Since before the launch of the 12th Generation of Intel Core processors (Alder Lake), there was talk of a problem linked to a bad contact of the cooling systems with these CPUs . Although it was indicated that it affected more systems that had been designed before the launch of these CPUs, the company never commented on this problem, until now.
Intel indicated that, although the socket fixing system manages to bend the CPU, causing it not to have full contact with the heatsink, this does not really affect the performance of its CPUs , despite the fact that independent tests indicate that there may be an increase of temperatures around 5ºC . Obviously, if you have a poor cooling system in a processor like the Core i9-12900K, which shouldn’t happen, but if it does, those 5ºC difference would already be the perfect trigger to lose performance by exceeding the safe limit of the 100ºC.
Because of this, Intel is not planning to do any redesign of its LGA1700 socket ahead of the launch of the 13th Gen Intel Raptor Lake processor. Additionally, it indicated that any modification of the socket fixing system, to force the contact of the cooling systems with the Intel Alder Lake processors, invalidates the official guarantees .
“We have not received reports of 12th Gen (Alder Lake) Intel Core processors operating out of spec due to package changes (IHS). Our internal data shows that the IHS for 12th Gen desktop processors may have a slight deviation after installation in the socket. This small deviation is to be expected and does not cause the processor to operate out of specification. We strongly recommend that you do not modify the socket or the separate locking mechanism. Such modifications will cause the processor to perform outside of specifications and could void any product warranty.
Obviously, here the company says that this is not really affecting the performance of the CPU, although it recognizes that the CPU can present a small bow after its installation in the socket, something that you can see in the video at the end of the article.
“When the backplate flexes on the motherboard, the deformation is due to the mechanical load being applied to the motherboard to make electrical contact between the CPU and the socket. There is no direct correlation between IHS deflection and flex of the backplate, apart from the fact that both can be caused by the mechanical pressure of the socket”.