[SOLVED] Alder lake re-lid advice

[Amddefector]

Hi thanks for looking.

When I changed my aio cooler recently I noticed the lid on my 12600kf has high spots on all 4 corners! And the paste is quite thick in the middle of the cpu.

I've seen some solid copper lids advertised and was wondering what the process is for removing the lid and attaching another one. Am I right in thinking it's glued in place? And it's just a case of cutting round it with a Stanley blade or something?

Thanks.

 

[kerberos_20]

thats because alderlake bends in middle, there are workarounds for it on web, but id just sue intel for fun

 

[Amddefector]

thats because alderlake bends in middle, there are workarounds for it on web, but id just sue intel for fun

My chances of winning a case against Intel 0 to none

It's not bent just not machined very well! It looks like Intel have already had a go at shaving a bit off each corner but obviously not enough.

 

[Phaaze88]

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-12900k-world-record-with-hacksaw

Spoiler

"I want to touch on a couple of mods that I have seen online that don’t fix the problem entirely but can help increase performance. One mod uses washers under the hold-down mechanism to mitigate some of the downward pressure, thus reducing the bowing effect. In my opinion, this will work, but I would avoid doing it for a few reasons. First, the ILM is created to provide a certain amount of pressure to assure the chip has proper contact with the pins, and while this mod does remove some of the bowing, it affects the pin contact pressure as well. This could negatively affect stability, and in the worst case, you could lose a memory channel.

A similar method is just to loosen the hold-down mechanism’s screws. But by how much? Who knows — it's all a gray area. For most people, doing this on a $500+ motherboard and chip is risky for the minimal gain. Another mod I have seen is using a replacement top for the ILM, but it mimics the original Intel design and only contacts the same two points on the sides of the chip, which introduced the flex in the first place. I can only guess that maybe the modded ILM is looser, introducing the same potential problems with lower-than-spec pin pressure.

The last mod I’ve seen is to remove the hold-down mechanism completely. I admit I tried this one, and I killed a motherboard by bending all the pins in one corner when I removed the cooler. I later found out it wounded the chips’ memory controller, too, and now dual-channel memory no longer works on the chip. That was a frustrating day.

I will never fault anyone for coming up with ideas to improve performance, though; I’m just giving my opinions on them. To everyone else, I would suggest being patient. There are some commercial solutions on the way. If you can’t wait and can afford to destroy an expensive motherboard, you could grab your own hacksaw, but the performance gain isn’t worth the money for most people."

Maybe wait it out a bit?

 

[Danra]

My chances of winning a case against Intel 0 to none

It's not bent just not machined very well! It looks like Intel have already had a go at shaving a bit off each corner but obviously not enough.

Can you take a good quality picture of it and post it here. Early adopters of this CPU saw deformations because of the pressure applied by the IHS hold down pressure. Over time this caused the IHS to warp because of on and off cycles heating and cooling the IHS. This is where the 1mm thick washer mod came into play [plastic washers can be used]. This problem was later resolved by motherboard manufacturers, at least some of them.

Not much you can do now beyond sanding down the IHS or using liquid metal such as Conductonaut to allow better contact and lower temperatures.

There is a kit available from Rocket Cool, somewhat expensive and I suggest you watch a video of how to use it, remove the TIM and so on. https://rockitcool.myshopify.com/co...l-processor/products/12th-gen-delid-relid-kit

 

[Amddefector]

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll wait to see what workarounds emerge. The cost of replacing the lid seems a bit expensive.

I'll try and get some pics next time I give it a clean.

Thanks.