Contact Frames

[SpellowHouse]

I fitted three of these yesterday. Mostly because it was fun and I just wanted to see how easy it was or wasn't.
An interesting thing about it was that in all three motherboards that I fitted them to, all the screws on the original CPU frame had come loose. Not some, but all twelve of them.
Interesting because of course it will affect the distribution of pressure on the CPU. Whether that is a good thing is up for debate but it does make you wonder whether some systems most of the pressure is coming from the cooler rather than the frame. Food for thought!

 

[pastymuncher]

The good thing about using a contact frame on AM5 is that it stops thermal paste going down the sides of the crazy shaped IHS which is why I have fitted one to my upgrade switch. It won't make any difference to temps but anything to stop thermal paste mess is good. I have one on Intels 1700 because of the socket bending issue.

 

[ATIorNvidia]

AM5 or LGA 1700? I used one on a B650 board a few months ago and didn't notice any loose screws

 

[SpellowHouse]

LGA 1700.
Its odd that all the screws were loose.

 

[Adrianr]

The good thing about using a contact frame on AM5 is that it stops thermal paste going down the sides of the crazy shaped IHS which is why I have fitted one to my upgrade switch. It won't make any difference to temps but anything to stop thermal paste mess is good. I have one on Intels 1700 because of the socket bending issue.

The good thing about it on Intel is how gosh darn tidy it looks compared to the standard ILM (right until it's covered by your cpu cooler and you never see it again).

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

When you say loose, how loose do you mean? Finger tight?

Contact frames are without doubt the way to go. Minimal cost, and just an extra level of reassurance. The tales of warping Z670/B660 boards was enough for me to get one on my previous Alderlake.

 

[clone]

Fixed my 13900ks with a thermaltake contact frame, no loose screws.

 

[SpellowHouse]

Strange. Must be my house. Maybe I should move to one in a less earthquake prone area.

 

[SpellowHouse]

The good thing about it on Intel is how gosh darn tidy it looks compared to the standard ILM (right until it's covered by your cpu cooler and you never see it again).

That's true. They are nice.
What I don't really understand about them is the torque settings on the screws are low, both on the contact frames and the original, yet the force the standard clamp closes with seems way OTT.

 

[Freddie1980]

I fitted three of these yesterday. Mostly because it was fun and I just wanted to see how easy it was or wasn't.
An interesting thing about it was that in all three motherboards that I fitted them to, all the screws on the original CPU frame had come loose. Not some, but all twelve of them.
Interesting because of course it will affect the distribution of pressure on the CPU. Whether that is a good thing is up for debate but it does make you wonder whether some systems most of the pressure is coming from the cooler rather than the frame. Food for thought!

Was it the same model of motherboard or were they from different brands?

 

[Drumroll]

Very odd.

Sure the contact frame is a must for LGA1700. I did notice temperature increasing steadily until I decided to install one from Thermalright (under £10).

One thing to be careful is rather than loose, overnighting the contact frame screws can lead to a lot of erros, mainly memory channels or even fail to boot.

 

[SpellowHouse]

Was it the same model of motherboard or were they from different brands?

They are all Asus.

 

[Drumroll]

They are all Asus.

lol. I usually replace their bad thermal pads on day one, but will start to check the screws too.