Is the Skylake "bending" issue, really an issue?

[Noirgheos]

1 minute ago, don_svetlio said:

It doesn't break instantly - give it a few days to bend nicely and burn

Want me to stress it to speed up the process?

[don_svetlio]

Just now, Noirgheos said:

Did he say what cooler?

 

Because theres this guy:

 

I kinda trust PCgamer's staff more than a random forum but your call

[Windows7ge]

Just now, Torn said:

U14S on my 6600k. 935 grams. No Issues

I imagine the problems start when you screw it down tight. If it was held on by gravity (lay the board flat on something) and just rested the cooler on top and never touched it it'd probably be fine. Very crappy solution though.

[Torn]

6 minutes ago, Megahurt said:

From what I remember, actual cases where this happened were when the pc was shipped with the cooler installed, or banged or something, not just having the cooler installed normally.

For the love of all things good. Don't ship any tall air cooler attached to the mobo without proper expanding foam bags.

[don_svetlio]

1 minute ago, Torn said:

For the love of all things good. Don't ship any tall air cooler attached to the mobo without proper expanding foam bags.

That is not an issue on Haswell*. I've shipped my i5 4590 with a Freezer 13 2 times without any damage

[FilipSebik]

Put a string on the cooler and tie it somewhere on top of the case so the string holds some of the cooler

 

-Think about it and its not funny

[Torn]

8 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

11 minutes ago, Torn said:

U14S on my 6600k. 935 grams. No Issues

I imagine the problems start when you screw it down tight. If it was held on by gravity (lay the board flat on something) and just rested the cooler on top and never touched it it'd probably be fine. Very crappy solution though.

It's screwed down as tight as the supplied hardware allows in a mid-tower oriented normally.

[Noirgheos]

2 minutes ago, FilipSebik said:

Put a string on the cooler and tie it somewhere on top of the case so the string holds some of the cooler

 

Just now, Torn said:

It's screwed down as tight as the supplied hardware allows in a mid-tower oriented normally.

Exactly what I did. How long have you had it on?

[Windows7ge]

Just now, Torn said:

It's screwed down as tight as the supplied hardware allows in a mid-tower oriented normally.

I have been told it depends on the cooler specifically. Some coolers can be screwed down tighter than others and from my understanding that's what bends the chip.

[Noirgheos]

1 minute ago, Windows7ge said:

I have been told it depends on the cooler specifically. Some coolers can be screwed down tighter than others and from my understanding that's what bends the chip.

 

3 minutes ago, Torn said:

It's screwed down as tight as the supplied hardware allows in a mid-tower oriented normally.

 

5 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

That is not an issue on Haswell*. I've shipped my i5 4590 with a Freezer 13 2 times without any damage

You guys are making me damn paranoid. How would an NH-L9x65 do? Literally 300g so bending should be a non-issue. According to reviews with 2500rpm fan speeds on it, its quiet and keeps the 6700K at 66C when doing P95. This is from LANOC.

[Torn]

4 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

7 minutes ago, Torn said:

It's screwed down as tight as the supplied hardware allows in a mid-tower oriented normally.

I have been told it depends on the cooler specifically. Some coolers can be screwed down tighter than others and from my understanding that's what bends the chip.

Exactly why I went with a good name cooler. Perhaps not always, but tend to be manufactured better.

[don_svetlio]

Just now, Noirgheos said:

 

 

You guys are making me damn paranoid. How would an NH-L9x65 do? Literally 300g so bending should be a non-issue. According to reviews with 2500rpm fan speeds on it, its quiet and keeps the 6700K at 66C when doing P95. This is from LANOC.

300g is fine, 750g is risky

[typographie]

Nothing has changed and there was no recall, so I have to assume it's as much of an issue as it ever was. Though I question how big an issue it ever was when I can only find one or two complaints of it actually happening. If this had happened to everyone with a Skylake CPU and a big air cooler, I think the internet would be less reluctant to show me horror stories about it.

 

In my opinion, gently hand-tighten the screws and if there's a problem, send photos to Noctua.

[Noirgheos]

2 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

300g is fine, 750g is risky

Do you think that the L9x65 would keep my 6700K under 70C with stock clocks? I'm also in an Enthoo Pro with extra NF-F12s hooked up to the case.

[don_svetlio]

Just now, Noirgheos said:

Do you think that the L9x65 would keep my 6700K under 70C with stock clocks? I'm also in an Enthoo Pro with extra NF-F12s hooked up to the case.

Assuming you have some for of cool air coming in, yes.

[Noirgheos]

1 minute ago, don_svetlio said:

Assuming you have some for of cool air coming in, yes.

Guess I'll order it then, but this will delay my new SSD.

 

2 minutes ago, typographie said:

Nothing has changed and there was no recall, so I have to assume it's as much of an issue as it ever was. Though I question how big an issue it ever was when I can only find one or two complaints of it actually happening. If this had happened to everyone with a Skylake CPU and a big air cooler, I think the internet would be less reluctant to show me horror stories about it.

