There has been a lot of debate going on about the Asus OC socket on the X99 platform. In the middle of the fire there seems to be a rumor on the web stating that using a Haswell-E CPU in a motherboard that uses this Asus OC socket will void the warranty. Before you read any further, we would immediately like to point out that this rumor is not true.
The Asus OC socket is slightly different from the reference LGA2011-3 socket in that it has more pins. Asus noticed that the Haswell-E CPUs had more contact points than the reference socket has pins, so the company reverse-engineered their purposes and created the OC socket. In theory, this should allow for better overclocking results. Note that Asus points out that the extra pins in the socket will only be activated when the user flips them on in the BIOS, and that under normal circumstances they are not active. At press time, the Asus OC socket is patent pending.
When we read the rumor that simply using a Haswell-E CPU in the Asus OC socket will void its warranty we had to find out for ourselves. Naturally, when you start overclocking, your warranty from Intel is automatically void, but certainly the same cannot be true for users who do not overclock. When we reached out to Intel for a comment, we got the following: "Our partners consistently deliver innovations in their respective product line-up. For questions on specific 3rd party products and their implementation, please contact them directly."
Of course, we had already contacted Asus about it. We were told that the rumor is false on all accounts and that the CPU's warranty will only be void if you violate Intel's warranty terms, which despite varying by region, will not be void when using the Asus OC socket as long as you do not activate it. For users who do overclock, the warranty would be void unless you've bought a protection plan from Intel, which would still cover any damages from the usual overclocking.
So folks, if you have an Asus X99 motherboard with the Asus OC socket, or you are planning to get one but do not intend to use the feature, you don't need to worry. The conclusion that we can draw from this is that the Asus OC socket does not affect the warranty of your CPU in any way. If you do not use the feature and do not overclock, you will keep your warranty per Intel's terms; if you do use the feature or overclock, your warranty will be void anyway, just as it is on any boards from competing OEMs.
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