Will the Alder Lake CPU render present AIO footprints obsolet?

[Tom Sunday]

My mind recently has been a lot on general Z490 AIO compatibiities! Current news articles state that the soon arriving Alder Lake generation has a substantially larger 'rectangular shaped' CPU. (500 more pins and LGA 1700) Thus my just newly purchased RGB and expensive $250 Corsair AIO will surely not completely cover the surface of the Alder Lake CPU! Does this mean that all present AIO footprints will essentially be outdated after Alder Lake hits the ground?

My reasoning tells me that any cooling solution which does not cover the entire CPU surface is simply inadequate. And especially in the crazed overclocking world we live-in. AIO's supposed to be lasting 4-5 years, but should I elect to be making Alder Lake my next major architectural system upgrade, I may wind-up in having to buy a new AIO. To some extent I feel like being held hostage and as no AIO manufacturers have come forward to address this issue.

Just perhaps AIO makers will step up to the bar and provide (free) to their older customers with whatever retro-fixes are needed to put their minds at ease? Including their allready spent money. Would you buy a slightly used AIO? Of course I can always stay safe with my 12-year old XPS 730x until hell freezes over. Thoughts.

 

[newtekie1]

You are asking if the AIO block will cover the IHS of socket 1700? The same AIO that works just fine with socket 2066...

 

[Tom Sunday]

The same AIO that works just fine with socket 2066...

Thanks for the piece of mind or confirmation. Remaining confusion on my part! When you say it will fit the 2066 socket, does this mean that the coming Alder Lake (LGA 1700) CPU will be totally covered and provide a dead-fit? It's just that we were never blessed with a "rectangular" oversized CPU footprint ever in either an Intel or AMD generation. Even if all of the present 'totally square' CPU's will fit, they may not be totally or 100% covering the Alder Lake CPU? In my old fashioned ways I cannot see in purchasing (or re-using a previous generation) any cooling solution which would not be specifically manufactured for the mobo and or CPU dimension I am upgrading too. Thoughts?

 

[newtekie1]

Thanks for the piece of mind or confirmation. Remaining confusion on my part! When you say it will fit the 2066 socket, does this mean that the coming Alder Lake (LGA 1700) CPU will be totally covered and provide a dead-fit? It's just that we were never blessed with a "rectangular" oversized CPU footprint ever in either an Intel or AMD generation. Even if all of the present 'totally square' CPU's will fit, they may not be totally or 100% covering the Alder Lake CPU? In my old fashioned ways I cannot see in purchasing (or re-using a previous generation) any cooling solution which would not be specifically manufactured for the mobo and or CPU dimension I am upgrading too. Thoughts?

Rectangular or not, LGA 1700 will still be smaller than 2066. Socket 1200 is 37.5mm x 37.5mm. Socket 1700 is going to be 37.5mm x 45mm. Most coolers have much larger bases than the actual CPU. Plus, the part that contacts the cooler is just the IHS, not the actual CPU. The whole IHS doesn't need to be covered by the cooler, just the part over the actual CPU die.

 

[tabascosauz]

Rectangular or not, LGA 1700 will still be smaller than 2066. Socket 1200 is 37.5mm x 37.5mm. Socket 1700 is going to be 37.5mm x 45mm. Most coolers have much larger bases than the actual CPU. Plus, the part that contacts the cooler is just the IHS, not the actual CPU. The whole IHS doesn't need to be covered by the cooler, just the part over the actual CPU die.

To be fair to OP, Intel 8-10th gen dies generally make liberal use of the y-axis space under the heatspreader due to how tall and narrow the silicon is. While Intel IHSes are generally small (especially the actual contact area of the IHS, most of it is stepped) compared to AMD, LGA1700's IHS might come out to be about the same size if not slightly bigger y-axis wise than AM4, which already has a pretty big contact area.

While LGA2066 has a large substrate, in true Intel fashion the contact portion of the IHS is only really about as big as that of an AM4 heatspreader.

But yeah, I don't see it becoming a problem. LGA1700 only looks large and oddly shaped because LGA1151/1200 was on the small side and LGA1700 is pretty much the same width. Put it next to AM4 and it's not such a big deal.

Now sTRX4, that's a big fella that calls for coolers with special bases. But 1700 won't be anywhere near as big.

 

[Tom Sunday]

But 1700 won't be anywhere near as big.

I was born in Germany and in typical fashion maintain a close watch over the top Germany based tech-websites and other technical media reports. Then augmented by the top bloggers of especially the ComputerBase. This said I wrote to "Be Quite" at Listan GmbH in Glinde near Hamburg a rather detailed German letter and confirmed that they have been diligently working on LGA 1700 support. A such the 'LGA 1700 cooler contact' song is not over until it's over.

One thing for sure, once I take the dive and my $$$ for a total Alder Lake upgrade and with that practically nuking my existing system, then I will only purchase a cooling solution specifically made and certified for the 'Golden Cove' big cores and the 10 nm SuperFin process. As lieutenant Ellen Riply once said: "I say we take off and nuke the entire site. It's the only way to be sure."

 

[newtekie1]

Now sTRX4, that's a big fella that calls for coolers with special bases.

Even the first gen Threadrippers didn't require special coolers. The standard round AIO coolers worked great on them, thanks to the CPU die only taking up a small portion of the center of IHS.