Hacksawing a Motherboard Helped Me Set a 12900K Overclocking Record

However, in certain circumstances, chip bending concerns have led to sub-par cooling for Intel’s Alder Lake processor. Hacksawing the motherboard solved the problem and resulted in an extra 50MHz of clock speed that helped me break the world record in Cinebench R23 at 6.95 GHz with my Core i9-12900K processor.

A couple of weeks have passed since the initial reports of Intel’s Alder Lake chips bending as a consequence of difficulties with Intel’s Z690 socket hold-down mechanism (ILM). YouTubers are already snapping facepalm pics for the next outrage that they come across, even though the dust has already cleared on this matter, as news cycles always do (we can only guess what it will be). However, Der8auer, a well-known overclocker and entrepreneur, isn’t done yet.

Even though Z690 has been released and refreshes have already been announced, I am very convinced we will see a same increase in performance when Z790 is released. You should spend some time investigating this if you’re a serious overclocker trying to get an edge in performance and learn why some of the tweaks you’ve seen aren’t recommended.

On common LGA motherboards, Intel has employed an Independent Loading Mechanism (ILM) lever-action hold-down mechanism for what seems like an eternity. It can produce scratches on your heat spreader when you remove your CPU from the socket by disengaging the ILM (which is a handy method to identify if a chip is utilized or not). This is because of the single-sided dual-point-of-contact mechanism.

Simply said, Intel’s ILM is easy to use, performs well, and tends to last a long time. A six-year-old could understand the mechanism in a matter of seconds if you showed them how it worked. My LGA775 motherboard, which has had over a thousand chips inserted and removed, still looks brand new. So what’s the problem with the new Alder Lake LGA1700 sockets?

To begin, let me state unequivocally that there is nothing wrong with the mechanism in question. During the design phase, Intel performs many safety and reliability checks. Look over the socket blueprint, and you’ll be amazed at all the parameters, including the pin contact pressure and torque requirements for the screws. Intel’s socket designs are, if anything, overly complex.

It is possible to overclock, although not guaranteed, if you install a Core i9-12900K on a motherboard. Boost pressure may be increased by flashing the ECU on my automobile, just like tuning a car engine. The manufacturer didn’t give me that much power, so does it imply my standard car is junk? It doesn’t, in fact. It operates at the frequency it is rated for, just like a 12900K has the horsepower it is supposed to have. Let’s discover a means to increase the power of Alder Lake CPUs, because human nature dictates that we demand more speed.

It’s now time to offer some ideas for improvement. Because of my displeasure with the poor contact between my liquid nitrogen CPU container and the chip, I began this project. I was perplexed as to why the thermal paste in the centre of the chip was so thick, given that I had already lapped my CPU heat spreader to make it entirely flat, and that the bottom of my CPU container had been machined and lapped flat as well.

Thermal paste is the weakest link in the cooling system. As a gap filler, thermal paste must be thin enough to make total contact with the chip’s whole top surface. Six Core i9-12900KFs have been grouped together to highlight how much variety there may be across chips. Extreme overlockers do this in order to get the finest possible contact with a thin layer of paste.