OMG!! Suddenly all those Big Bang episodes where Sheldon Cooper tells Amy to stop talking dirty about seemingly really boring things make sense now!

I want one, I'll probably never use it, but I want one!

Sigh, me too!

In my case I can actually see a potential use just not often. As is obvious I build my own systems. Would it not be nice to remove all stress from the traces on a mother board by bringing all the mounting screws to the same torque?

In the automotive world how much better seal would you have if all the bolts on the valve covers were set to the same torque?

LOL! Of course my examples are extreme and unlikely to make any difference but I could rationalize getting one of the things.

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Sigh, my Artic Silver is here but the cooler is still in China. Actually I expected this as the free delivery for the cooler was stated as up to 15 days. Really not an issue as the current cooler is still doing fine. I just don't like the sound when it goes to higher RPMs.

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YEA! My new cooler is now in the U.S.! I would think that I should have it before my next days off work.

LOL! This really may seem weird but I am REALLY anxious for the thing to get here. If I really do have a forte it is probably hardware. I don't keep up with hardware like I did when I did this stuff for money but still like. This is a type of mounting that I've never done... I can't wait!

Hey, here is a pretty cool little device that I got at work. It was put on clearance which equates to about 1/2 retail price. On top of that I get a 50% reduction of that price as an employee. Then there is my employee discount. I paid ~$2.50 for two of the following...

What is cool is that they have, both, a hook and magnet mount. In the following shot I just stuck the magnet on the inside top of the case. The light is toward the upper right of the shot.

The thing is a bank of 24 LED lights. It is like having a flood light within the case; I LOVE the thing!

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You're a braver man than me Jay, the thought of a magnet anywhere near all those memory chips etc sends shivers down my spine!

The magnet is not really as close to anything as it looks. It is at the front edge of the case and the magnet isn't all that strong.

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It's where it would land if it were to fall off that would worry me

In actual use it would fall on top of my Blu-ray burner. I mounted it a bit more to the left of where I will actually use so it could be seen easily.

Actually, if you think about it, there are several other magnets within my case, every fan is a magnet. Of course none are likely to fall unless I totally blow the job of installing my new CPU cooler.

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The Cooler Master cooler arrived today but I'm not going to touch except that I opened to see the components. I'll probably do in the morning. I DO wish that they would have given a full list of what was included as I may not have paid extra for Artic Silver thermal compound. While not listed the package includes Cooler Master thermal compound. Regardless I may have bought the Artic Silver anyway as I can't remember ever using anything else. No big deal.

Of course, being a copper heat pipe cooler, it is MUCH larger than my current unit but that was expected. Again not an issue as I have plenty of space. Actually it looks like the fan situation will line up really nice. In another thread about my new video card there was concern expressed due to the fans on the video card pointing at the fan for my bottom mounted power supply. Since the case is open I've tested with paper to exactly see the direction of air flow provided by both the video and power supply. The video card sucks air through ports at the back of the case and blows toward the power supply. The power supply sucks air from within the case and exhausts out the back of the case. To me this seems ideal as the video card is so large that it basically cuts the case in half. In this situation anything dealing with air flow in the upper half of the case would have no affect as to the bottom of the case just due to the video card acting as a wall.

Here is how the air flow will be divided. In the upper half of the case there will be my intake fans in the front creating a high pressure area keeping the inside of the case pretty well dust free. The top intake fan will blow directly on the CPU cooler. The CPU cooler fan will blow directly to the large exhaust fan at the back of the case. Seems to me that this should provide a direct and straight through high velocity air flow. With the old cooler the fan was 90 degrees away from the wanted air flow causing turbulence. I will be surprised if I do not see lower CPU temperatures.

As to the air flow for the bottom half of the case I don't expect any difference as it will not much change as the video card is a wall through the case. It will draw air through the intake ports on the video card from an outside source. The output from the video card fans will be directed to the power supply. The power supply takes its intake from within the case so will suck up the output from the video card. The power supply outputs its air out the back of the case.

Both the power supply and video card have 'smart' fans that control RPM. They should both adjust and end up giving very good operating temperatures.

I had previously, in this thread, offered to post pics of the process of the install of the cooler directly toward another user. I think it was Doddie but am not sure. Since then I have received a private communication saying that I should post the pics so I will do so.

