Intel issued a product change notification (PCN) dated November 13, calling for a recall of boxed Xeon E-2274G processors from customers and distributors. The boxed SKU of the E-2274G, which includes a stock cooling solution, has been marked as "discontinued" and "end of life." Intel is offering an E-2274G tray processor (chip-only) as replacement for the returned inventory. The cause for the recall is the cooling solution included in the boxed SKU, which has been found to be insufficient to cool the E-2274G, a 4-core/8-thread processor based on the 14 nm++ "Coffee Lake" microarchitecture, with a rated TDP of 88 W.

The E973708-003 fan-heatsink included with boxed Xeon E-2274G processors is supplied by Foxconn, and has been known to be bundled with Intel's entry-level client-segment processors, such as the Pentium Gold series and Core i3 series (chips with TDP typically rated 65 W or less). It features a thin, circular, all-aluminium heatsink, which lacks a copper core that certain other LGA115x-compatible stock coolers by Intel have. The heatsink makes contact with the CPU over pre-applied TIM on an aluminium surface, with spirally-projecting fins dissipating heat under the fan's airflow. It could be been an oversight bundling such an underpowered cooler with an 88 W TDP processor that's designed for the rigors of mission-critical use-cases such as workstations and small-business servers.Heatsink images courtesy: AndyKingParts (Amazon seller)

AMD senior technical marketing manager Robert Hallock, responding to a specific question on Twitter, confirmed that the 3rd generation Ryzen processors do feature soldered integrated heatspreaders (IHS). Soldering as an interface material is preferred as it offers better heat transfer between the processor die and the IHS, as opposed to using a fluid TIM such as pastes. "Matisse" will be one of the rare few examples of a multi-chip module with a soldered IHS. The package has two kinds of dies, one or two 7 nm "Zen 2" 8-core CPU chiplets, and one 14 nm I/O Controller die.

The most similar example of such a processor would be Intel's "Clarkdale" (pictured below), which has its CPU cores sitting on a 32 nm die, while the I/O, including memory controller and iGPU, are on a separate 45 nm die. On-package QPI connects the two. Interestingly, Intel used two different sub-IHS interface materials for "Clarkdale." While the CPU die was soldered, a fluid TIM was used for the I/O controller die. It would hence be very interesting to see if AMD solders both kinds of dies under the "Matisse" IHS, or just the CPU chiplets. Going by Hallock's strong affirmative "Like a boss," we lean toward the possibility of all dies being soldered.Image Credit: TheLAWNOOB (OCN Forums)

ARCTIC, a leading manufacturer of low-noise PC coolers and components, is celebrating the sale of more than 10 million tubes of its MX-2 and MX-4 thermal compounds. This year, both versions of the well-loved thermal compound will be packaged in a celebratory 2019 edition. "Since the introduction of our MX Thermal Paste, it has become one of our best-known and best-selling products. We want to celebrate the 10 millionth MX tube with our loyal customers and give them a special thank you," says ARCTIC CEO Magnus Huber.

To mark the anniversary, ARCTIC is organizing a worldwide* giveaway, offering its customers the chance to win US $1000 each month. On the packaging of each 2019 Edition is a unique QR code that links directly to the registration page. Further information, as well as terms and conditions, are available at this page.

In our own testing of the Radeon VII, we found that adding washers to the GPU retention bracket to increase mounting pressure reduces temperatures by up to 10°C. You can learn more about what we did in the Overclocking section of our Radeon VII review. Replacing the thermal pad between the Radeon VII GPU and its cooler with liquid metal TIM was found to lower the GPU's maximum junction temperature by 5 °C, and a 24 MHz gain in minimum sustained engine clock speed was observed, by German professional overclocker Roman "der8auer" Hartung. AMD uses a strip of highly conductive Hitachi Chemical TC-HM03 thermal pad as the interface material between its reference Radeon VII cooling solution and the "Vega 20" MCM. Based on vertically-oriented graphite strands, the TC-HM03 is rated to offer 25-45 W/m·K of thermal conductivity, which beats most aftermarket fluid TIMs on paper, including those based on diamond. The conductivity and longer lifespan compared to fluid TIMs is probably why AMD chose it.

