Bent Skylake i5 - First build nightmare

[ZykciR]

Hello. I recently got the last part of my PC gaming build, the parts of which I have been waiting for a good 1,5 month.

I will begin with stating the specifications:

Intel Core i5 6600K - Skylake Processor
Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 3 - Motherboard
Noctua NH-D15 - CPU Cooler
HyperX Fury 2x8GB 2666MHz - RAM
Gigabyte GTX 1060 G1 Gaming - GPU

It started off great. I was reading the manuals and throughout the process of every component installed I was extremely careful to do it correctly and not break anything.

I started with installing the CPU onto the motherboard, I did this outside the case not that it is relevant to my knowledge. I simply lifted the foot holding it in place, carefully looked at the CPU and the manuals (which were horrible for every component I had) and made sure it was properly installed. I aligned the notches and whatnot, and I carefully dropped it onto the motherboard. I heard a sort of "tchh" sound or how to explain it, I knew it was in place correctly at least. It did not stand on the pins, it was just sitting in the socket. So I removed the plastic cover, I put the holder back in place, and as I bent it back I heard a small cracking noise, very small noise which I was reassured of was supposed to be happening as the CPU is fully put in to the socket when it happens and I thought it was all good.

So I put the rest of the PC together and did a test boot after mounting the motherboard in the case etc. The PC did not start. I decided to deattach all components and I got to the CPU and checked the processor. The processor was slightly bent on both corners of one side. The other side was to my surprise straight and did not seem to have been damaged at all.

So I double checked when removing the CPU that I had in fact put it in place correctly and I came to the conclusion that I had. Now I am devastated because I know warranty usually doesn't cover these things and I have just thrown ~ 245€ = $275 USD out the window.

I do not know what to do. I don't know if the CPU is beyond saving or not but I guess it is because I assume it's hard to bend it back in a good manner and even if it isn't I guess the circuits could still have been damaged.

I have no idea however, how this can have happened as I made it my life goal to be extremely cautious while doing this 🙁.

I did already send an email to the retailer I bought this from, and wrote an essay about my problem. I also mentioned that I have read that Skylake CPU's are known to have had cases where they have bent slightly because of the pressure of big 3rd party CPU coolers (Such as Noctua NH-D15, which is HUGE.)

So I did some research and saw that others have had these kind of issues too. Now is there any chance in hell that I can get a new CPU with the warranty or am I screwed?

To my knowledge, there is no visible damage to the CPU socket. It looks good but I am not a PC expert (obviously, heh 😀) so I wouldn't know.

Hoping some good soul here on Tomshardware can help me out... Thanks!

Some pictures of how it looks like (taken straight out of Internet because it's late here right now but I am willing to take my own if it helps):

EDIT: In case anyone is curious about how things went, I ended up not getting any warranty. BUT I did bring the Skylake back to life with the help of a good friend! He had a heatgun that we used to heat the PCB and then we just applied slight pressure to bend it as straight as possible, and boom, now I'm on Windows and everything seems to be working perfectly! Aida stress tests and other benchmarks show everything to be just fine! I am so happy about this 😀

PS: I also read that Intel know about the issue that Skylake CPU's may be bent in general easier than other CPU's they have. I also know for a fact that the Noctua Cooler mounting is incredibly well made. It has a backplate and good screws holding it together.

 

[Ecky]

Honestly, it looks like you didn't have it oriented correctly in the socket. It's supposed to stand on the pins. When you clamped it down, wherever the CPU was hitting the socket and not the pins was bent.

 

[alexoiu]

Here you can find a picture of a CPU correctly mounted: http://www.kitguru.net/components/cpu/luke-hill/intel-core-i7-6700k-i5-6600k-skylake-cpu-review/
I might be wrong, but can't see how a CPU cooler could bend the PCB, if CPU correctly installed.
My guess is that you have not seated it properly.

 

[synphul]

I'm guessing if your cpu ended up looking like that, either it wasn't seated completely correct or the cooler was tightened down too hard. The weight of the cooler doesn't do that since the backplate braces the motherboard. The whole motherboard would have to flex. If the cooler were tightened down too hard or too much on one side before the other side were snugged down may have tightened the cooler unevenly against the cpu.

I remember those pics circulating from a review site that used a power driver to install their cooler. They likely overtightened their cooler that way to get those results. Unfortunately I doubt it's covered under warranty unless you had a really one off cpu that actually had a flawed pcb somehow. It would be very unlikely meaning a bent pcb would be due to user error not manufacturing defect. You could still try and see if intel will cover it, they might and you're not out anything to try.

If you try to bend the corners back flat you may run into issues. Flexing a little is one thing, bending is another and when you stress it by bending it back in the opposite direction to flatten it back out it's liable to splinter/crack the pcb.

 

[ZykciR]

I can simply not accept this. It does not make any sense at all. I was so sure that the CPU was correctly in place while installing it. I think I would feel at least a little bit of force instead of everything going together perfectly? Even when lifting down the foot I didn't notice any indicators of it not being correctly installed...

I am entirely sure that it was correctly installed. I believe however synphul might have a point. It isn't impossible that the heatsink would have been unevenly screwed or over tightened, but I did exactly what the manual said to do. I screwed until I felt a little resistance, I did not force it whatsoever but what do you know this just threw 270$ in the trash bin... Yay.

