I wonder if framework pulled a similar blunder to xmg and only applied the lm to one side.
Maybe without the telling the manufacturer they know better how to use the stuff than the manufacturer bit XD.
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I just got an update from support.
“Thank you for your patience, this case was escalated for review with our Hardware and Engineering team who confirmed that the delta between core temperatures is not expected behavior. We would like to arrange for replacement hardware in this case so that this can be returned for further analysis…”
I’m glad that they support team is actively working with the early adapters of the FW16 and listing to issue and not just brushing it off as user error immediately.
I will update once I get the RMA hardware in hand.
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If someone was to take off the cooler it would be very interesting to see pictures of the application.
Only applying it to one side has been a problem in a bunch of minipcs that used liquid metal too.
Given it comes as a module (for want of a better phrase) that should prevent issues relating to uneven application with Framework?
Even with a bad application would it even itself out with temperature cycles on a level surface?
That bit is what makes it more likley to be wonky, liquid metal has a crapton of surface tension so both sides need to be whetted for it to work right.
Or seep out the sides.
I really do wonder what it looks like now.
What does “both sides” mean here? The iFixit overview has video of the heatsink being removed from the CPU (I realize it’s a prerelease unit and one of the things they were still polishing at this point is the enclosure of the liquid metal but since I’m not sure what is meant by “both sides” I don’t know if there’s enough there to go on).
That’s why there’s a gasket around it…
That doesn’t make it cool the parts where it’s missing any better XD
Helps with not causing catastrophic damage though.
Update time!
They are sending me a new motherboard/main board to sway out and send the problem one back to them.
I am not going to remove the heat sink as they sound like they want to troubleshoot/root cause the issue.
After reading up on the material in use in the FW16, it seems it is not the same as other liquid metal solutions that stay liquid at room temperatures.
From the Framework post on it.
“a 100% metal sheet made up of indium, tin, and bismuth that turns from solid into liquid at around 58°C as the CPU heats up, filling any air gaps completely”
From the OEM instructions linked before. Maker CCHUAN/Coollaboratory
“If you want to remove the Liquid MetalPad, you can peel it off the contact area carefully. Depending on the structure of the surface it should peel off very easy and may leave small residues. You can remove these quickly and simply with a metal grinding pad. Coollaboratory sells this high-quality metal grinding pad in larger packs of MetalPad”
When the liquid metal pad/sheet is up on the marketplace I plan on buying a couple to play around with as well as to pull apart my FW16 to see what it looks like after some real world use.
Final update to this tread.
New board showed up in 3 days once support informed me it had shipped. Shipped from New Jersey to California. FedEx was the slow mover once it was in there hands.
Installing the new board was easy, followed the guide that Framework made just so I didn’t forget any steps/miss screws that needed to be loosened/tightened. It took me about 20 min to swap boards.
After booting back into my Win 11 install I ran Cinebench R23 multicore.
The delta from core to core is now less than 7c from hottest at 98c to lowest at 91c.
The improved thermals netted a jump from 14k to 15k, about a 7% jump. I ran it multiple times both with the old board and new and the results are solid.
So if you’re seeing a wide range on temps from core to core, reach out to support. I’m very happy with the help I ended up getting. It did end up taking about 3 weeks total to get a replacement in-hand, about 90% of the time was emailing support on it. Hopefully that time shrinks as they get through the pre-orders.
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Well as it seems i also think i have a problematic ThermalSetup with my 7840hs Batch20 As i get a core Deviation of ~14C its not as abnormal as your 23C but i did write to the Support Team to see what they think. My CB23 Score is 14740 MC 1674SC i think thats still a good score. But this one Core being that far of tells my Gut its not right.
After the main board swap I yeah still not seen a delta of more than 10c.
I haven’t has the APU hit 100c on any core, even with an extended all core load. I am in a room that is is about 74F/23C.
Also I only run my laptop full load on hard flat surfaces, if you happen to be running on soft surface that might limit airflow I’d double check on something like a hard desk.
Unless things have gotten better, support does take some time and you have to run though the scripted intro support. If you stick with it you should get to a support level where they will dig in deeper.
Let me know what support says.
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Well my fw is suspended in midair and the Airflow is fully unrestricted. I am even running an eGPU with iGPU and dGPU fully unused to reduce any Heatcomponent which could interfere. And im hitting always the 100C on Core 4 and its always a MaxDelta of 13-15C depending on the Benchmark.
I hope i get through fairly fast. Because its only 4 weeks until my next deployment and if they decide its worthy of a Part Swap i would love to have it before i leave the Country 
I will keep you updated.
Well my Case is getting escalated. I did provide my Screenshot from above and answered all preliminary Questions. Will see where it goes.
Get in Contact with the Support. I got the Answer last Night, that my Board is getting replaced and my Tempdelta was significantly less than yours.
Greetz.
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I’m glad to see that this thread has helped someone out.
It’s good to see that support has worked on getting the ticket resolution time down on this. Fingers crossed that they find the root cause of this issue, so it can get resolved.
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That’s good to know!
I was already chatting with the support team about this, but, now I’m almost sure that there’s a problem with the CPU 
Good Luck. I hope for you too. There must be an underlying problem with either a batch of the thermal interface, the cooling system or the cpu. (Cpu unlikely as you got the R9 and i the R7) I hope they get this resolved with another QC Layer or other tests. To sort those out before the Devices hit the Customer.
As of most Framework Customers are Enthusiast supporting theire Mission its not as bad if one get in Support and help. But if there are more Mainstream Customer it can get a major hit on Frameworks image.
Still a young Company with relatively low volume of Devices sold.
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