rough surface IHS's) require 200 hours of cure time, about 4-5 days normal usage, with a few Prime95 runs (the small FTT option) of 30 minutes along the way. Not a bad outcome for a 1st time delidder & now can't force the i7-4790K to go past the 67C mark, once let Prime95 run for over 2 straight hours. Before this, would easily go into the low to mid 80C range.
Here's the snapshot of the long Prime95 run with CoreTemp running the whole time (it starts with Windows). Also, idle temps has never been this low, not even when new.
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Rockit 88 100% Copper IHS (polished) for 1150/1155 used. Had I known that I wasn't going to seal the IHS, would have chosen the option for IHS only (no relid guide, $13.99) & purchased an extra IHS for $4 more, that would have given me one for all three Haswell CPU's I have. Now will have to pay shipping just to get the extra, wasn't going to initially install one on the i7-4770 in the XPS 8700, yet it may be the one that'll benefit the most. Unlike the Haswell Refresh line, the earlier models (to include the i7-4770K doesn't have as good thermals & less capacitors. The XPS 8700 began to run warmer months after purchase. Not even a low profile copper tubed Cooler Master Vortex with Noctua PWM fan replacement, followed by using SpeedFan to make these spin 3x faster (stock was 809 rpm) is making much difference. Nor the added intake, there's no lack or airflow, that's for sure. At any rate, will be my next project.
https://rockitcool.myshopify.com/products/copper-ihs-for-lga-1150
The Rockit 88 delid tool & their custom IHS replacements makes the job easy, even for a total noob to delidding. Skip the sealant & get the most benefit from the delid!
Cat
