[nodepet]

Your sample board is by Asus and their retention module seems to differ considerably from the one Gigabyte is using. I have no doubt that mounting the heatsink works fine on an Asus board, as demonstrated on your photos.

I did follow the procedure shown on your images, as it's the only reasonable way to accomplish the mounting procedure, yet step three is impossible unless you modify the side clip's position. Only then will the mounting process work as illustrated (and described). The heatsink sits reasonably tight on the CPU and there are no abnormally high temperatures, so to me, this change was the right thing to do.

You may have to aquire a recent Gigabyte board for AMD CPUs to see the difference with your own eyes. Unfortunately, Hamburg is not in my immediate neighbourhood, else I'd offer to use my machine as live test case for studying ;-)

O.

[sumo]

the only difference between the Asus and the Gigabyte Kit ist the color, because this moduls are standardzed. Otep three works hand in hand with number two. If you try the second step the cooler will glide one your cpu, shown in step three. Mabye its better so see it in an illustration, which is in progress.

[nodepet]

Originally Posted by sumo

the only difference between the Asus and the Gigabyte Kit ist the color, because this moduls are standardzed.

This statement contradicts the observation that mounting with the bracket's default settings does not work on my and bobsama's board. If there were no differences in the fixture's height from the mainboard, then everyone should make the same experience. So evidently, your notion of standards does not seem to be congruent with real life observations. I'm sure that the space between the drilling holes and the general alignment of the bracket fixtures are the same on all amd boards, but the height of the brackets' fixtures apparently isn't.

I take it from other posts that you have never checked for problems with other mainboards (apart from Asus), have you?

Otep three works hand in hand with number two. If you try the second step the cooler will glide one your cpu, shown in step three. Mabye its better so see it in an illustration, which is in progress.

I take it you consider it a layer 8 problem (aka. the problem that is located between the chair and the monitor). That's regrettable, but arguing about that is not worth my time. I found a solution to my problem, meant to point it out to others who may also have not quite standard boards and potentially tried in vain to mount the cooler believing it is their fault when it does not work as smoothly as on your pictures.

O.

[sumo]

i have mounted this bracket on nearly all kinds of MBs from MSI, Foxconn, Asus, Gigabyte etc... there all use exactly the same retention module, and it also works on all boards. The only problem here is to explain it with words. And believe me, if i show live how it works you maybe understand what i try to say and get this "aha" effect. because its absolutely simple. But we now design a flash animation, any maybe this will help a lot of guy.

PS: Most people only have fear to damage something if they push to hard.

[Bobsama]

Perhaps the issue is more with people with hypermobility syndrome (double-jointedness). It is difficult to put in the necessary pressure using one or two digits; the pictures do help but it would have been a lot more helpful had you shared them about six weeks ago. With short and sturdy ("Asian") hands, it's probably a lot easier. But seriously--there was no way that either I nor my friend could have easily mounted the brackets alone.

[sumo]

Hi,

this are my hands, and im not asian, ;P

But i know what you mean, thats the reason we decide to make installation flash clips like the one from Musashi.

Sumo

[Jugurtha]

I would agree with the previous posters that the mounting system is difficult for AM2+ boards. I have an ASUS M3A78T Board (790GX), similar to the one in the installation pics posted earlier in this thread. I got the Kabuto so that I would not have to remove the mobo, but the only way it fits then is by lowering 2 notches on one side of the clip, and 1 on the other. This is not good - there does not seem to be enough contact that way because the temps are quite high - 48.4 C on a non-OC'ed phenom ii 965 C3 at idle, 60 C when running Dragon Age or Left 4 Dead. Thermal Grease is Arctic cooling 5. From the reviews I read (silentpcreview), the temps should be lower.

The issue seems to be that when you are not removing the mobo, in a mid-tower case like the Sonata 2, there is no space between the top of the kabuto and the PSU, which means that your first clip to attach has to be the top one (the one nearest the PSU, in a top-mounted PSU case like the Sonata II). The problem is that when you try attaching the second clip, you end up hitting the northbridge cooler (the same as the one in the pics). This is a bit annoying given that one of the selling points of this cooler is that you don't have to remove the mobo to install it

Anyways, will try with the mobo removed and let you know!

[Shadowxsx]

I agree the mounts are hard to get clipped took 2 ppl to get mine on last night. I have a full tower so there was plenty of room to get it on.

My main issue is that it seems to be a little loose even though I didn't move the clips. Also it keeps my cpu (955 BE) 2-3 C lower than stock which both may change once the thermal paste cures that may remedy

[Mr.Kabuto]

one thing I noticed about mounting the kabuto onto the cpu is, that this "clip-slide-function" does only work with one side. For example I can only install the kabuto when I first clip in the hook which faces the graphic card and then do this slide-under with the hook that faces the psu (psu on top of case). If I want to do it the opposite way it won't work for me somehow...

But I guess I won't do anything on my kabuto very soon, I mean it's in the place where it belongs, on my cpu :P

One thing I'm thinking about is cutting out a bigger hole into the side of my case like 120X120 with an angle grinder, so my kabuto can "breath in" much better :P

[Mr.Kabuto]

might not fit to the topic actually but at work today I cut out a 120x120 square with an angle grinder, polished the sharp edges and then put on some edge protection like rubber band with some metal in it. Cut four pieces in a 135° angle so two of them build a 90° angle in the corners. Looks better than I expected and it also lowered cpu temperature around 5°. My Case is not very high, so a Mugen wouldnt fit but right now the kabuto fan is like 10mm under that square I cut out.

And like I said to all those who have mounting problems,try it from different sides, if there's enough space in the case not much force is needed to mount the kabuto correctly, for me it was very hard to mount it in the "best performance" postion because my psu is at the top of my case and I couldn't put in the psu after I mounted the heatsink cause there was no space left, so I had to mount the kabuto with the psu right in front of the damn clip, that was really really hard and took a while but finally it worked although I pushed down those clips with much force...