Thermal Grizzly TG-LT-AR7000 computer cooling system part/accessory

The Ryzen 7000 Lapping Tool was developed for grinding the heat spreaders of the AM5 processor series from AMD. The tolerances of the Ryzen 7000 Lapping Tool allow gradual grinding of the heat spreader by 0.4 millimetres, up to a total height of 1.6 millimetres. When using the normal AMD mounting frame (SAM), a maximum sanding of 1.0 mm is provided until the middle steps are reached. A further 0.6 mm is only possible if the CPU is mounted e.g. with a suitable AM5 Contact & Sealing Frame (product to follow shortly). The steps of the AM5 Lapping Tool are diamond-milled to achieve a high degree of transparency. This makes it visible during grinding which steps have already been reached and which have not.

Why sanding / lapping?
When grinding, or lapping, the heat spreader, usually only the top side of the heat spreader is levelled, as this is usually somewhat curved due to the production process. Lapping improves the contact of the base plate of the CPU cooler, especially if the base plate has also been ground. This optimised contact allows the thermal power loss of the CPU to be dissipated better.

However, the Ryzen 7000 Lapping Tool enables controlled removal of the heat spreader well above the usual 0.2 millimetres. This should not only increase the contact area of the heat spreader and CPU cooler, but also reduce the path that the waste heat is conducted through the AM5 heat spreader. In order to be able to continue using older CPU coolers for the AM4 socket with the AM5 socket, the AM5 heat spreader had to be designed significantly thicker than would have been necessary. Among other things, this leads to high CPU temperatures during operation.

The US-American content creator and Tech-YouTuber "JayzTwoCents" was able to achieve up to 5 degrees Celsius lower temperatures with minimally higher boost clocks of all cores with a Ryzen 9 7950X using a 360 mm AiO by grinding the heat spreader. In combination with the Kryonaut Extreme thermal paste, even 10 degrees Celsius lower temperatures could be achieved (in comparison with commercially available thermal paste). Even with a moderate overclocking of all cores of the Ryzen 9 7950X to 5.4 GHz, the test system remained 4 degrees Celsius below the temperature limit of 95 °C.