With Nova Lake, Intel will be making a socket change. The LGA-1851 will retire after a very short lifespan, while the LGA-1954 will take over. However, proposing a new “socket” is all well and good, but the blueprints would also improve the way the CPU is locked in. Some boards would benefit from a two-lever locking mechanism, the 2L-ILM, to better distribute the clamping pressure!
2L-ILM: two levers for better pressure distribution!
The first LGA-1700s bent the CPU!
With its LGA-1700 and elongated shape, there was some feedback from users that their CPUs were bent. Indeed, the locking system applied strong pressure to the two contact points of the processor. This had the effect of deforming the CPU ‘s PCB and IHS. As a result, contact with the cooling fan was degraded, and cooling performance suffered. Brands now offer frames to distribute this pressure more evenly and avoid distorting the IHS. We’ve tested one, and it really does work.
Then, for the blue, with the LGA-1851, Intel offered an ILM with reduced pressure. To avoid distortion, despite an IHS of similar proportions to the LGA-1700.
Two levers for the LGA-1954 ILM?
With the LGA-1954, Intel is said to be working on a new mechanism with two levers. The aim would be to distribute the clamping pressure more evenly around the CPU. In this way, Intel would avoid socket deformation and loss of heat dissipation efficiency. When you consider that Nova Lake will be able to carry up to 52 cores, it would be a shame not to be able to cool them properly.
However, we have learned that this ILM will not be present on all motherboards. In fact, only the top-of-the-range models are equipped with it… But this remains to be proven.
In any case, this locking mechanism could well resemble the one used by Intel on LGA-2000 sockets. Back in the day, the blues already operated two levers. So the mechanism has had time to prove itself!