First impressions of the cooler:

1) This is a heat pipe cooler and the copper heat pipes are in direct contact with the CPU. I can run my finger along the CPU contact surface and feel the separation between the heat pipes and the heat sink block. This factor was expressed in reviews but I saw nothing saying that it caused an issue. I will just have to be careful to apply the thermal compound as thin as I would normally do. Feeling the very slight difference between the heat sink block and heat pipes will make me want to add just a but more thermal compound. I will have to resist doing so.

2) The biggest complaint I saw in reviews of this cooler was that the heat sink fins were too thin causing bleeding cuts from the edges when installing. Yes the fins are very thin but no way thin enough to cut skin unless you are trying to be cut.

I think this is going to be fun and, also, reduce temperatures.

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Well that was no fun! It was too danged easy.

Actually the only problem I had at all was that I should have connected the power plug for the fan before mounting the cooler. It was a very tight fit getting my hand in to attach the plug. Still I managed to get it plugged in so no worries.

First, of course, I had to dismantle the old cooler mount. No issue here as I just removed the old cooler and removed 4 screws. I also removed the CPU to clean off the old thermal compound with Isopropyl Alcohol.


Next step was to attach the mounting brackets; just one screw per side. The screws really serve no purpose once the cooler is mounted. However they do make mounting much easier and, also, keep the cooler centered.


Next is to attach the new mounting bracket. Notice the black clips on the ends of the four mount arms in use. These do a nice job of holding the screws in place and also act as a cushion between the bracket and mother board.


Of course thermal compound is needed. This is the only part of any build that I dislike. It is easy but takes a little time as you want it to completely cover the surface yet be as thin as possible. I used the edge of an expired bank card for this.


All that is left is to actually mount the thing. To be honest I like this mount more than the old clip type as it is really hard to not allow the cooler to move around while attaching clips. In this case the cooler just sets down on the screws and done. I did the four thumb screws in a diagonal pattern, lower left/upper right, upper left/lower right, back and forth. There was no need to borrow the torque screw driver as the screws just stopped turning. I used a pretty small regular screw driver to avoid over-tightening and stopped when the screws stopped on their own. Attach the fan, which just clips on, and attach power. The deed is done.


Total time was ~45 minutes and there were no difficulties except getting the fan plugged in due to a lack of room to get my hand in.

Been running pretty much at an idle, just posting this and checking email, for about an hour and my CPU temperature, at idle, is ~15 degrees F. lower than before. I'm pleased.

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All looks good. Except for turning off to put the case covers back on it has been running for ~4 hours and the temperatures are real low. Including running Diablo 3 and Apache Air Assault here are the peak temperatures reported.

CPU: 88 F (I don't really think the sensor is accurate but displays lower than the old cooler.)
Mother board: 105 F, 107 F and 116 F on 3 sensors.
Hard drives: 87 F, 91 F and 93F.
Radeon R9 380 4 GB video: 125 F.

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Nice, thanks for the pics Jay, shame you didn't get to use the 'sonic screwdriver' though

You're welcome Doddie. If I had had the foresight to plug in the stupid fan before mounting the cooler the whole thing would have probably been half an hour. It literally took me at least 10 minutes to get the fan plugged in. It was one of those two fingers on the plug and blind. I was just about ready to pull the cooler.

LOL! 'Sonic screwdriver'? I would not have minded playing with the thing but would have had to wait until next week to get it as the guy is out of town for the week.

The system is literally silent now. With the case sides off I could hear very little noise. With the sides on I can't hear a thing. LOL! That is a good thing for a media system. I never really realized how loud the other cooler fan happened to be. Don't get me wrong as the system was never loud. Still, if there was no audio going on I could hear the thing, I no longer can. Larger fan equals lower RPM equals less noise.

Cooler Master did a REALLY good job on this design! They wanted to make a universal cooler and succeeded. It is amazing how simple this install happened to be. If not for the basic lack of instructions I would not hesitate recommending to a novice. The instructions, I must admit, are lacking, mostly just pictures.

I WILL admit that I had a bit of a scare when removing the old cooler, the CPU pulled out of the socket along with the cooler. I had to pretty much pry the CPU off of the cooler. Still, while I don't like it, I have seen this before and never experienced damage.

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