Bad News For LGA-1156 Foxconn Socket Users

[RJR]

Sorry ScapeGoat, but since I have a P55 when I see something like this "news article" stating it's getting worse, I get a little nervous. I just checked every rating on the Egg to see if in fact anyone is having a problem with burned sockets/processors and couldn't find ONE person on ANY board that has had this problem. That makes me feel a little bit better seeing they sell quite a few boards. Thanks for scaring me

[rourkchris]

Newegg reviews aren't a good place to get accurate information or news.

 

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3661

 

http://www.tipidpc.com/viewtopic.php?tid=200768

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/p55-mo...clock,2460.html

[RJR]

Newegg reviews aren't a good place to get accurate information or news.

 

TRUE, but if this was a frequent problem don't you think someone would have said "MY MOTHERBOARD SOCKET BURNED UP" by now, I don't think they would keep quiet about it. I've also checked Tiger and Gigabyte's forum, and not one yet.

 

I know my Patriot Torqx SSD has a lot of users complaining of DEAD drives, so I know I'm not the only one on that front.

[RJR]

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3661

 

http://www.tipidpc.com/viewtopic.php?tid=200768

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/p55-mo...clock,2460.html

 

Your references (Anand/tipidpc) both are derived from a XS forum post: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=234723 , hummm same pictures.

 

I just went though the TH review quickly but I didn't see anything about them burning a socket/cpu.

[Zertz]

There has been one (1!) report of a burnt socket which supposedly happened at stock speeds. AFAIK, all the others have been under extreme cooling.

[ScapeGoat]

I think there is enough evidence to say that there is a problem with the socket and while at first it was only reported in a small number of users that took the motherboards to extreme conditions there has been reports of the same problem occurring in, lest's call it, less extreme situations. I'm not saying all motherboards are going to fry (I'm not saying it's a FREQUENT problem, I'm saying it's getting WORSE) or that the board makers don't care about it because it isn't true, but what's true is that the problem is starting to appear more often and in a higher number of models under less extreme conditions.

 

On a final note, I searched VARIOUS websites and forums in order to post a decent news article. I am not going to make up something that can eventually be hazardous to the costumers, brands, OCC or even me.

Edited November 10, 2009 by ScapeGoat

[RJR]

I think there is enough evidence to say that there is a problem with the socket and while at first it was only reported in a small number of users that took the motherboards to extreme conditions there has been reports of the same problem occurring in, lest's call it, less extreme situations.

 

I'm not trying discredit your article or any of your evidence for stating what you did, I just can't seem to locate any of it.

 

If you could post some references that could clear this up for me that would be greatly appreciated.

[Zertz]

Yeah, there's obviously a flaw in the Foxconn socket, this really shouldn't be happening. Some manufacturers are switched to other sockets already.

The original reports come from XtremeSystems.

[ScapeGoat]

http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/news-hardwa...-cooling-2.html

 

"Foxconn say they fixed burnout issues by identifying a socket problem back in May. Apparently they had already sent sample sockets from the first Intel spec out to some of the vendors though. In July, two vendors suffered socket burn issues in house and reported this back to Foxconn. Foxconn explained the specification change to those vendors and the vendors continued to purchase socket stock from Foxconn.

 

A recent benching session of single thread of 32m drawing around 7.5 amps from the EPS 12v line @ 5GHz lead to 2 ROG boards burning out, one is mine another a clasoe friend - same bench and same current draw.

 

I was also sent an EVGA E657 around this time without full retail box just to beta test. That board had a Foxconn socket (unbeknown to me), after an OC session at around 4.8GHz on one fo my CPU's one of the CPU pads had fused to one of the pins.

 

DFI sent a board to a user to beta test, he OC'd to 4.7 on air and his socket burned out too (Foxconn socket). Most of this took place after July. This was supposed to be the revised Foxocnn socket. The revision cites a new top plate being used to correct problems.

 

Now we've got reports of some retail boards from ASUS too, one during a gaming session at 4.1GHz. so yes all overclockied, with the only conecerning burnouts being the single 32m ones which draw very little current to VCC.

 

So, a bit of a weird mess and some vendors are not using the Foxconn parts until they are sure they are ok. DFI, MSI and EVGA have moved over to LOTES and TYCO AMP exclusively for P55.

 

 

later

Raja "

 

 

---------------------------------------------

 

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3671

 

"While it worked our ASUS Maximus III Formula board was a pleasure to use. In terms of overall features, BIOS design, and general desktop performance this board is rated at the top of our list. Unfortunately, the board did not respond as well as the EVGA or Gigabyte boards in extreme overclocking conditions. Our experience with the large cascade was not trouble free as it refused to post once the evaporator head temperature was below -110 degrees.

The ROG Connect software is a novel design that we see a lot of promise in and a pleasure to use as a side bonus. The board was proving itself to be the all around choice (gaming/desktop/overclocking) until we experienced the now infamous socket burn syndrome.

As of press time for this article, ASUS is still investigating the socket burnout problems and has not told us if they will be following the lead of other vendors in moving over to other socket vendors for their high end boards. "

 

 

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This article I found in the EVGA forum but it looks like the thread has been deleted.

"So far, EVGA is the only company we know that uses sockets exclusively from LOTES on their top-tier P55 boards - for example, the EVGA P55 Classified 200, model E659. This by the way may be the onus behind the decision to market the board’s “300% More Gold Content” socket statement as a purchasing option point. If you find yourself shopping for an EVGA P55 FTW, model E657, you've got a 50/50 chance of buying one with a Tyco AMP socket design (using a LOTES backplate), as opposed to one made solely with Foxconn's, the same goes for MSI and DFI who have batches of boards in the retail channel using LOTES sockets (although we're not entirely sure on socket specifics at this point). DFI told us earlier they have dropped usage of the Foxconn sockets completely until further notice. We hear the LOTES and Tyco AMP sockets are in short supply, which is probably why Foxconn's been able to fill the void in the market with what we believe to be a lower quality alternative for the extreme overclocker."

 

 

There has also been 2 reports of the problem in a Portuguese forum I'm registered. I wasn't able to find one of them but here is the one I could find, being this one only with a contact test http://forum.zwame.pt/showpost.php?p=55217...mp;postcount=39

 

And in some discussion threads some argue that it's just a matter of time the problem appears in other circumstances since they claim it's all about the conductivity and resistance of the contacts that will slowly deteriorate.

 

One last thing, you have the ABSOLUTE RIGHT to question an article that you think it's incorrect so you don't need to give excuses to your actions

Edited November 10, 2009 by ScapeGoat

[RJR]

http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/news-hardwa...-cooling-2.html

 

This link doesn't seem to be working, can you please re-post. Thanks.

[dr_bowtie]

I would say arguing over this is a mute point...the board is warrantied...if it you are in doubt pull the CPU and check the contact pattern...any builder worth a spit already does this...

 

if you have the flaw RMA it...thats all there is to it...no sense in arguing what is or what isnt...

[RJR]

I would say arguing over this is a mute point...the board is warrantied...if it you are in doubt pull the CPU and check the contact pattern...any builder worth a spit already does this...

 

if you have the flaw RMA it...thats all there is to it...no sense in arguing what is or what isnt...

 

I've already pulled the cpu a month ago to check after the XS thread was started, thankfully no problem but I only had it up to 4.6 GHz.

 

I'm not arguing about this, I'm just trying to get the true picture here, if the problem is becoming worse I'm very interested in this. OCC has a large following and statements that can't be substantiated should be a concern to OCC and all it's members. There is no question that both the cpu and socket could have been designed better for the enthusiast overclocker, but thats not the main concern for Intel , I wish it was.