# Intel NUC 12 Extreme QoL Changes



## Solaris17 (Aug 17, 2022)

Starting out I picked up a *NUC 12 Extreme*. This variant with the 12900 (non-k. More on this later). This small project (GET IT??) is the exploration into modification and making it run the best I can given its limited upgrade options.




My specs are in my profile.

To start cooling. The reason I even own this is the replacement of my 7980XE and my midtower/H2O machine. It is amazing the amount they manage to pack into this. The compute unit itself is small and about the size of a midrange GPU but holds the RAM/CPU mobo and all I/O in one. Overall its impressive as far as engineering is concerned. Like the past few gens of nuc extreme specifically this CPU is socketed and otherwise a normal desktop processor.






The first upgrade on the list was a 12900k. You can see this was done previously by *der8auer* to save you time it didn't work. Recent BIOS updates lockout the BIOS override which locks the CPU at 400mhz. Further new versions of Intel XTU do not expose the power overrides and now show the system as unsupported. The 12900k was sent back. That is fine though. I only wanted it for the slightly higher boost clock. No overclocking was going to be done on this machine. With my vanilla 12900 in hand we continue.

With this formfactor and CPU generation however come obvious concerns.

Gen 12 mobo flex
Heat

Thats about it. So lets take a look. First we need to verify there is a problem. Temps will be posted later but out of the box it was high. I tested most of this using the same in game settings in FF14. With a replicatable area. Is it as specific and scientific as I have been? No, but I watch my temps so for what it may be worth to you salt or not temps were stable regarding the figures that come later.

First was to replace the TIM to drop temps. This worked and the factory goo while applied fantastically just wasnt as good as the thermal grizzly kryonaught I applied. This was a good time to test my warping. Yeah even these suffer from it.



So lets continue.

A quick look showed my PCH temps surpassing 100C under load. Thats absolutely wild to me. So I took a look. The backplate for the NUC had a thermal pad that appeared to be too thin and didnt even appear to touch the PCH. Lets get the boys together.

We need to fix the warping:


			https://www.amazon.com/Thermalright-Contact-Retrofit-17XX-BCF-Generation/dp/B0B811J7D9/ref=sr_1_3?crid=VN82IYULLWYI&keywords=cpu+frame&qid=1660697980&sprefix=cpu+fram%2Caps%2C148&sr=8-3
		


We need to better cool the PCH with a better pad and get a proper size on it:


			https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZSJR1ZK?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
		


Now we need to help the NUC the cooler is tiny:


			https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EO2V332?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
		


Perfect lets get to work. *SEVERAL DAYS LATER*

Now all the stuff is in. Lets get it worked on.

First we need to work on the PCH, this was simple and I forgot to take pics. I replaced the pad and it could finally touch.

The next was ripping apart the cooler so we could replace the CPU bracket.



Get ye eld paste off. Just look at the dead spot.



Get our new bracket back on using the OEM screws and retention plate.



Now we throw LM on it and re-assemble. Lets check the retention plate again.



Oh yeah much better.

Finally lets take a look at temps.

PCH Range (Before): 97-112ºC
PCH Range (After): 79-88ºC

CPU Range (Before OEM): 74-89ºC
CPU Range (Kryonaught): 72-81º
CPU Range (Conductonaut): 67-74ºC

This is impressive to me. Even giving the variable CPU load (not 100%) the movement of the temp brackets is impressive, doubly so given that it wasnt 100% CPU load. For them to move that much paints the picture of the importance of cooling in SFF builds.

Its important to note here in the case of a 65w product like the 12900 the most beneficial result of the lowered temps isnt the temps themselves exactly, as even at its worst it was within operating parameters, but instead the duration and frequency of the boost clocks. Which are regulated by both power draw and heat. Given the limited nature of SFF and low watt products in general, the more we do and the more we maintain boost clocking the better the overall experience.

Q/A:

Are you scared of using LM on small expensive things and why LM because I'm mad and %reasons%?

No: https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/7980xe-delid.251203/

Why not measure max load? 

Good question! it would be useless. For these kind of system you want to measure the temp bracket you operate in. The cooler is too small to maintain 100% load without heat soaking. You could probably bring the delta down, you know time till saturation. But you wouldnt be able to cure it.


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## Nordic (Aug 17, 2022)

These are the kind of threads that make tech forums fun. I really enjoy SFF systems and this thing is tiny. Your temperature improvements are astounding!

What size are those fans on top? Can you replace them?


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## Solaris17 (Aug 17, 2022)

Nordic said:


> These are the kind of threads that make tech forums fun. I really enjoy SFF systems and this thing is tiny. Your temperature improvements are astounding!
> 
> What size are those fans on top? Can you replace them?



you can there are 3 80/90mm but I haven't measured specifically behind a retention plate but all are replaceable. Then a 90 on the backside.


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## Nordic (Aug 18, 2022)

Solaris17 said:


> you can there are 3 80/90mm but I haven't measured specifically behind a retention plate but all are replaceable. Then a 90 on the backside.


If you haven't considered replacing them, then they might not be too loud. You might even get the temps a bit lower by using faster fans. It might sound like an airplane but 4 deltas will move some air.