 

In my opinion, gently hand-tighten the screws and if there's a problem, send photos to Noctua.

I'm still too scared, as waiting is not an option as my parents are dragging me to Jamaica with them, so I'll be away for a while.

[Frankie]

I remember doing little bit of research before buying a skylake and first of those stories that started it was some bigger company that overtighten the coolers with probably electric screwdriver. From that story I could find only a couple of people who had this problem and it's hard to eliminate human error i.e. you don't know if they monkey tighten the thing on.

 

I would like to help with my observations but I have a X31 Kraken on my 6600K and no problems after half a year of use, but that's a ligth waterblock. 

[Noirgheos]

10 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

Assuming you have some for of cool air coming in, yes.

Hold on, without the fan, my U12S is 580g, well below 700g. Do you think I should just use no fan? I wonder how much temps would be affected...

[typographie]

11 minutes ago, Noirgheos said:

I'm still too scared, as waiting is not an option as my parents are dragging me to Jamaica with them, so I'll be away for a while.

I don't think anyone can give you an honest, definitive answer on this. All I can say is that the issue is either extraordinarily rare, situational, and/or under-reported. As far as I'm concerned this is what warranties are for. If Noctua advertises your cooler as compatible with Skylake chips, then they have to support it.

 

I can say with certainty that last time I looked, my Core i5-6600K was not bending under the mounting pressure of my Corsair H80i.

 

Edit: I'll add that the PCGamer article freely admits that they tightened the cooler with an electric screwdriver. I would never have thought that was a smart idea, even with Haswell.

[don_svetlio]

Just now, Noirgheos said:

Hold on, without the fan, my U12S is 580g, well below 700g. Do you think I should just use no fan? I wonder how much temps would be affected...

Passively cooling i7s is not a great idea - unless the cooler is truly massive and you have good airlflow, it's a bad idea

[don_svetlio]

4 minutes ago, typographie said:

I don't think anyone can give you an honest, definitive answer on this. All I can say is that the issue is either extraordinarily rare, situational, and/or under-reported. As far as I'm concerned this is what warranties are for. If Noctua advertises your cooler as compatible with Skylake chips, then they have to support it.

 

I can say with certainty that last time I looked, my Core i5-6600K was not bending under the mounting pressure of my Corsair H80i.

 

Edit: I'll add that the PCGamer article freely admits that they tightened the cooler with an electric screwdriver. I would never have thought that was a smart idea, even with Haswell.

Noctua have also listed a warning about using coolers over 700g though

[Noirgheos]

3 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

Passively cooling i7s is not a great idea - unless the cooler is truly massive and you have good airlflow, it's a bad idea

Well, you can judge if its massive or not for yourself I guess. Looks pretty massive to me.

 

http://www.thinkcomputers.org/reviews/noctua_nhu12s/22.jpg

[don_svetlio]

1 minute ago, Noirgheos said:

Well, you can judge if its massive or not for yourself I guess. Looks pretty massive to me.

 

http://www.thinkcomputers.org/reviews/noctua_nhu12s/22.jpg

Don't know if it's large enough.

[typographie]

7 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

Noctua have also listed a warning about using coolers over 700g though

The warning about coolers over 700 grams is to remove the cooler when shipping the system, which I'd recommend anyone to do. Probably even with coolers under 700 g. That has nothing to do with Skylake specifically, it's so that the cooler doesn't pull on the motherboard when the PC moves during travel.

 

I don't think the weight of the cooler itself is a factor in whether Skylake bends or not. In an upright PC case, the weight of the cooler is directed toward the floor, not into the CPU die. It's mounting pressure that matters, and here's what Noctua says about that:

 

"Our SecuFirm2™ mounting systems undergo comprehensive compatibility tests before being approved for new platforms. We have neither detected any problem with regard to the Intel LGA1151 platform (“Skylake”) during these tests nor have we received any reports from our customers, sales partners and system integrators that would indicate any possible issue. Our SecuFirm2™ mounting systems (with the exception of some compact L-type models) rely on coil springs to create the required contact pressure, which gives a certain flexibility both with regards to tolerances in stackup height and shocks or other forces. Compared to spring-less mounting systems, which exclusively rely on the bending of the mounting brackets in order to create contact pressure, this allows to reduce the mechanical stress on CPU, socket and motherboard and thus helps to prevent possible damage from excessive forces. However, as it is not possible to reliably calculate or control the forces that act upon a system during transport (e.g. in shipping), we generally recommend, due to safety reasons, to take off coolers with a total weight of more than 700g (incl. fan)."

 

The only mention of weight is at the end, where they reiterate that they recommend coolers over 700 g are removed before shipping. And again, that's not specific to Skylake.

[Noirgheos]

10 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

Noctua have also listed a warning about using coolers over 700g though