Liquid metal is the best possible DIY thermal interface material currently available in the retail market, however it requires careful application because it is electrically conductive and can short open vias or SMDs. der8auer used nail polish to insulate the SMD electrical components surrounding the GPU die on the fiberglass substrate. After drying it, a generous amount of liquid-metal was spread over the uniform MCM cluster. To prevent any air-gaps between the cooler and the TIM layer that's bound to be thinner than the thermal pad, a layer of liquid metal was also coated on the base of the cooler. The retention module was fastened a little on the tighter side. The maximum junction temperature of the GPU lowered from 106 °C to 101 °C, and the minimum GPU clock sustained increased from 1709 MHz to 1733 MHz. The boost frequency, however, remained around 1780 MHz. You can watch the full video presentation by der8auer here.

With its 9th generation Core processor family, Intel introduced STIM (soldered thermal interface material) to transfer heat between the processor die and the metal integrated heatspreader (IHS), as opposed to fluid thermal pastes. Enthusiasts prefer soldered IHS for their superior heat-transfer characteristics. It was known since the series launch that STIM will be restricted to the unlocked "K" SKUs, such as the i9-9900K and i7-9700K, while locked SKUs would retain thermal pastes. PC enthusiast @momomo_us (Twitter handle) de-lidded a Core i5-9400F sample to confirm this.

The Core i5-9400F was de-lidded (its IHS removed) and placed next to a de-lidded i5-9600K, showing you TIM residue surrounding the i5-9400F die, and solder fragments on that of the i5-9600K. Interestingly, the i5-9600K die looks visibly larger than the i5-9400F, despite both being 6-core processors with 9 MB L3 cache. This isn't because the latter lacks an iGPU (not physically anyway). The i5-9400F die appears to be roughly as big as the 6-core "Coffee Lake" die used in 8th generation Core 6-core processors, while the i5-9600K appears to be carved out of the 8-core "Coffee Lake" die by disabling two CPU cores. The iGPU is physically present on the i5-9400F, but disabled.

Corsair has released their first own-branded thermal paste solution, which joins the already dozens of products on the market. Thermal paste (or any sort of TIM - Thermal Interface Material) essentially serves to increase thermal conductivity between two surfaces, such as your CPU and your cooler's heatsink.

Corsair says the TM30 thermal paste they've released features low viscosity (needed to fully penetrate microscopic abrasions in the interfaced materials and pushing low-conductivity air out), and is based on a zinc-oxide compound. Corsair say TM30 offers up to 6º of cooler operation compared to the admittedly ambiguous "common thermal paste". Corsair also said that TM30 can and will last for years without drying, cracking, or change in consistency, thus ensuring a long lifespan in the best thermal conductivity conditions possible. Corsair's TM30 is available for €6.90 / $7.98 per syringe. Sadly, quantities aren't mentioned.

We kept seeing hints regarding Intel's 9000-series processors running hot, including from their own board partners. As it turned out, the actual results are a mixed bag with some running very hot and most others ending up being power-limited more so than temperature-limited. Our own review sample showed overall better load temperatures relative to the predecessor 8000-series processors thanks to the soldered TIM (sTIM) used here, to give you some context. But that did not stop overclocker extraordinaire Roman "Der8auer" Hartung from de-lidding the processor to see why they were not generally better as expected.

As it turns out, there are a few things involved here. For one, replacing sTIM with Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut (Der8auer has a financial interest in the company, but he does disclose it publicly) alone improves p95 average load temperatures across all eight cores by ~9 °C. This is to be expected given that the liquid metal has a vastly higher thermal conductivity than the various sTIM compositions used in the industry. Of more interest, however, is that both the PCB and the die are thicker with the Core i9-9900K compared to the Core i7-8700K, and lapping the die to reduce thickness by a few microns also does a lot to lower the CPU temperatures relatively. Overall, Intel have still done a good job using sTIM- especially compared to how it was before- but the current state of things means that we have a slightly better stock product with little scope for improvement within easy means to the consumer.

Soldered thermal interface material, or STIM, has been one of Intel's key feature-additions to its high-end 9th generation Core i7 and Core i9 processors. Besides higher clock-speeds, STIM is the only feature that sets its refreshed Core X 9000-series family apart from Core X 7000-series. STIM is also only given to the i9-9900K and i7-9700K in the mainstream-desktop space. The 28-core Xeon W-3175X was touted by Intel to be a high-end desktop (HEDT) processor initially, before Intel decided to retain the Xeon brand and target the gray-area between HEDTs and workstations. This also means that the W-3175X will lack STIM, as confirmed by an Intel spokesperson in an interview with PC World.

