Discussion Performance Between Repaired CPU Pins vs. Untouched CPU Pins?

[Iver Hicarte]

[Moderator edit to break up one continuous paragraph of text.]

I've read somewhere on the internet that even if someone manages to repair a CPU's pin, that it will never ever match the feel and performance of a CPU's pin that has never been touched or damaged.

And I believe this could be true in some scenarios, if I'm not mistaken, CPUs are manufactured and assembled by robotic mechanisms in the factory. So producing and assembling a CPU is very precise, so it can't be compared to a CPU pin that was just repaired by a human regardless if it was meticulously repaired.

A bit of a tale here, around 3 weeks ago I bought a used 5950X for 312$, I bought it because it was so cheap for that kind of CPU. Tested everything that had to be tested and it was running fine, in addition it was also repaired by a guy whom I knew was very meticulous in his craft, hence I was confident to buy that 2nd hand CPU even though we didn't fully know the history of where he got it from.

Also as added assurance, he had a magnifying type of device that we used to inspect each individual pin so we can assure that the repair was done thoroughly. Anyways I brought it home and slapped it in my system, and the performance was great in games.

But the issue was there was a lot of micro stuttering in games that can be run easily. Frametimes were just terrible in some games like TF2, so I'm thinking maybe it was a bottleneck since I only play at 1080p and it was paired with a 6700XT. So as a workaround, I capped my FPS to smoothen the frametime a bit, still it stutters. So that's when I had the idea that maybe it was because of the pin.

Maybe the pins don't match the factory standards anymore so maybe that's why there is a performance issue. A lot of people will say, "if it boots then it's working fine", and they're not wrong. But what about small details like this? Almost for also that some of the pins were chopped off before the repair, so my guy had to solder some pins back.

Maybe this contributed to the issue since the pins soldered back were not factory pins anymore? So what do you think guys?

I opted for this to be a discussion instead of a question since I'm sure there's no definite answer to this. It depends on the case scenario really. Apologies for the long read. Can't really shorten this explanation, had to make sure every detail is out here so you guys can give a more informed feedback.

 

[drea.drechsler]

First is to understand there are over a thousand pins performing a very wide variety of functions, and many redundant pins for functions like power and grounding so this can be a bit of a generalization.

For data and signaling functions it either works or it doesn't. So if it turns on and all of those functions work they're probably as good as they can be. That would include things like both memory channels, CPU attached GPU slot data path (16 lanes), CPU attached NVME, CPU attached USB ports, etc.

If the GPU works but is not able to run with it's full data path (all 16 lanes) it won't perform up to capability which can potentially result in stuttering in games. You can check for full data path utilization with the GPU-z utility.

But for power and ground, which are highly redundant with many pins for each, if repairs aren't effective AND the quantity of pins concerned is large enough there's a definite potential for performance issues. It will most likely be noticed during very intense processing when the CPU is working at very high power demand modes, like video renderings and such, where the CPU can be unstable even in full-stock settings. Although, gaming problems such as stuttering wouldn't likely be a result since the CPU doesn't make very high power demands during games.

And lastly, the repairs I'm thinking of might be one either of straightening a bent pin or soldering another pin back in place of one that broke off. In either case: if the pin is solidly enough attached to remain in place with normal handling and is correctly aligned in the grid pattern with the other pins it's most likely going to work perfectly well. That's simply because of the way the socket works along with heat sink clamping.