Intel to Cover Delidding in Warranties, But With a Big Catch

Intel will not void the warranty of a delidded CPU, as long as it is of a specific model and was obtained from particular suppliers, according to an industry insider. Delidding is the process of removing a CPU's integrated heat spreader and replacing its stock thermal paste with the goal of improving temperatures.

The Intel Core i9-14900KS launched on March 14, becoming the most powerful desktop-class Raptor Lake CPU that the American chip giant has ever released. That power comes at a cost, however, as many experts have noted that the processor should be delidded to compensate for the intense heat it generates. Intel has long considered delidding to be a tweak that voids a CPU's warranty, but the company has apparently made an exception for the i9-14900KS.

In a recent video, popular German overclocker Roman «der8auer» Hartung revealed that Intel will still honor the warranty of an i9-14900KS that was delidded by specific system integrators, not regular consumers. Hardware companies have given PC builders special treatment before, like when AMD offered the Chinese market-exclusive Radeon RX 7900 GRE to the rest of the world through system integrators. Hartung did note that the i9-14900KS' case was special, as he had not heard of or seen anything quite like it before.

Among the boutique PC stores in North America that have started to offer a delidded i9-14900KS is Maingear. For an extra $200, customers can get the modified chip over the regular i9-14900KS to go with Maingear's flagship MG-1 custom desktop, Techradar reported. While the delidded CPU will undoubtedly perform better, even an unmodified sample will pump out impressive framerates in games thanks to the Intel i9-14900KS' core specs. With its out-of-the-box max boost clock of 6.2 GHz, Intel's latest and greatest easily beats the still powerful i9-13900KS it succeeded, which had also been the company's top-performing CPU when it was released last year.

Both the 13900KS and i9-14900KS will provide their owners