AMD's new Raven Ridge series APUs use thermal paste instead of solder , a chance that allows AMD to maintain a low price point for their budget-oriented product while offering adequate levels of thermal performance.Thermal paste is fine, provided users have a powerful enough cooling solution, though it is sub-optimal in terms of raw cooling/thermal transfer potential. Directly soldered CPUs can transfer heat more efficiently from the CPU die to its IHS and then to the user's cooling solution, making soldered CPUs preferable on high-end overclockable CPUs.AMD's Robert Hallock has confirmed that "2nd-gen Ryzen will use solder", which means that AMD's upcoming 12nm Zen+ CPUs will be not be using thermal paste under its IHS. This confirmation is great news for overclockers, though not exactly unexpected given the fact that Ryzen is a high-end/high margin product.Ryzen 2nd Generation products will be more powerful than their current generation counterparts, releasing on Globalfoundries' more efficient 12nm process node which higher clock speeds, precision boost 2 technology and a couple of other design tweaks. These processors are set to launch in April 2018 alongside AMD's new 400-series motherboards.