Mounting problems Ninja 2 with AM2 socket

[anato]

I have two mounting problems with my Ninja 2 cooler with AM2 socket.

The mounting pressure against CPU is too weak and the mounting pins can easily slide of. If I adjust the mounting pin to tighter setting the tension is so great that I'm a afraid of breaking the AM2 socket's plastic hook or the motherboard. I know that there has to be some tension in range of 20-50N (Newtons), but this is a lot of more than that. The mounting frame is so rigid that I can't loosen or bend it with the two small pliers.

On the pin's middle setting the pressure is so weak that I can easily tilt the cooler of the socket and the pins can fall of with simple twist. There is only a little tension to socket in range of 1-5N.

In tightest setting the frame has to bend 3mm more and the tension is immense. I have difficulties to bend the frame so much with my thumb while the cooler is on the desk let alone inside the case. As there are two of these pins the pressure is doubled.
pin.jpg

The second problem is mounting orientation with AM2 socket. In one orientation there is about 2mm gap from frame to cooler. This happens because the frame is contacting to heat pipes. I can use the screws to force the frame and the cooler together, but this adds more stress to screws.
frame.jpg
frame.from.corner.jpg

Motherboard: Asus M2NBP-VM CSM
socket.jpg

[hiroshige]

Hello anato,

thanks for your questions.
I would suggest you to buy the CPU Cooler Stabilizer K8/AM2 which should solve all your issues regarding the cooler's mounting.
Scythe EU GmbH : CPU Cooler Stabilizer AM2

Kind regards,
Stefan - Scythe EU Hamburg

[anato]

Scythe state's that this cooler is compatible for AMD:s AM2-socket, but how it's compatible if I have to by extra hardware to actually use it? At the moment if I transfer or tilt the case few times I risk loosening the cooler and it could fall of and damage my extension cards and motherboard. Also removing the original mounting structure and installing your stabilizer will more than likely void my motherboards warranty.

This “solution” would cost me about 15€ more and mean that I have to unmount and remount my motherboard which will take about 2 hours of work. Knowing this in advance would have altered my buying decision. I haven't had this kind of problem with any other cooler and in this case this would have been easily avoidable if the mounting hardware had been designed a bit differently. You could have made the pins notches placed pit differently, the frame could bend a bit more easily or the pins could be replaced with screw and string mechanism.

Stabilizer doesn't solve the second problem of orientation and 2mm gap between cooler and the mounting frame. I can screw them together but I have no feeling of how much tension this is putting on the small screws.

[hiroshige]

Hello anato,

the problem is not, that the cooler is not compatible to AM2, but that the manufacturers of AM2-boards have production tolerances and variants which makes it impossible to produce a cooler which really fits to ALL mainboards.

Cheers,
Stefan - Scythe EU Hamburg

[anato]

Yeah, but at least in this case we are in the mounting frame's adjustment area. The problem is that the adjustment area is not continuous. At the second pin pressure is too weak and on the third pin (from the top) the pressure is too great.

Just adding to misery the AMD:s standard cooler attaches fine on this board (although it's to loud) and the Zalman's CNPS9500 has no problems too. So I have a hard time to believe that this is because of motherboard's mounting frame is out of tolerances and we still are in your coolers supposed adjustment area. If you disagree please show me the mounting frame's specs I couldn't easily find the from the web.

On the other hand there is probable no point of continuing this conversation if you are not willing to refund or any other way compensate the lose of usefulness of my cooler.

P.S.
I'm studying mechanical engineer in the Helsinki University of Tehcnology and I sketch alternative mounting frame to your cooler which would remove the gap-problem, ensure better load balancing between mounting pins and removes the screws from the mountingframe-cooler contact. This would certainly lower your pruduction costs. If you are interested you have my mail address.

[hiroshige]

Hello anato,

we are just crossing the border from technical support to product development - I just asked my colleague Chris ("sumo") to take over now! He will answer you tomorrow!

Cheers,
Stefan - Scythe EU Hamburg

[sumo]

Hello Anato,

First of all. Its not necessary to turn around the clip on the cooler. With the AM2 Clips only one position works on the cooler, but the cooler itself is quadratic, therefore it plays no role in which position you mount the cooler on your mainboard. The next part is about the right mounting notch. This depends on the cooler, but the Ninja 2 useing the first notch. You may think its to heavy, but all components are designd for this pressure. And under normal circumstances nothing happen. Its tight, yes, and it feels hard to fit, but i can say to you that this ist normal. So mount the cooler outside you case shouled be much easier.

i hope i can help you a little bit.

Kind Regards
Chris
Scythe EU GmbH