So where do I go from here? Honestly I'm traumatized because I really want to finish my build but then again I am so afraid to buy another Skylake only to have the exact same thing happen, not to mention if there are socket damages that are not visible..? Ugh I am just in a really bad spot 🙁

So the CPU is beyond saving then probably and warranty won't cover it? No chance in hell they will even though they know about others that have had the same problem?

 

[ZykciR]

I'm guessing if your cpu ended up looking like that, either it wasn't seated completely correct or the cooler was tightened down too hard. The weight of the cooler doesn't do that since the backplate braces the motherboard. The whole motherboard would have to flex. If the cooler were tightened down too hard or too much on one side before the other side were snugged down may have tightened the cooler unevenly against the cpu.

I remember those pics circulating from a review site that used a power driver to install their cooler. They likely overtightened their cooler that way to get those results. Unfortunately I doubt it's covered under warranty unless you had a really one off cpu that actually had a flawed pcb somehow. It would be very unlikely meaning a bent pcb would be due to user error not manufacturing defect. You could still try and see if intel will cover it, they might and you're not out anything to try.

If you try to bend the corners back flat you may run into issues. Flexing a little is one thing, bending is another and when you stress it by bending it back in the opposite direction to flatten it back out it's liable to splinter/crack the pcb.

I just doubled checked and I am confident I had it installed the correct way. I checked the CPU and checked how it's supposed to align and I came to the conclusion that I could not have installed it incorrectly, because of two small curved gaps that only are present on one of the CPU sides which I specifically remembered fit perfectly and can not have fit the other way. I am very sure it was installed correctly.

What I do, however, think might have happened, is that the CPU was in place, but as I moved down the foot is it possible that the CPU moved a little bit without me noticing? And thus being improperly aligned?

I also checked the damage of the CPU again and to be honest it really isn't that bad from what it looks like, both sides are perfectly straight except for the bottom sides where the arrow is, which are both slightly bent. Though only the circuits are bent and it does not seem like there are any cracks... Also the motherboard's socket does not seem to have been damaged. The actual processor in the middle of the CPU also looks completely perfect to me.

 

[synphul]

It's hard to say without having the parts in hand, other folks are on the other side of a computer screen making guesses to some degree. It's possible the cpu may have shifted a bit when lowering the retention lid on the socket. I think that's why asus came out with a simplified installation tool that snaps like a frame around the skylake pcb's.

If looking at the cpu where the top is the side closest to the hinges of the retention lid there should be 2 notches, yes. One on the upper left side (toward the rear of the case) and one on the upper right (toward the front of the case). There's an arrow on the lower left corner of the cpu pcb and it matches an arrow marking on the cpu retention lid of the socket. The retention lid needs to be secured under the single screw head in the center along the bottom edge.

When tightening down the cooler it helps to turn the screws just a little bit until they 'grab' and then begin on the opposite diagonal screw. If you started with the top left, go to the bottom right, top right, bottom left. At that point all 4 mounting screws should be started but not tight yet. Use a similar pattern, back and forth one diagonal corner to another and tighten the screws a turn or two at a time. That way the cooler presses down evenly as it tightens, not one corner fully tight then going to another. That can cause the cooler to be tightened crooked/cocked and apply additional pressure to one side or corner of the cpu more than another.

 

[ZykciR]

It's hard to say without having the parts in hand, other folks are on the other side of a computer screen making guesses to some degree. It's possible the cpu may have shifted a bit when lowering the retention lid on the socket. I think that's why asus came out with a simplified installation tool that snaps like a frame around the skylake pcb's.

If looking at the cpu where the top is the side closest to the hinges of the retention lid there should be 2 notches, yes. One on the upper left side (toward the rear of the case) and one on the upper right (toward the front of the case). There's an arrow on the lower left corner of the cpu pcb and it matches an arrow marking on the cpu retention lid of the socket. The retention lid needs to be secured under the single screw head in the center along the bottom edge.

When tightening down the cooler it helps to turn the screws just a little bit until they 'grab' and then begin on the opposite diagonal screw. If you started with the top left, go to the bottom right, top right, bottom left. At that point all 4 mounting screws should be started but not tight yet. Use a similar pattern, back and forth one diagonal corner to another and tighten the screws a turn or two at a time. That way the cooler presses down evenly as it tightens, not one corner fully tight then going to another. That can cause the cooler to be tightened crooked/cocked and apply additional pressure to one side or corner of the cpu more than another.

Thank you for your answer, I understand things better now.

I am starting to worry that the cpu may have been damaged while moving the motherboard or simply it moved under the lid somehow.

Still, no chance of warranty not being void? I did exactly what the manual said so I don't know how this happened in the first place.

Thanks again for the answers, just want to clarify that I think Intel should accept warranty claims on these CPU's simply because of the fact that this is a known issue with Skylake processors, or am I wrong?

 

[ZykciR]

Did not get any warranty, which was expected. Though after research I am still confident that I did not install it incorrectly, it probably just got bent when I was mounting the heatsink... 245€ wasted, that's life.

 

[ZykciR]

In case anyone is curious about how things went, I ended up not getting any warranty. BUT I did bring the Skylake back to life with the help of a good friend! He had a heatgun that we used to heat the PCB and then we just applied slight pressure to bend it as straight as possible, and boom, now I'm on Windows and everything seems to be working perfectly! Aida stress tests and other benchmarks show everything to be just fine! I am so happy about this 😀

 

[Melonious]

Skylake is extremely fragile and I while I have done a lot of cpu installs I would not try to do one for skylake...the the manufacturer deal with that BS.

I am glad you got it running though, amazing what a heat gun can do.