One of the big problems we face when buying a computer component is manufacturing defects, something that should not happen initially due to the quality control that these types of components usually undergo, but that does not prevent us 100% from this happening.
This is what happens if a motherboard does not have all the pins in the socket
As we well know, the components of a PC can have various defects that prevent them from working as they should, and this is something that may seem strange to us because obviously a new computer should not malfunction, at least at first. In this case, we are going to tell you about the problems that a computer can present if it does not have all the pins of the socket, and although it may not seem like it, we can incorporate a processor into a socket that does not have all the pins, and it works, although obviously not as it should.
In the sockets latest generation based on the format LGA (Land Grid Array), we find the pins located on the motherboard rather than on the processor, which allows us to reduce problems when incorporating a processor for obvious reasons. These pins are extremely delicate as you would expect, and a knock or friction can end up breaking or bending them, but there is also the possibility that they come with a factory defect and do not directly include some of the ones they should have.
Computer performance is significantly reduced
If you want to know what happens when one of these pins is not where it should be, you don’t need to look any further and we are going to explain to you first-hand what the practical experience of putting a computer of this type into operation is. as, now, often, curiosity is what leads us to do tests that we would not consider at first. Right from the beginning, when we install the computer, we can see that things are not going as they should, and if we start installing an operating system, for example, we will notice how extremely slow it is, which is normal.
This means that the installation process can take a long time, and something that should normally not take more than twenty minutes or half an hour on a computer with the latest generation components, can take more than two hours, including all the subsequent configurations. Once the installation is complete and we access the operating system, we can see that it is really going extremely badly, obviously the applications take a long time to load and the system itself takes a long time to start, but it continues to work without problems, There are no reboots, blue screens or any kind of issues beyond the performance.
One of the things that can most catch our attention is that an operating system like Windows detects from the beginning that something is wrong (a core fails or the processor does not make contact at all), and this significantly limits the power of the processor, in this case it reduced the GHz by half, limiting he to use of the Processor at a maximum of 57%, in the following image you can see a stress test of prime95, in which you can clearly see how the memory is working at its maximum but the CPU remains above this value.
However, there are ways to remove this limitation, by modifying a value that we find in the registry, specifically in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesamdppm or intelppm depending on the brand. In the Start parameter that appears on the right, we can change the number 3 to 4 so that Windows uses it, which allows us to run the processor with the maximum possible power, while maintaining the base clock speed of the processor.
This allows us to do the Processor operate at the highest possible power, but will still maintain the basic speed of the clock which is configured, if we try to apply a profile overclock or similar, as we can imagine, will not work, and although in monitoring programs it will appear to us as having a much higher clock speed, it will remain at the base frequency, in this case 4.2 GHz.
If we try to make various landmarkswe will see that the score it offers us is much lower than usual, in fact we see that the comparison of a really current CPU like the Ryzen 7 7800x3D is not able to surpass that of an Intel Core 2 duo E8500.
In general, if we try to check the rest of the components and so on, it will show us that everything works perfectly, works as it should, even the processor itself will show us that it has the appropriate speed as we have seen before, but obviously it does not work as it should.
Ultimately, a few pins can make a difference, so if you’re in doubt about whether a PC can work even when all the pins on the motherboard aren’t there, the answer is yes, it can, although it will have similar operating performance to a computer from over 16 years ago.
