Quote Originally Posted by ixtapalapaquetl View Post
My chip was wicked hot before removing the IHS and was wicked hot after. Hardly any appreciable temp improvement. That's what motivated the water build (which garnered me somewhere in the neighborhood of 15C improvement at load).

"Solder" is far too strong of a term. There was some stuff there, but the lid popped off on its own while I was razoring the edges without even requiring the application of any heat. Here's a pic:

Excellent photo, really helps confirm things. Looks like solder to me...so no funky thermals like on the paste/??? interface of lesser cpu's (I'm still waiting to beat on an 8500 if they ever become available). How high Orthos stable does that one go?