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#731 - Cooler Master Mars HSF |
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Written by Zach Jeffers
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Friday, 22 September 2006 |
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Page 6 of 8
Installation:
You may be wondering how this cooler will be connecting to the motherboard’s retention bracket? Well, the answer is that it doesn’t. The Cooler Master Mars HSF requires you to remove the retail retention bracket off of the motherboard so that you can mount the cooler with its included brackets. We will be installing this cooler on our Socket AM2 system, so all you have to do is screw on the AMD bracket to the cooler in which ever direction you prefer. There are holes for the screws on all four sides. This is nice as you will be able to orientate the crest on top to read correctly when displayed in a windowed case.
Now if you are like me and don’t really ever read the Installation Instructions, you will hit a road block right here. You will need to install the mounting screws through the retention bracket first before mounting the bracket to the cooler. Remember that these are going through the motherboard and will have nuts tightened to them, so the screws are installed counter-clockwise instead of the normal clockwise. Cooler Master includes small rubber grommets with adhesive backings to be placed around the mounting screws and to the retention bracket. This will help with noise as well as even distribution of weight on the CPU.
Before you place the cooler on the CPU, remember to apply your favorite thermal interface. I decided to go ahead with the supplied grey thermal paste. The supplied paste is a lot like bad play doe. It would not really spread over the CPU HIS evenly. I decided that I would clean it off and use my trusty GEIL copper paste instead!
Once you have your thermal paste applied, then go ahead and place the cooler on the CPU, making sure that the mounting screws are placed through the socket’s cooler bracket holes. I found that the best way to do this was to hold the motherboard in your lap, placing the cooler on the CPU, then with pressure on the underside of the motherboard, where the CPU is located, turning the entire setup over for installation of the mounting nuts. Cooler master includes plastic washers to go between the motherboard and the nuts. Placing those around the mounting screws, you can then thread on the nuts. Cooler Master, in another bit of wisdom, has included a Hex-to-Phillips adapter! This makes for a worry free installation.
Once installed onto the motherboard, you have yourself one awesome looking cooling setup! Looking at the cooler on a mATX board, the Mars cooler looks massive, but in reality, it does not take up much more room than an XP-90. From the sides, you can see that the aluminum fins easily clear any motherboard components.
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