Question Do you need a contact frame (Thermalright/Thermal Grizzly) for a Intel 13th gen CPU paired with a Z690 motherboard?

[Schytheron]

So I have been out-of-the-loop for a while when it comes to CPU's and have recently been wanting to upgrade to Intel's 13th gen. However, I have noticed talks within the PC community that Alder Lake suffered from some sort of IHS bending issue which caused CPU coolers to not make proper contact with the CPU and Thermalright + Thermal Grizzly released "contact frame" products to remedy the issue and have proved to lower temps on these CPU's.
I have some questions:

1. What exactly was it that caused this issue? Was it the Z690 motherboards or the CPU itself?
2. Has this been fixed for 13th gen?
3. Do I need to buy one of these contact frames if I pair my 13th gen CPU with a old Z690 motherboard (specifically the GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Elite AX)?
4. I noticed Tom's Hardware did a test on 13th gen (https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermalright-lga1700-bcf-contact-frame) and got mixed results based on the build they did (both Z690 mobos). Is this a coincidence or a real problem?

I am super confused right now. Would appreciate if any of you could help me clear this up. Thanks!

Extra Info: I am using a Noctua NH-D15 CPU cooler.

 

[Phaaze88]

1)It was the ILM frame. You can see more on it here:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysb25vsNBQI


2)Not at all. Still using the same single arm ILM frame. If they had used the dual arm frame seen on X-series boards - problem solved. The boards would've been more expensive, but still...

3)IF you are going to be sinking cash on a Z-series board and K-SKU cpu, there's not much of an excuse not to... though the temperatures don't get dumb until you fire up all cores, so if you're not going to be doing that, it'll be fine without one.

4)I would suggest looking at other samples, then make your own conclusion. GN covers the Thermal Grizzly, Thermalright, and 'Walmart' contact frames. Not sure how thorough the Tom's article was on it.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EByOdL_nYKo

 

[cAllen]

Lapping is also part of this solution.

 

[Shakakhan420]

Just finished a 13th gen build on a z790 board ( i7 13700k, asus z790 tuf gaming ). Purchased the TG cpu contact frame along with the mobo and cpu. When I went to install the contact frame, I could only ever get one screw to thread if following the suggested installation ( X patern ). Did not matter if was only barely threaded, the frame simply wasn't low enough to thread the next one. After much trial and error ( I had thought alignment of the back plate was the issue ) I determined the screws from the ILM simply weren't long enough to accommodate the raised height. I reached out to ThermalGrizzly about compatibility and their response was "Hello there,

in theory yes. However, we are still making technical changes to get the best performance out of the 13th gen."

For the time being, I reinstalled the ILM and finished the build. I don't know if this is just an issue with z790 boards, or even just my particular model, but I wanted to put out a word of warning .

 

[MOHATAN]

thermal grizzly answered me :

Hello there,

I have to apologize to you, the frame is released for the 13th Gen and the Z790 chipset.

You would then need UNC 6/32 screws that are longer than 7mm

 

[cAllen]

Just finished my Z690 with one successful post . Going to wait until all the S/W is done and I work out any bugs before lapping and installing the frame so I know my real numbers.