Installing an Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro...

[chimpy]

Gonna be going on my MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum. Any tips before I start?

CustomPC magazine rates the hs/f very highly, but said in the review that you need to remove the mobo to fit it. However, many people on here dide not have to do that, it seems. Will I have to, or will there be enough roon in my Antec Sonata II case? Will I have to remove my graphics card temporarily to give me more room?

Anyone got any more tips for me? I don't want to mess anything up!

PIC of the inside of my computer, to show how much space I have available.

Also, when fitting the stock cooler, I had to give it LOTS of pressure (way more than I expected to have to), is it more pressure for the Freezer 64 Pro? I'm not sure I could do it much harder than last time :Q

 

[BlueWeasel]

As long as you have a standard plastic mounting piece around the socket, you shouldn't have to remove the MB to install the Freezer64 Pro. I just reinstalled mine a few days ago and it didn't really take much downward pressure to get it in place...just make sure the rotating arm is turned correctly and you push straight down.

It looks like you've got plenty of room....it should be easy.

 

[chimpy]

Thanks for the quick reply.

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
As long as you have a standard plastic mounting piece around the socket, you shouldn't have to remove the MB to install the Freezer64 Pro.

Erm.. I *think* I have a 'standard plastic mounting piece', at least I haven't took anything off.

I can't really remember putting the stock hs/f on that well... do you angle the cooler to fix one 'lug' to the little metal hole on the hs/f mounting mechanism, and then force the lever down from an upright position to a horizontal position, and that will force the other 'lug' into the mounting mechanism?

Sorry if the above paragraph didn't make sense, I hope you can understand that.

 

[Fallengod]

Bro...its so easy. Its the same as installing the stock amd aluminum heatsink. Attach it to the "lugs" on the side of the retention bracket, then you just pull the level from one direction to the other.

 

[chimpy]

Thanks. I'm sorry, I always freak out before installing things. Like before installing a new PSU I was all ''will it fit'', ''will I have to remove anything before'' and stuff. It went fine obviously, but it's just how I get before messing with things. Better to be like this, than to not care and just chuck it in, eh? If anyone else has any advice I'd love to hear it, though it seems so easy as to not need any guidance, from what I've heard.

 

[RallyMaster]

It's easy to do without removing the motherboard, but even easier if you have a removable motherboard tray. Don't worry, I installed without taking out the mobo and it fit fine.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Just be sure and mount it so the fan is blowing towards your exhaust fan. The plastic arm on the Freezer64 should be between the socket and PSU.

 

[chimpy]

Originally posted by: RallyMaster
It's easy to do without removing the motherboard, but even easier if you have a removable motherboard tray. Don't worry, I installed without taking out the mobo and it fit fine.

I'm pretty sure my Sonata II doesn't have a removable mobo tray, unless I've been missing something in the last year I've had it

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
Just be sure and mount it so the fan is blowing towards your exhaust fan. The plastic arm on the Freezer64 should be between the socket and PSU.

Yup, I've already thought about it, it will indeed be like that. I'm busy all day tomorrow, so will probably do it on Sunday, when I'll have nothing to do (though I have exams I should be revising for )

Also, I've just had a fiddle around with it and it's pretty easy to remove the fan. I'll probably remove it, install the cooler, and then re-fit it after, so there's less 'bulk' to have to deal with while fitting it.

How much pressure do I have to apply to get it to go over the 'lugs'? I seem to remember it being loads with the stock cooler. And how much pressure is needed to push the lever down, once it's over the 'lugs'?

 

[RallyMaster]

Not much pressure at all. I don't exactly have a measure of how much, but I assure you that you don't need to bench 250 lbs to do it.

 

[chimpy]

Originally posted by: RallyMaster
Not much pressure at all. I don't exactly have a measure of how much, but I assure you that you don't need to bench 250 lbs to do it.

Thanks. Just as a measure *roughly* how much pressure is needed... is it enough pressure to push your computer over from standing, for example? I know it's a poor example, I couldn't think of one

 

[RallyMaster]

Less force than it would take to push a thumbtack into drywall?

 

[chimpy]

Originally posted by: RallyMaster
Less force than it would take to push a thumbtack into drywall?

Erm... 'thumbtack'? 'drywall'? Are they American terms that I don't get, or am I just being alarmingly stupid?

 

[vietbboibrave]

One thing you might have to worry about is the what direction the fan is going to be facing. I installed that heatsink on an MSI K8N-Neo4F and there was not enough clearance between the fan and my memory to have the fan facing the front of the case. I ended up having to have the fan facing the floor and blowing air up towards my PSU.

With your setup you will probably need to move your two memory sticks into slots 2 and 4 (instead of 1 and 3) and it will probably fit the right direction. You want the fan on the heatsink to blow air through the fins and have that air exhausted by your rear fan.

 

[RallyMaster]

I have two sticks of Patriot memory right under my Freezer. Clearance should not be an issue. I used to have two sticks of Corsair Value Select with Cooler Master copper heatspreaders, those fit as well. It shouldn't be a problem for almost all motherboards unless you have some seriously tall RAM.

chimpy: yeah, I think those would be American terms it still shouldn't knock over a tower case though heh.

 

[chimpy]

Thanks for the replies. My motherboard seems to have spontaneously died last night :Q

Seeing as it was a crap mobo anyway (awful on so many levels, I'll never buy MSI again), I figured I might just by a new mobo instead of going through an RMA and end up with another MSI POS (sorry kids).

Soooo.. opinions of the DFI Lanparty Ultra-D wanted! Would it be easy to set up for a n00b like me?

 

[chimpy]

OK I changed my mind - looks like I'll be getting an ASUS A8N-SLI Premium, unless anyone can sway me otherwise.

The great thing about this mobo is it should work brilliantly with my Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro, as the air blown downwards towards the mobo would hit the heatsink next to the CPU that cools the chipset, resulting in lower temps! M I RITE???!1

 

[RallyMaster]

It cools the mosfets (power regulators). Since that heatpipe is on there, it will also eventually end up cooling the chipset. It's the same on a lot of Abit boards (KN8 SLi, AN8 Ultra/SLi, etc) that use heatpipes.

 

[chimpy]

Great! Thanks a lot for the help, and to others who posted. I'll post pics of my new setup if all goes well!

 

[smc13]

"One thing you might have to worry about is the what direction the fan is going to be facing. I installed that heatsink on an MSI K8N-Neo4F and there was not enough clearance between the fan and my memory to have the fan facing the front of the case. I ended up having to have the fan facing the floor and blowing air up towards my PSU. "

I just installed one of these today. from the picture on web page the fan blows air in and not out (its an intake fan not an exhaust fan) and the installation pdf says "the Freezer 64 Pro should blow the hot air to the front since the cool air is drawn in from the back"

Simple, really.

 

[chimpy]

OK, it's all installed on my sexy Ultra-D mobo.

PIC, what do you think?

EDIT: BTW, installation was sooooo incredibly easy. Much easier than the stock cooler (which I found to be horrendously difficult, having to put loads of pressure on. This one was just a teeny weeny bit of force, soooo easy.

 

[RallyMaster]

Ooh, that looks good indeed....however, the thing would be better if it actually lined up with the 120mm fan.

 

[chimpy]

Thanks. Yeah it would be better, but there's no easy way to do that, and I doubt it would make any noticeable difference in temps. You got any cable management tips or anything?

 

[chimpy]

bump for more opinions/whatever