The backplate as stabilizer
If you sort out all the possible causes and exceptions according to the principle of exclusion, you end up with a part of the fastening system that was not originally designed for this purpose, but which can elegantly solve (almost) all problems if executed correctly. Since I had no problems in my own assemblies until the water block (and thus also the mounting) was changed (but definitely afterwards), it was obvious to test exactly here.
Let’s have a look at the massive steel backplate of my Aqua Computer waterblock, which as a quickly created prototype with the welded screws certainly not looking pretty, but serving its purpose perfectly. Nothing will bend here, even if brute force is used!
Important for the successful, backside stabilization of the much too weak CPU socket is the front-side, firm screwing of the backplate, before the CPU was inserted! Only then the CPU may be used! If you mount the backplate with inserted CPU, you already feel the tilting of the massive plate and the screwing is much more difficult. Trick, because you then also screw against the already created bulge! And that’s rather pointless. So first mount the backplate and then insert the CPU!
All coolers that do not have a pre-screwable holding system of the backplate, but only use the backplate as a loose holder of the screws during the actual cooler mounting, could fail exactly when the backplate is not particularly torsion-resistant plastic. Metal retaining clips are just acceptable, if suboptimal. I removed my massive block and mounted a more wonky solution – and suddenly had a bent CPU too!
Well then? I disassembled everything again and then reassembled the solid backplate. However, at first I was not able to screw the screws back in with pliers until the bulge disappeared completely. But it can be fixed, in my case, by screwing the solid screws with the hexagon socket all the way in and then turning the entire construct until the last gap is gone and the base is corrected again. Then at least the pliers helped to separate the screws and threaded sleeves again. With such an action, by the way, you also notice which forces are actually at play. It’s certainly not healthy. But it is good for cooling, which was to prove.
Conclusion and summary
Intel’s new socket LGA-1700 may certainly be well thought of. But the material used by some manufacturers for the socket holder is much too soft and does not meet the required pressure for the locking of the CPU and the screw connection of the cooler in the least. While most CPUs have an almost straight heatspreader (IHS) when virgin, apparently not all do either. Something convex or concave can also be observed from case to case.
And that’s where a causal chain begins, which I’ve already written about. Slightly curved IHS + CPU curvature over socket = poor cooler support. We know the consequences from the manufacturers and from the forums. A possible workaround is massive backplates like mine, which cause few problems if you don’t put the CPU in until after the backplate is installed. But that’s not the norm, nor is it acceptable in any form at all.
The manufacturers of the much too soft sockets and also Intel are challenged here to pay attention once more to quality, so that such a thing does not happen at all. You can have different opinions about the PGA (Pin-Grid-Array) on the socket AM4, but there are no such useless problems. There is a real, massive stock backplate and an optimized pressure and load distribution free of charge. The fact that such pressure has to be exerted on the LGA-1700 is certainly also due to the very high currents that have been planned in, which require very secure and firm contacts. You can do that, but you also need the mechanical prerequisites in the form of a torsion-proof base.
I am in contact with some manufacturers and will of course continue to follow the problem. After all, it simply cannot be that paying customers first have to become the experimental field for cost-optimized solutions. Until then, keep your eyes open when buying a cooler!
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