Soldered TIM is preferred by PC enthusiasts as it offers superior heat-transfer between the CPU die and the integrated heatspreader. Intel's decision to equip the Core X 9000-series and higher-end Coffee Lake-Refresh parts with it, is aimed at improving the thermals and overclocking headrooms of its products. The lack of STIM for the W-3175X speaks for its intended use-case - a workstation processor that can be overclocked, provided it's de-lidded and cooled by exotic methods such as liquid nitrogen evaporators. Intel's branding decisions could be guided by AMD's decision to side-brand its 24-core and 32-core Ryzen Threadripper processors as "WX," which focuses on their workstation proficiency while slightly toning down their PC enthusiast appeal.

With its 9th generation Core processors, Intel is re-introducing soldered IHS (integrated heatspreaders), at least in its top two premium models, the Core i9-9900K, and the Core i7-9700K. Intel refers to this feature as STIM (soldered thermal interface material). AMD implements soldered IHS across its Ryzen "Summit Ridge," "Pinnacle Ridge," and Threadripper families. XFastest took apart an i9-9900K to confirm that Intel is indeed using solder. Soldered IHS is generally preferred for better heat-transfer characteristics, compared to fluid TIMs. The use of fluid TIMs prompts some serious enthusiasts to even "de-lid" (run their processors without the IHS).

The 8-core "Whiskey Lake-S" die could be around 178 mm² in area, with the addition of two more cores, and 4.5 MB more cache (L2 + L3), over its predecessor. You'll recall that the 6-core "Coffee Lake" die measures 150 mm², a 25 mm² gain over the 4-core "Kaby Lake" die. We aren't expecting Intel to change the iGPU or uncore components. Intel is building these dies on the same 14 nm++ silicon fabrication node as "Coffee Lake," with the only architectural difference being silicon-level hardening against certain security vulnerabilities.

Caseking, in partnership with overclocking prowess Der8auer, have introduced a new overclocking product for users that want to extract every little percentage of additional overclocking from their chips (they had already introduced 99.9% purity silver-based heatspreaders, too). The Skylake-X Direct-Die Cooling Frame is a solution that aims to replace Intel's Integrated Loading Mechanism (ILM), attaching itself to the CPU cooler mount holes, and enabling users to use direct-to-die cooling mechanisms (sans heatspreader). The idea is that users can "cut the middleman" and make do without both Intel's terrible TIM and their stock heatspreaders, achieving a much higher heat transfer form the CPU die to the CPU cooler and, therefore, higher heat dissipation, lower temperatures, and higher overclocking.

A report out of Expreview says that users should expect Intel's 8700K 6-core processor to easily clock up to 4.8 GHz with conventional cooling methods. Apparently, the chip doesn't even need that much voltage to achieve this feat either; however, thermal constraints are quickly hit when pushing Intel's latest (upcoming) leader for the mainstream desktop parts. Expreview says that due to the much increased temperatures, users who want to eke out the most performance from their CPU purchase will likely have to try and resort to delidding of their 8700K. While that likely wouldn't have been necessary with Intel's 7700K processors, remember that here we have two extra CPU cores drawing power and producing waste heat, so it makes sense that thermals will be a bigger problem.

This is understandable: Intel is still using their much chagrined (and divisive) TIM as a heat conductor between the CPU die and the CPU's IHS (Integrated Heat Spreader), which has been proven to be a less than adequate way of conducting said heat. However, we all knew this would be the case; remember that Intel's HEDT HCC processors also feature this TIM, and in that case, we're talking of up to 18-core processors that can cost up to $1,999 - if Intel couldn't be bothered to spend the extra cents for actual solder as an interface material there, they certainly wouldn't do so here. As with almost all peeks at as of yet unreleased products, take this report (particularly when it comes to frequencies, as each CPU overclocks differently) with a grain of salt, please.

If you had your eyes on those new Intel HEDT processors, which were posted just today with some... Interesting... price-points, you'll be a little miffed to know that Intel has gone on and done it again. The few cents per unit that soldering the CPU would add to the manufacturing costs of Intel's HEDT processors (starting at $999, tray-friendly prices) could definitely bring the blue giant to the red. As such, the company has decided to do away with solder even on its HEDT line of high-performance, eye-wateringly-expensive CPUs in favor of their dreaded TIM.

