- Jun 24, 2001
- 24,195
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I just bought an Antec KÜHLER H2O 620 on clearance at Best Buy and found that I'm going to have to make a trip to the hardware store to mount it due to a couple curious design choices they (or Asetek) made. I imagine it would be the same for the Antec KUHLER 920 but it's simple enough to fix that other rebranded Asetek coolers may not have this issue and I'll limit the discussion to Antec's.
Basically, the single-fan 620 unit comes with four long screws and four short screws. The long screws are intended to mount the fan to the back of the radiator or to mount the unit to the case through the fan. The short screws are included to mount the radiator directly against the case if you chose to mount the fan behind the radiator. The dual-fan 920 probably comes with 8 long screws, but that wouldn't change anything assuming they are the same length.
The problem is that BOTH types are much too short and only a few threads engage in even the best case scenario. This was done intentionally because they'll hit fins in the radiator if they thread in too far. The radiator should have been designed with through-holes or the screws could have included optional spacers (like washers) that allow for slightly longer screws. The washers that were included were likely a last-minute addition because they use up even more of those precious few threads and they aren't on the parts list. It looks like they are included because the smaller screw heads may go right through the screw holes on some cases, but they should have realized that they needed longer screws and could have added thicker washers so that people can switch to thin ones to gain a few mm of threading. IOW, they need thick washers, thin washers, and appropriately lengthened screws or thru-holes in the radiator that allow for extra-long screws (but that's on Asetek).
Alternatively, a different fan would have solved a few things. If the included fan had open screw holes instead of shaft-like thru-holes I could have used the short screws to mount the fan to the radiator and the original fat & stubby fan screws from the old case fan to mount the whole thing to the case.
With the chassis I have (Cooler Master Stacker STC-T01) there are two screw mounts for the 120mm fan which are stamped/pressed in to the chassis and there is a small spacer behind the other two so that the original fan mounts straight. Even though it's only a couple millimeters thicker it's still enough to ensure that the included mounting screws don't reach through those two screw holes in either fan configuration (short or long).
In short, you're probably going to have trouble mounting it unless your case's 120mm fan mounts with only the minimal amount of space between it and the screw head (thin/flat case materials).
So much for the "easy mounting" they promote.
*sigh*
I'm off to Lowe's.
*grumble grumble*
Basically, the single-fan 620 unit comes with four long screws and four short screws. The long screws are intended to mount the fan to the back of the radiator or to mount the unit to the case through the fan. The short screws are included to mount the radiator directly against the case if you chose to mount the fan behind the radiator. The dual-fan 920 probably comes with 8 long screws, but that wouldn't change anything assuming they are the same length.
The problem is that BOTH types are much too short and only a few threads engage in even the best case scenario. This was done intentionally because they'll hit fins in the radiator if they thread in too far. The radiator should have been designed with through-holes or the screws could have included optional spacers (like washers) that allow for slightly longer screws. The washers that were included were likely a last-minute addition because they use up even more of those precious few threads and they aren't on the parts list. It looks like they are included because the smaller screw heads may go right through the screw holes on some cases, but they should have realized that they needed longer screws and could have added thicker washers so that people can switch to thin ones to gain a few mm of threading. IOW, they need thick washers, thin washers, and appropriately lengthened screws or thru-holes in the radiator that allow for extra-long screws (but that's on Asetek).
Alternatively, a different fan would have solved a few things. If the included fan had open screw holes instead of shaft-like thru-holes I could have used the short screws to mount the fan to the radiator and the original fat & stubby fan screws from the old case fan to mount the whole thing to the case.
With the chassis I have (Cooler Master Stacker STC-T01) there are two screw mounts for the 120mm fan which are stamped/pressed in to the chassis and there is a small spacer behind the other two so that the original fan mounts straight. Even though it's only a couple millimeters thicker it's still enough to ensure that the included mounting screws don't reach through those two screw holes in either fan configuration (short or long).
In short, you're probably going to have trouble mounting it unless your case's 120mm fan mounts with only the minimal amount of space between it and the screw head (thin/flat case materials).
So much for the "easy mounting" they promote.
*sigh*
I'm off to Lowe's.
*grumble grumble*
Last edited:
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