[section_title title=”Installation”]
Installation
Unlike some of the coolers we have seen recently that have come with minimal mounting kit, this offering from Thermalright is much, much different. As you can see below there are many different types of mounting kit supplied with this cooler as it is able to support all Intel and AMD sockets, up to and including 1150, 2011, AM3+ and FM2. This really is brilliant value for a relatively inexpensive cooler, as it means that you can easily switch it between systems and upgrades if you so wished. All of the different assembly instructions are illustrated for each socket type in the manual. However, they all follow the same principle, which is a backplate attaches to an anchor plate around the CPU socket. The hold down then goes over the CPU contact plate and screws into the anchor plate to hold the cooler in place.
Here we have the back plate on the rear of the motherboard. This is used to help spread the weight of the cooler, as well as giving it something to secure onto and hold it in place. You will note that the back plate has numerous holes in it for the different sockets supported, look at the instruction manual to find out which ones you will need to use for your motherboard.
Next up were the 4 x black spacers which acted as both a standoff and a level base to attach the anchor plate to. These spacers are important as they will make sure the cooler is at the right height on the CPU itself, if it is too low you may break the CPU and/or the motherboard by applying too much pressure to it. Once the pillars are in place you then need to use the M3 screws supplied to secure the anchor plate in place.
Finally, you need to apply your thermal paste to the bottom of the cooler and attach the fan clips, but don’t attach the fan itself yet. You then have to put the cooler onto the CPU itself and orientate it the correct way. The mounting plate then passes through the body of the heat sink and screws into the anchor plate using two M3 screws, securely holding it in place. After this stage, making sure the cooler is securely in place you then  add the fan using the fan clips that you installed previously. You will also see that with the fan installed there is also plenty of room for RAM, so your options in this department are not limited.
