AC Freezer 7 Pro Installation Question

[esmooths]

As a first time builder, installing the CPU heatsink for me was by far the worst part. The push pins suck... oi.

In any case, I currently have my AC7 installed so that the attached fan is facing the rear of the case. However, now that I've done more reading it appears that the fan actually sucks air in, and the heatsink fins blow air out. Presumably this means the fan should face the front of the case, right (I have an Antec 900 with the default fan setup)? It was such a pain to install I don't really want to pull it out again but if it will improve my temps I guess I'll have to.

Also, due to my difficulties installing I pulled off and reattached the heatsink a few times, which smeared the MX-1 paste quite a bit. I never cleaned it or reapplied anything else. Will this hurt things?

Basically, this thing frustrated the hell out of me. Lastly, the piece with the pushpins was separated from the heatsink and had to be put back on, which was a pain. Is this normal, or was this broken to begin with (which might explain my frustration)?

Any help understanding this a bit better is appreciated.

 

[Ozoneman]

Since the 900 case has fans pulling air out the top and back, I'd put the fan on the front of the cooler (side facing front of case) and have it blow air through the cooler blades. It seems to me that the air would flow better that way.

I usually clean up my heatsink and cpu when I remove it and apply new thermal compound. I do it just to be safe. But if you're cpu temp is OK, then I guess it is OK. You should check your cpu temperature with a program like coretemp. You can download it from the link below.

http://www.thecoolest.zerobrains.com/CoreTemp/

I can't answer your last question.