The news have been confirmed by der8auer, a renowned overclocker. And as you have probably seen in our own VSG's review (and if you haven't shame on you and click that link right away), delidding Intel's CPU's and ridding them of their TIM can improve temperatures by up to a staggering 21 ºC (case in point, an i7-7700K). And that's a quad-core CPU; imagine an Intel Core i9-7980XE 18-core processor sitting under that TIM, and overclocking it to boot. Those are more than four times the cores under an equally bad thermal interface; add to that the likely presence of a thermally-insulating air-gap, and you can imagine where this is going. If you are planning on going for Intel's HEDT platform, you better take those delidding tools off your shelf.

Update: Check this video here for some more information. Turns out both Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X will make use of the referred TIM, but Skylake-X dies, which make use of a stacked PCB, won't be deliddable with current tools. A new tool is going to be developed by der8auer alongside ASUS for these chips.

Reports around the web (and posts on Intel's forums) speak in hushed, strained and horrified voices at how some users with Intel's Core i7-7700 processors are seeing strangely random temperature spikes on their processors, which prompts their cooling solutions to spin to the rescue. The report only mentions Intel's 7700 (non-K) processor; though it would seem this issue is more prone to happen with the K version of the processor, according to Intel's forums.

Apparently, some users are seeing temperature spikes that reach as high as as high as 90°C (out of a recommended 100ºC.) Some users even go as far as admitting to have replaced Intel's fabled TIM, and running the CPU under a water cooling solution, only to find those temperature spikes still happening - and their cooling solutions rev up in response. "My own chip suffers from it, (without any overclocking) which is quite an annoyance," a user wrote. "This despite a delid modification and a proper water loop, resulting in the fans ramping up and down very frequently, and the temperature appearing to frequently spike near the danger zone." Intel, naturally, deployed a sanitized response, saying that "the reported behavior of the 7th Generation Intel Core i7-7700K Processor, showing momentary temperature changes from the idle temperature, is normal while completing a task (like opening a browser or an application or a program)." Business talk all the way, but to be honest, we don't even know if there is a real problem here, though there are so pretty interesting OCCT graphs being posted on the forum page. What do you say? Any of our users have seen similar issues?

Power users sometimes really go the extra mile towards achieving the best performance on their hardware. And sometimes, this process includes delidding, as in, removing the processor's Integrated Heatspreader (IHS). This would allow for users to sometimes replace less than perfect TIM (Thermal Interface Material) companies use, achieving lower operating temperatures, and possibly even higher overclocks.

Well, you really shouldn't try to do so with AMD's Ryzen 7. The reason: attempting to delid said processors cost overclocking genius der8auer a grand total of 3 (three!) Ryzen 7 samples before he managed to do it without damaging the processor. This happens because contrary to other CPUs, AMD's Ryzen 7 IHS comes soldered to the chip, which obviously increases difficulty and risk of such a delidding process. Apparently, AMD did a pretty good job with the thermal interfaces of Ryzen 7 anyway - der8auer achieved only a 2ºC decrease in operating temperatures on the delidded Ryzen sample. Long story short: maybe it's not worth it. Especially if your cooling solution of choice isn't able to achieve proper contact with the CPU after the process. You can see a video of the direct cooling test, after the break.

Let's quietly approach the elephant in the room: Intel's pricing structure will hardly stand the onslaught of AMD's Ryzen, which, if early benchmarks are to be believed, has apparently caught Intel with its pants down. Even purely from the leaks that have been following us non-stop in the last several months, it's obvious that AMD managed to outdo itself in the best way possible, managing to develop an architecture which offers up to 52% more performance than their previous one. Intel, which was enjoying the sun-shaded comfort of carrying a virtual, high-performance x86 monopoly, grew stagnant in innovation, ensuring it would stretch its bottom-line by way of minimal R&D investment - just enough to be able to name their improvements as a "new generation" of processors each year.

This in turn has led to an interesting outlook in the high-performance x86 market: customers aren't blind, and they see when a company is stretching its fingers in their pockets. A stagnant performance increase on Intel's customer processors with almost a decade of single-digit increments and paralyzed core-counts to an (admittedly strong) architecture have taken away a lot of customers' goodwill towards Intel. That Intel still has strong brand cognition is a no-brainer, but it doesn't have as much brand credit these days, on account of the low performance gains, and tick-tock falter, than it did in the days of Athlon 64. AMD has the benefit of being the underdog, of coming up with something new, fresh and performant (with headlines claiming it is the latest revival of a sleeping giant)... and those are all points that put pressure on Intel to reignite interest on its products.

