ElecGear CPU Thermal Paste Guard Work with AMD Ryzen AM5 Desktop Processors, 2 Packs of LGA1718 Socket Buckle Protective Cover Leakage Blocker for 7000, 8000, 9000 and X3D Series

inexpensive and very effective.

Installs easily and keeps my Ryzen cpu clean despite the oddball shape of the cpu. That’s what I bought it for, and that’s what it does.

Works good with my AM5 CPUFits perfectly

It wasn't as easy as I thought it would have been to deploy\install\secure. But wow, when it was in place.. ..what a godsend.You still NEED to be very accurate in spreading thermal paste, but this product allows you to have a margin of error without f***f over your chipset and motherboard in the situation that you have overflow.

The ElecGear thermal paste guard is probably the best alternative to the similar Thermal Grizzly one, one of those contact frames where you have to mount a whole new ILM, or in general, the Noctua clear plastic guards.There is a video by the seller that shows how to install it. It's basically: lock your CPU in with the standard installation, use the marked corner in line with the marked ILM/CPU corner, pad in tightly, and go ham on thermal paste.There is a similar product that is just a copper plate that locks on top, but since we are early in adoption for AM5, there's no real test. However, this ElecGear thermal paste guard is pretty cheap compared to all the other ones. If I were to improve the product, it would be to develop a more stiff material and possibly lower the price. The single guard is good enough for a long time unless you are someone who breaks things easily, so selling a single for a lower price may entice more people.This product is also tight enough to use liquid metal, as it looks, but at that point, it'd be recommended to use direct die gear since the IHS is already very thick, which is going to be your main issue anyway.UPDATED 11/22 - There may be a defect but after using this on a couple rigs and recommending to friends, some may get cover guard that just breaks or slightly melts after a decent period. This may be a thermal paste interaction or long standing heat/suction from a cooler. I would still recommend this product but if you are using a super high end chip or cooler try a contact frame or alternative metal version of a thermal paste guard.

Makes dealing with paste either on initial install or re-pasting just so much cleaner. A lot less to touch up and get all over the place. Highly recommend.

Great

Easy to put on, simple, no removing back plates, its GREAT!!!