Experimental Vapor Chambers – AMD were testing some crazy IHS designs for Ryzen 7000

AMD were experimenting with vapor chamber IHS designs for their Ryzen 7000 series processors

When designing their Ryzen 7000 series of AM5 processors, AMD were experimenting with their IHS (Integrated Heat-Spreader) designs to help make their processors cooler running under high loads. Thanks to an AMD labs tour from Gamers Nexus, we have now gotten a glimpse of AMD’s experimental vapor chambered IHS, a prototype that combined traditional IHS design with vapor chamber cooling in an attempt to reduce CPU thermals. 

Sadly, AMD’s vapor chamber experimentation did not result in significant drops in CPU thermals, with AMD’s experimental design offering CPU temperatures that were within 1°C of AMD’s standard IHS design. Moreover, during extended testing scenarios, temperatures were often higher with AMD’s experimental vapor chambered IHS design. 

While AMD’s experiments with a vapor chambered IHS design were not successful, we respect the fact that AMD attempted to rethink the design of their IHS in order to lower the thermals of their processors. At the end of their testing, AMD concluded that the user’s choice of cooler had a much larger impact on thermals than their IHS design, and that their vapor chamber IHS design was not suitable for a retail product.

AMD’s experimentation has yielded great results in the past

AMD’s labs have been the source of a lot of innovation, and while their vapor chamber IHS design has not made it into a shipping product, there have been projects that have resulted in a lot of success for AMD. 

AMD’s original Threadripper processors were designed by engineers as a side project. It was a passion project that AMD’s engineers developed on the side, and it was in development for roughly a year before AMD;s engineers sought a green light from management. These engineers wanted to create a high-performance PC product for consumers, and they succeeded. Without these engineers and their experiments, AMD Threadripper might not exist. 

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