Here are some of the first pictures of an AMD socket AM4 APU being de-lidded. De-lidding is the process of removing the IHS (integrated heatspreader), the metal plate covering the CPU die. Some PC enthusiasts remove the IHS to improve heat-transfer between the CPU and extreme cooling solutions, such as LN2/dry-ice evaporators. Overclocker Nam Dae Won, with access to a couple of socket AM4 chips (most likely 7th generation A-series "Bristol Ridge" APUs), de-lidded the chips, revealing a large rectangular die. AMD is using high-quality TIM between the die and the IHS, which could either be solder or liquid metal. There's also a clear picture of the underside pin-grid of the AM4 chip, which has a central cutout that lacks any SMT components. Socket AM4 has 1,331 pins.

Cooler Master introduced a trio of high-performance thermal interface materials (TIMs), under the new Master Gel series. These include the Master Gel, the Master Gel Pro, and the Master Gel Maker Nano. The Master Gel is the most affordable of the three, targeted at gaming PC builds, as a replacement to the stock TIM your an air-cooler ships with. Its main feature is low viscosity, enabling easier application. It also has zero burn-in time. The Master Gel Pro is slightly more premium, with higher metal particle density, for higher thermal conductivity than the Master Gel. This is targeted at enthusiasts with DIY liquid cooling setups. Leading the pack is the Master Gel Maker Nano. This has the highest metal nano-particle density, for thermal conductivity as high as 11 W/m.k, and is targeted at professional overclockers with extreme cooling setups, such as LN2 and dry-ice.

Prolimatech announced the PK-Zero thermal interface material (TIM) in retail packaging. Available in user quantities of 1.5 g, 5 g, and 30 g; and larger 150 g, 300 g, and 600 g cans for system-integrators and enthusiasts who frequently swap out their CPUs; the PK-Zero is an aluminium-based compound. It features zero burn-in time, letting you get its full performance straight from installation. Its thermal conductivity is rated at 8 W/m-°C, and thermal impedance 0.019 °C-in²/W, with a dielectric constant of 4 kV/mm. The compound is non-conductive for its intended use. Prolimatech didn't reveal pricing.

Lian-Li Industrial Co. Ltd announces the CB-01 CPU Water Block. Manufactured by Lian Li in partnership with cooling experts from Overclockers, UK, a world-record overclocking team, this is Lian Li's first water block ever. With their passion for quality materials, the CB-01 is made to the same exacting standards as Lian Li's outstanding cases. The cold plate has a heart of solid copper in a nickel coating and a final layer of tin-cobalt for extra cooling, durability, and corrosion resistance. The top is a translucent acrylic block that visibly guides the cooling waters through the microchannels. The simple yet sturdy mounting fit s virtually all modern and past motherboard sockets securely. For a bit of flare, there are holes pre-drilled for 5mm LED lights.

The CB-01 uses a standard G1/4" thread so most DIY water cooling components will easily fit the inlet and outlet ports. The inlet is deliberately offset against the outlet to allow the coolest water to enter the block in direct contact with the middle of the hottest CPU core. It then flows across the other cores and vents on the opposite side. The microchannels have an area of 32.2mm by 27.3mm but because they are contoured with precision grooves, they provide a greater overall surface area. While not the largest, these dimensions were deliberately chosen to strike a balance between high restriction and high flow for the best cooling for its size. Lian Li used their precision manufacturing to ensure the microchannels are as thin as possible for maximum performance.

ARCTIC Thermal Pad bridges problem-free even large spaces. After multiple awards with its thermal pastes, ARCTIC is now offering thermal pads as well. As perfect gap filler the Thermal Pad provides an optimal heat transfer and bridges even large height differences and uneven surfaces.

Often it is troublesome to cool diverse components like memory chips, CPUs, MCUs, DSPs and other ICs densely packed. Different heights prevent a proper contact to the heatsink and thus make it useless. The thermal pad is perfect to close even large spaces completely. Due to its low hardness this silicon pad adapts ideally to uneven surfaces, also at low pressure and thus ensures the best possible heat dissipation. In the comparison test the Thermal Pad with its special filler and a high thermal conductivity can demonstrate its performance and leaves the competitors behind.

