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posted by cmn32480 on Saturday December 05 2015, @06:28PM   Printer-friendly
from the same-designer-as-the-iPhone-6 dept.

Found this at HotHardware. From the article:

It's been discovered that some third-party heat sinks can physically damage Intel's new Skylake CPUs, along with the pins in the accompanying motherboard socket. The problem has prompted at least one cooler maker to change the design of its Socket 1151 heat sinks and it wouldn't be surprising if others soon followed suit.

The apparent issue is the substrate Intel used for its Skylake chips. A close-up shot of a Skylake CPU sitting side-by-side with a Broadwell processor shows that the substrate is noticeably thinner on Skylake, and thus prone to bending from the force that some third-party heat sinks exert. It also poses a problem for the tiny pins in the socket area of Skylake motherboards.

Sounds like something to be careful of when building that new rig. Has anyone experienced the issue?

takyon:

Update - 3:08PM: This just in from Intel...

"The design specifications and guidelines for the 6th Gen Intel Core processor using the LGA 1151 socket are unchanged from previous generations and are available for partners and 3rd party manufacturers. Intel can't comment on 3rd party designs or their adherence to the recommended design specifications. For questions about a specific cooling product we must defer to the manufacturer."

And so it would appear this is an OEM 3rd party manufacturer issue, rather than a generalized issue with the processor(s).


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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by frojack on Saturday December 05 2015, @07:58PM

    by frojack (1554) on Saturday December 05 2015, @07:58PM (#272255) Journal

    The old WHAT could handle the pressure?

    The problem is that the the coolers are deforming (and possibly breaking) the CPU chips.

    A close-up shot of a Skylake CPU sitting side-by-side with a Broadwell processor shows that the substrate is noticeably thinner on Skylake,

    Skylake a new chip. There are NO OLD coolers that should be used, the new chipset requires a new cooler. End of story.
    Manufacturers are sending out their old Broadwell coolers without a glance at the specs.

    So far it only looks like the Scythe brand [extremetech.com] of coolers are at fault.

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  • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Saturday December 05 2015, @08:43PM

    by maxwell demon (1608) on Saturday December 05 2015, @08:43PM (#272265) Journal

    The heat sink makers relied on undocumented behaviour (the processor being able to stand a larger force than specified) which changed for the newer processors. Any heat sink for the old processor that was manufactured to spec should work for the new processor as well.

    Let me make a car analogy.

    Intel made bridges and told people that only cars up to 5 tonnes weight should drive over them. But some car manufacturers noticed that they could drive 7 tonnes cars over those bridges without them breaking, and sold such cars.

    Then Intel started to make new bridges that would break when you drive 7 tonnes cars over them, however 5 tonnes cars still can drive over them without problems. Therefore all cars which officially were able to cross the old bridges can also cross the new bridges. However the cars that are heavier than allowed will break the new bridges even though they happened not to break the old bridges.

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    • (Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday December 05 2015, @09:28PM

      by frojack (1554) on Saturday December 05 2015, @09:28PM (#272275) Journal

      Any heat sink for the old processor that was manufactured to spec should work for the new processor as well.

      No, it shouldn't. They are different chips, with a different thickness substrate, for a different market segment (thin tablets), and they had DIFFERENT SPECS WERE PUBLISHED by Intel. Some 3rd party suppliers noticed the old heat sinks sorta fit, and decided to pawn off old equipment for the new processors.

      You must be new to computers. Here's a clue: Things change rapidly in the computer industry, mkay? Remember that fact. It will serve you well later in life after you are out of Junior High School. What works today, can not be expected to work tomorrow with different motherboards, different chips.

      Let me make a car analogy.

      Sorry, NO. Cars are not involved. These are not the bridges you were looking for,

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      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Saturday December 05 2015, @09:46PM

        by maxwell demon (1608) on Saturday December 05 2015, @09:46PM (#272277) Journal

        and they had DIFFERENT SPECS WERE PUBLISHED by Intel.

        FTFS (emphasis by me):

        The design specifications and guidelines for the 6th Gen Intel Core processor using the LGA 1151 socket are unchanged from previous generations and are available for partners and 3rd party manufacturers.

        Note that, according to the summary, that's a direct quote by Intel. Now who knows better about Intel specs, Intel or frojack? Well, hard call! ;-)

        You must be new to computers.

        No. But I'm able to read. That's a big advantage; you should try it, too.

        --
        The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.