Details
Thermal Grizzly's Ryzen 7000 Lapping-Tool is a clear acrylic guide for grinding, or lapping, the heatspreader of AMD AM5 CPUs in measured steps. On an Intel CPU? The Intel 13th and 14th Gen version is here.
Properties
- Socket manufacturer
- AMD
- Socket type
- AM5
- Material
- CNC-milled acrylic glass
- Color
- Clear
- Size
- 60 x 60 mm
- Removal
- 0.4 mm steps, 1.6 mm in total
How far it lets you grind
The tool was developed for the heatspreaders of the AM5 processor series from AMD, and it simplifies the grinding of the AM5 CPU. The tolerances of the steps allow gradual grinding by 0.4 millimeters at a time, until a total height of 1.6 millimeters is gone. When using the normal AMD mounting frame (SAM), a maximum sanding of 1.0 mm is provided, the point where the middle steps are reached. A further 0.6 mm is only possible if the CPU is mounted another way, e.g. with a suitable AM5 Contact & Sealing Frame.
Diamond-milling the steps to achieve a high degree of transparency makes it visible during grinding which steps have already been reached and which have not. It is a complete set with sandpaper, meant for one-time use.
Why sanding / lapping?
The top side of a heatspreader is usually somewhat curved due to the production process, so ordinary lapping only has that side levelled. A flat lid improves the contact of the base plate of the CPU cooler, especially if the base plate has also been ground. That optimized contact allows the thermal power loss of the CPU to be dissipated better.
However, this tool enables controlled removal well above the usual 0.2 millimeters. That should not only increase the contact area of heatspreader and CPU cooler, but also reduce the path that the waste heat is conducted through. The AM5 heatspreader had to be designed significantly thicker than would have been necessary, in order to be able to continue using older CPU coolers for the AM4 socket. Among other things, this leads to high CPU temperatures during operation.
The result Thermal Grizzly cites
Thermal Grizzly points to a test by the US-American content creator and Tech-YouTuber "JayzTwoCents", not one of ours. With a Ryzen 9 7950X using a 360 mm AiO, he was able to achieve up to 5 degrees Celsius lower temperatures by grinding the heatspreader, with minimally higher boost clocks of all cores. In combination with the Kryonaut Extreme thermal paste, even 10 degrees Celsius lower could be achieved (in comparison with commercially available thermal paste). Even with a moderate overclocking of all cores to 5.4 GHz, the test system remained 4 degrees Celsius below the temperature limit of 95 °C.
Compatibility note
Besides Ryzen 7000, the tool is compatible with the APUs of the Ryzen 8000G series as well as the CPUs of the Ryzen 9000 series, including the X3D variants (as of March 2025).
Attention
- Grinding the CPU will invalidate the warranty, so please note that before you start.
- The base plate of the CPU cooler should also be ground, to ensure the largest possible contact surface between it and the IHS (the latter is the heatspreader).
In the box
- AM5 Lapping-Tool
- 4x screws
- 4x washers
- Angle spanner
- 400 grit sandpaper
- 1,200 grit sandpaper
- 2,500 grit sandpaper
Thermal Grizzly's data sheet is a PDF.