EK Water Blocks, Ljubljana based premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer, is proud to introduce new Indigo Xtreme Engineered Thermal Interface for the latest 5th generation Intel Socket LGA-2011-3 series CPU as well as Supremacy EVO Elite CPU water block + Indigo Xtreme ETI bundle.

EK-TIM Indigo Xtreme represents the latest generation Engineered Thermal Interface (ETI) and fits neatly between a CPU lid and water block (or heat sink) to keep CPUs cooler. Unlike greases, metallic thermal interface pads or liquid metal alloys, Indigo XS is a self-contained and sealed structure, deploying a Phase Change Metallic Alloy (PCMA) which reflows and fills surface asperities on the CPU lid and heat sink.

EK Water Blocks, Ljubljana based premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer, is proud to introduce EK-TIM Ectotherm in retail packaging. The very same thermal compound, previously only available when bundled with EK Full Cover water blocks, is now available for separate purchase in a practical 5g dose.

EK-TIM Ectotherm is a best in-class thermal compound with exceptional value for money. This thermal interface material provides an effective heat transfer and easy application between CPU, GPU or any other PCH/chipset and heat sink.

At GDC, Intel announced a backpedal from its plans to eventually reshape desktop CPUs into components that come hardwired to the motherboards across the line, by announcing three new CPU families. It includes the Haswell-E HEDT platform, Broadwell performance platform, and Devil's Canyon. The three are expected to launch in reverse order, beginning with Devil's Canyon. A variant of existing "Haswell" silicon in the LGA1150 package, Devil's Canyon is codename for a breed of hand-picked chips with "insane" overclocking potential. In addition to binned dies, the chips feature a performance-optimized TIM between the die and the integrated heatspreader (IHS). The dies will be placed on special "high tolerance" packages, with equally "special" LGA contact points. The chips will be designed with higher voltage tolerance levels. Devil's Canyon is expected to branded under the existing Core i7-4xxx series, possibly with "Extreme" brand extension. It will be compatible with motherboards based on the Z97 chipset.

Next up, is "Broadwell." A successor to Haswell, Broadwell is its optical shrink to Intel's new 14-nanometer silicon fab process, with minor improvements to IPC, new power-management features, and likely added instruction sets, much like what "Ivy Bridge" was to "Sandy Bridge." It will take advantage of the new process to step up CPU and iGPU clock speeds. Broadwell is expected to launch in the second half of 2014. Lastly, there's Haswell-E. Built in the company's next-gen LGA2011 socket (incompatible with the current LGA2011), this HEDT (high-end desktop) processor will feature up to eight CPU cores, up to 15 MB of L3 cache, a 48-lane PCI-Express 3.0 root complex, and a quad-channel DDR4 integrated memory controller (IMC). Intel is also planning to launch a socketed variant of the Core i7-4770R, which is based on the company's Haswell GT3e silicon, which features the Iris Pro 5200 graphics core, with 40 execution units, and 128 MB of L4 cache.

Introducing the latest addition to the X2 series of high performance pc hardware and accessories, the X2 Thermica is a high performance, composite thermal interface material designed to maximize heat transfer from processors to heat-sink enabling you to get more cooling performance!

The high viscosity formula efficiently fills invisible surface imperfections to improve contact and thermal conductivity. The supplied 0.5g syringe is sufficient for 2 processor cooler installations. The X2 Thermica is a must have for every PC enthusiast. X2 - All geared up!

EK Water Blocks, Ljubljana-based premium water cooling gear manufacturer, is proud to introduce the latest latest generation Engineered Thermal Interface (ETI) for Intel Core LGA-115x processors.

EK-TIM Indigo XS is the successor to EK-TIM Indigo Xtreme and represents the latest generation Engineered Thermal Interface (ETI). Fits neatly between a CPU lid and water block (or heat sink) to keep CPUs cooler. Unlike greases, metallic thermal interface pads or liquid metal alloys, Indigo XS is a self-contained and sealed structure, deploying a Phase Change Metallic Alloy (PCMA) which reflows and fills surface asperities on the CPU lid and heat sink. Indigo XS achieves high thermal performance through the optimized deployment of molten, oxide-free PCMA, thereby yielding low contact resistance and low bulk resistance. The resultant interfacial layer is void-free and robust, with low thermal contact and bulk resistance.