Intel is currently investigating reports of its Skylake processors being damaged by third party cooling solutions. It turns out that some types of cooling end up exerting too much pressure on the thinner new chips, which caused them to bend. This has resulted in reports of damaged processors and sockets.
Intel does not advertise the fact that Skylake processors are thinner than their predecessors; and it took a German tech site to verify that this is indeed the case. The difference lies in the thickness of the substrate used to build the processor, and it is suspected that this is why they are more susceptible to damage.
Noctua, EK Water Blocks, Scythe, Arctic, Thermaltake, and Thermalright have all commented on the matter. Both Arctic and Scythe say that their CPU coolers are fully Skylake compatible; although they admit that there might be damage sustained while shipping the computer.
Intel itself has said that Skylake has the same 50lbs maximum static load as previous generations, although it did confirm that the substrate is thinner. It should be noted that the 50lbs maximum static load implies that the parts are not moving, which means it was tested on an stable surface. The maximum load during shipping could be substantially higher due to the machine being moved around.
At the moment, it is recommended that people avoid traveling with their Skylake equipped machines; or simply remove the cooling before heading out the door.
[Source: Tom’s Hardware]
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