Ryzen 7 7400F CPU with Thermal Issues
AMD's Ryzen 7 7400F was intended to be the budget Zen 4 offering. However, it appears this chip might cut corners in more ways than one. A deep dive review suggests that, in the pursuit of a lower price, AMD might have made some hot compromises. It seems the 7400F has a hard time keeping cool. The potential cause might be sitting under the heat spreader.
Bilibili Review Finds Thermal Throttling
A review by Bilibili has raised a red flag. Even the stock 65W TDP Ryzen 7 7400F is thermal throttling. Further digging by the reviewer reveals a surprising finding. AMD has used thermal paste between the CPU die and the IHS rather than solder.
That is a big departure from AMD's usual modus operandi. Historically, except for its G-series APUs, AMD Ryzen CPUs have been soldered IHS designs. Solder provides a much better thermal interface compared to thermal paste. The apparent overheating issues of the 7400F seem to emphasize this point.
Testing the Limits: Cinebench R23 and 105°C Spikes
The reviewer tested the limits. They paired the 7400F with a muscular 360mm DeepCool AIO cooler and DDR5-6000 RAM. Running Cinebench R23 put both thermal and compute performance to the test. While its performance was impressively close to the slightly higher-end Ryzen 5 7500F, the thermal behavior caused some alarm. It quickly reached its 95°C TJMax (Junction Temperature Maximum). It even spiked to a rather worrying 105°C during boosts to 98W.
Suspecting an issue, the reviewer checked the AIO cooler's contact. It was seated properly. Then came the reveal. Delidding the CPU showed the real fact. No solder, just thermal paste mediating the heat transfer from the die to the IHS.
Cost-Cutting or Justified Design Choice?
The most likely reason for this thermal paste implementation would be cost reduction. Soldering the IHS is a much more expensive manufacturing process. While thermal paste works, and is often fine for lower-power CPUs, on the 7400F, it does not appear to be up to the task. This is causing thermal throttling. This could impact long-term CPU health. It is also theorized that using paste may help prevent die cracking from thermal expansion. However, that seems less likely with a 65W TDP CPU.
Important Note: The Ryzen 7 7400F's limited availability (initially China-only) suggests this might be a region-specific or experimental product. It is unclear if this design choice will extend to other Ryzen 7000 series CPUs or future budget-oriented offerings.
Buyer Beware? Potential Implications for Users
For those considering the Ryzen 7 7400F as a budget build option, this review raises a red flag. The use of thermal paste under the IHS is suspected to be saving money. However, it reduces thermal headroom. In fact, if you want to avoid throttling and sustain high performance, you might need to invest in significantly beefier cooling solutions than you would normally have done. It's a case of "you get what you pay for," but with possible thermal implications for budget builders.
