No delidding needed: Intel Core i9-9900K and Core i7-9700K to come with a soldered IHS

The Intel 9th Generation 'Coffee Lake-S' CPUs are expected to be announced this September but that hasn't stopped the leaks from pouring in. While we've just seen leaked details of these processors and a benchmark as well, the latest information will surely please those in the Team Blue camp. German website Golem.de reports that the flagship Core i9-9900K and the Core i7-9700K will be using soldered integrated heat spreaders (IHS), which effectively reduces the temperature under load. The rest of the lineup will continue to use thermal compound as the conducting material between the die and the IHS.

Golem says that several sources related with Intel have independently confirmed that soldered IHS is coming to the new Core i9 and Core i7 SKUs. The Core i9-9900K can boost up to 5 GHz out of the box while the Core i7-9700K can go up to 4.9 GHz. The soldered IHS might be a major contributor to hitting those high speeds. Apart from the mainstream desktop lineup, the Cascade Lake-X lineup for the HEDT market is also expected to feature a soldered IHS. In case you were wondering, AMD never had this situation as all their CPUs use soldered IHSs. 

The last time Intel used a soldered IHS was during the time of the 'Sandy Bridge' Core i7-2700K CPU in 2011. So whenever high clocks were desired in successive iterations, these CPUs had to be delidded. Even when the Core i7-8700K launched, famed overclocker 'der8auer' sold custom delidded versions that could hit up to 5.2 GHz. While using soldered IHSs could impair the ability to delid, the improved conductance between the die and the IHS should bode well for more efficient heat dissipation compared to a thermal compound.

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