[Before delidding, after IHS fell off on accident.](https://preview.redd.it/qekdsq7ikq9c1.png?width=3217&format=png&auto=webp&s=d705e55d55b3bb79fe00450c9136fd4856ec38d5)
[After delidding on purpose.](https://preview.redd.it/uoclxsnokq9c1.png?width=843&format=png&auto=webp&s=c0803e4345c228e0a92ebd0f4a3dc682309d609e)
[Evil incarnate.](https://preview.redd.it/p2f8ocgzkq9c1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=386baf6359eaa0e9849b0cfdcbc38fd134a063cd)
I swear my CPU is haunted and I do not know what to do. At this point I don’t know anyone who knows enough about computers to recommend what I should troubleshoot next after everything I’ve already done.
Build specs:
* MSI MEG Z690 ACE
* i9-12900KS with Rockit Cool’s copper IHS
* ASUS ROG Strix OC LC 3090 TI with a dedicated 240 AIO
* Corsair Vengeance 64gb (2×32) DDR5-5600 RAM
* 2 Samsung 980 Pro 2TB SSDs
* Western Digital Black 10TB 3.5” HDD
* Corsair AX1500i 1500W 80+ Titanium
* Phanteks Enthoo 719
Insane parts for a first build, I know. But I’m an animator and illustrator and wanted something that would last without having any problems chugging along as a workstation for years to come. I’ve been working to get this build running for so long that I had the fastest chip on the market when I bought it. So: 12900KS — I know this beast is hot. Like. Really hot. And everything that could go wrong did go wrong. A short list of steps I’ve taken to try to tame the heat:
* Started with a 420mm AIO, Liquid Freezer II. Thermal throttled at stock settings immediately. Undervolting did nothing. Hung on 5.0-5.1 GHz, which isn’t bad, but I got the KS for a reason and I was damn well gonna get my money’s worth.
* Decided to build a custom water loop using soft tubing and two 360mm radiators, both dedicated to the CPU. EK-Classic Distro Plate PC-O11D with a DDC 4.2 PWM pump and the EK-Quantum Magnitude CPU waterblock. Switched out the original coldplate on the waterblock with a [flat one](https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-quantum-magnitude-coldplate-flat-copper). I also double checked that I used the correct jetplate on the water block because of the coldplate change.
* 12th gen Thermal Grizzly contact frame.
* Used Rockit Cool services to have them delid the 12900KS and replace it with their own copper IHS + Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut Liquid Metal on the die, all as extra measures to keep things cool (Spoiler: it didn’t).
* 10 120mm Cooler Master SickleFlow fans, intake on the front and bottom and exhaust out the back and top. Using the open source FanControl app to adjust the curve settings as well.
This thing is fucking cursed. My motherboard needed to be RMA’ed THREE TIMES before it would boot predictably. After that issue was addressed, nothing I edited in the BIOS would have the desired effect on the CPU (BIOS is flashed to the most recent version and every. Single. Driver. Is up to date). I set a power limit, still thermal throttled. I undervolted, still thermal throttled. I disabled a bunch of “turbo enhance 3,000,000” in the OC, still thermal throttled. P-core 5 would hit 100C instantaneously no matter what, even if all the others are sitting at lower 70s or mid 80s. The next closest temp was low 90s and wasn’t even the cores next to P-core 5. I remounted the water block multiple times. No change.
As a test, I ran an i3-12100 to see if the temp issues persist. I overclocked that sucker to 5.3 GHz like a breeze, no issues with power draw or thermal throttling obviously. This led me to believe something had gone seriously wrong delidding the CPU.
Longer version of the delid saga: Rockit Cool claimed they got it stable at 54x all P core at a 0.060 undervolt, but didn’t share other information like their system or cooling, etc. HOWEVER, the IHS ***FELL OFF***. The CPU had been removed and handled a lot to get it clean (got thermal paste on the pins and board), and as soon as I went to mount it in my newly fixed and tested motherboard, the IHS dropped off like a dead weight and dented my floor. Looked like it was super glued, which usually holds as far as I know, but uh, I guess there wasn’t enough used. I had to re-lid myself.
I reapplied a small bit of Liquid Metal to the existing bit left on the die to make sure the spread was still even (I should not have done that), and used Permatex 81158 Black Silicone instead of super glue. I mounted the CPU on the motherboard with the ILM to hold it down while it set. I either didn’t do an even application of silicone or didn’t have enough uniform pressure on the IHS while it cured, because there was NOT good heat exchange from the die to the IHS based on the wildly different core temperatures.
Only thing to do was remove the IHS and mount it again. Spent 2-3 hours delidding, cleaning off silicone and reapplying Liquid Metal (which had a weird slightly gritty texture and was almost certainly causing uneven contact with the die —probable the source of the bad temps. Or so I thought). The act of delidding itself was relatively smooth, it’s the “putting it back together” that got fucked. I didn’t mount it in a motherboard to set–it dried crooked. The delidding tool was a $9 knockoff from AliExpress and didn’t come with a clamp to hold it down either. Drying off center is just god’s cruel way of taunting me in this never-ending nightmare because I started this damn build in June 2022. It wouldn’t sit right in the socket with the contact frame, so I had to delid it ***again***.
Second time I delidded, I used the ILM on a spare motherboard to clamp the IHS down while the silicone cured. I also lapped the IHS afterwards so the surface would be flat. I triple checked that no Liquid Metal got anywhere when I removed the IHS and all capacitors on the chip were still intact after delidding, so the chip is physically fine. I used only enough Liquid Metal to spread evenly on both the die and IHS, there was no excess that caused dripping or an amount that would interfere with heat transfer. I was meticulous–but now **temps are WORSE**!
I took extreme caution when mounting the contact frame and waterblock to turn the screws at the recommended intervals and in the correct pattern to ensure good contact. *Painstakingly*. Now P-core 4 and 6 now hit 100C, it thermal throttles down to 4.5 GHz P-core and 3.6 GHz E-core, and the VID drops to 1.053 V when under load. Delidding has had the opposite effect of cooling my CPU. Oddly enough, about half the cores reach 63-68C under load besides those–am I simply mounting the IHS wrong? I do not know how this is happening.
This might be my first PC build, but I’ve torn down and rebuilt my system multiple times over the last 18 months. Nothing has gone smoothly. As is, I use a wheelchair with limited mobility and actually had my caregivers help me build my PC through my guidance. They mostly just plug things in or screw things down where I ask. If you could imagine what talking someone through building a PC is like—without them knowing a thing about computers—it can be extremely stressful at times, especially when precision matters. Ironically, I can be more hands-on with delidding and relidding (the riskiest part of my build), which is why I’m even doing this at home without the help of professionals. I can’t afford a more efficient chip like the 13900KF or 14900KF, so I’m stuck trying to get this 12900KS to function as intended for the moment.
Where do I go from here? Do I just delid again and hope for the best? Scrub off the Liquid Metal and silicone, reapply and then lap the IHS again when it dries? Is there an obvious cause to these temps that I’m missing? If it were a simple case of undervolting, I’d have figured that out by now. Please let me know what you’d recommend, or if I just have the worst luck of any human person alive.
Sorry for writing the length of a book. Have a safe and happy new year.