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## Solaris17 (Aug 18, 2022)

Nordic said:


> If you haven't considered replacing them, then they might not be too loud. You might even get the temps a bit lower by using faster fans. It might sound like an airplane but 4 deltas will move some air.



haha it sure would. Generally my go to replacements for equipment (switches etc) are noctuas and this was no different, but the CFM appears decent and they are pretty quiet. There are no pics of my desk, but we are talking inches away from me. Pretty impressed. I may disassemble it again here soon and remove the plate to take a look at who makes them. If I do I'll make a post here for the curious.

I can tell you they are normal PWM they connect to a custom fan controller but the fans are otherwise ordinary if someone comes here from a google search.


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## Nordic (Aug 18, 2022)

Intel going the extra mile and making the fans PWM improves the user experience significantly, especially since the case is so small and unforgiving to heat.


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## Mussels (Aug 19, 2022)

NUC +12900K
This is the level of stupid I love for fun "because I want to" builds.

My brain opened a youtube tab and started singing as well "LETS TO THE TIME BOARD WARP AGAAAAAAIN"


Oooh and LM!


What wattages are you seeing from the CPU and system as a whole, and what TDP/PL1/PL2 limits did you (or the board) impose?


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## Solaris17 (Aug 19, 2022)

I would need to find my P3 to let you know, but my PL1 is 65w and PL2 is 221w. which are board imposed maximums for each.


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## Mussels (Aug 19, 2022)

Solaris17 said:


> I would need to find my P3 to let you know, but my PL1 is 65w and PL2 is 221w. which are board imposed maximums for each.


How longs PL2 for?

I'm just thinking heat, the smaller the build the more an issue it is


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## Solaris17 (Aug 19, 2022)

Mussels said:


> How longs PL2 for?
> 
> I'm just thinking heat, the smaller the build the more an issue it is



Tau max setting is 28sec (board imposed)


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## Berfs1 (Dec 8, 2022)

Would you happen to know the thermal pad thickness? I do plan on getting the NUC 12 i9 because of the dual LAN, it will help in my upcoming build, but I'm trying to make sure I get all the thermal pads for everything I'm replacing.


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## Solaris17 (Dec 8, 2022)

God I don’t remember but I want to say it was 3mm for the VRM and other components under the HS they were very thick. The rear SSD heat sink was too thick (lots of pressure on the retention screw) I think I reduced that to 0.5mm fujipoly

Edit:: as an FYI I personally didn’t find a need to replace the pads for power delivery they were of good quality already. The NVMe pad for the rear drive no so much and it gets shredded pretty easy


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## crhendo (Dec 17, 2022)

Sorry I am relatively new to this. Could you please confirm that the PCH is on the backside of the compute element?

Great article.....thanks so much


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## Solaris17 (Dec 17, 2022)

yes. there is a backplate with a singular thermal pad that bleeds the heat onto the plate passively. not unlike a GPU backplate. This method isnt bad, the problem is the thermal pad itself.


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## unimatrixzer0 (Dec 26, 2022)

So it seems like just using Kryonaught would be a good improvement over the stock thermal paste.

For the liquid metal did you have to do any other prep or did you just apply it on like you would the Kryonaught? Usually I see people applying gaskets or some type of sealant I guess to contain the liquid metal and protect any of the nearby components from accidental contact.


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## Solaris17 (Dec 26, 2022)

unimatrixzer0 said:


> So it seems like just using Kryonaught would be a good improvement over the stock thermal paste.
> 
> For the liquid metal did you have to do any other prep or did you just apply it on like you would the Kryonaught? Usually I see people applying gaskets or some type of sealant I guess to contain the liquid metal and protect any of the nearby components from accidental contact.



For this the stock cooler surface is terrible. It should be lapped. Otherwise given the few SIMDs on this CPU and the fact that I did not delid it I felt no need to protect them using nail polish or any kind of protectant.

If you were curious about the lengths Id go to in regards to protecting CPUs that are delidded I think the link to my 7980 delid is in the OP. In short the IHS is off the core a bit and the SIMDs on this CPU are virtually non existent. Dont squirt 6oz of it on the CPU or do a ton of cocaine before you apply it and youll be fine.


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## Berfs1 (Jan 3, 2023)

I've been watching this thread for a few months now, just curious, have you been able to tune the RAM? Does it support XMP? If so, what's the highest it will work with? Asking because I may utilize some XMP 3200 sticks when I get my NUC 12 i9, it's actually going to be going inside a big tower for dual PC usage, just getting parts as I can find them on sales haha. Also, do you know if the fans are controllable via the FanControl software from github? Thanks in advance!


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## Solaris17 (Jan 3, 2023)

Berfs1 said:


> I've been watching this thread for a few months now, just curious, have you been able to tune the RAM? Does it support XMP? If so, what's the highest it will work with? Asking because I may utilize some XMP 3200 sticks when I get my NUC 12 i9, it's actually going to be going inside a big tower for dual PC usage, just getting parts as I can find them on sales haha. Also, do you know if the fans are controllable via the FanControl software from github? Thanks in advance!


I couldn’t get the fan control or the LED software from GitHub (2diff softwares) to work. But I was fine with what the NUC studio software provided. XMP profile 1 worked fine and loaded my settings but it’s not an overclocking board so I wouldn’t expect and didn’t play with voltages or sub timings.


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