Noctua has announced a unique kit designed to enable the company's coolers to be installed on delidded AMD Ryzen 7000-series processors. The NM-DD1 kit, which can be either ordered from the company or 3D printed at home, was designed in collaboration with Roman 'der8auer' Hartung, a prominent overclocker and cooling specialist.

An effective method to enhance cooling of overclocked AMD's Ryzen 7000-series processors involves removing their built-in heat spreaders (a process known as delidding) and attaching cooling systems directly to their CCD dies. This typically reduces CPU temperatures by 10°C – 15°C, but in some cases it can get 20°C lower, according to Noctua. Lowering CPU temperatures by such a large margin can help owners tap into greater overclocking potential and higher boost clocks, or just cut down on the total amount of active cooling needed.

The problem is that that standard coolers are not built for use with delidded CPUs, and this is why Noctua is releasing its kit. The NM-DD1 kit includes spacers placed under the heatsink's securing brackets to compensate for the height of the removed IHS, and extended custom screws for reattaching the brackets with the spacers in place.

While the kit greatly simplifies cooling down of a delidded AM5 CPU, there are still concerns about the process as delidding is a risky process and it voids warranty. Furthermore, all the additional hardware needed for the delidding process must be acquired separately. 

To further improve cooling of AMD's AM5 processors, Noctua says that its NM-DD1 can be paired with Noctua's recently introduced offset AM5 mounting bars, potentially leading to a further 2°C temperature reduction.

The NM-DD1 kit can be purchased from Noctua's website for a price of €4.90. Alternatively, customers can create the kit's spacers at home using 3D printing, with STL files available from Printables.com. The assembly process will require either four M3x12 screws (for NM-DDS1) or a single M4x10 screw (for NM-DDS2).

"Delidding and direct die cooling will void your CPU's warranty and bear a certain risk of damaging it, so this certainly isn't for everyone," said Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "However, the performance gains to be had are simply spectacular, typically ranging from 10 to 15°C but in some cases, we have even seen improvements of almost 20°C in combination with our offset mounting bars, so we are confident that this is an attractive option for enthusiast users. Thanks to Roman for teaming up with us in order to enable customers to implement this exciting tuning measure with our CPU coolers!"

Source: Noctua

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  • mmrezaie - Wednesday, June 28, 2023 - link

    These processors can turbo higher if cooled better, and there is headroom for power usage. How much more frequency are we going to be expecting from these types of cooling?
  • milleron - Wednesday, June 28, 2023 - link

    I'm convinced this works, but out of curiosity, how is the spacer different from the CPU's original heat spreader?
  • BushLin - Thursday, June 29, 2023 - link

    The spacer effectively lowers the cooler directly onto the die(s), the heat spreader isn't replaced by another material.
  • extesy - Wednesday, June 28, 2023 - link

    With all due respect, Anton, but can you please proof-read your articles before posting? They would look more professional without errors like "let owners to take advantage" or "itsNM-DD1".
  • nandnandnand - Wednesday, June 28, 2023 - link

    He's come a long way since the X-bit labs days.
  • PeachNCream - Wednesday, June 28, 2023 - link

    Word processors have gotten a lot better too which has helped Anton deliver somewhat improved output but AT has no budget for someone to make an editorial pass before publication so you're seeing raw output. That has negative implications in terms of quality, but it's been that way for a while now and AT does rely on readers to act as editors.
  • PeachNCream - Wednesday, June 28, 2023 - link

    "..was designed in collaboration with Roman 'der8auer' Hartung, a prominent overclocker and cooling specialist."

    Yup, still saddled with the childhood screen name and companies are still trying to sell his supposed celebrity endorsement as value added. I would argue it's more accurate to say the guy licensed his name to get slapped on a cooling device and got payola for it, but I understand product marketing so forgive my knowing how companies try to crawl inside the heads of their potential customers.
  • BushLin - Thursday, June 29, 2023 - link

    Would you be arguing on the basis of any evidence though?
  • PeachNCream - Thursday, June 29, 2023 - link

    Really, if you're going to be personally offended over computer parts and make an argument like that at least skim the first sentence of the article before asking for evidence of someone's on-going use of their stage name in association with a company. It's quite literally right there.
  • BushLin - Thursday, June 29, 2023 - link

    Who's getting offended here? You wrote "I would argue it's more accurate to say the guy licensed his name to get slapped on a cooling device and got payola for it".
    As if derb8uer wasn't involved in the development at all. That's possible but given his history of developing related products, unlikely. So, I simply ask for evidence to support what looks like a an assumption (and a judgement based on something likely to be false).

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