Having received my shiny new Actic Freezer Pro 13 from Amazon on Wednesday, due to recent overheating (probably due, in part, to the weather) of the CPU, I just set to trying to install it, which is not as straightforward as made out.
The additional mounting brackets for AMD usage, although supplied are really fiddly, and for someone like myself, whose hands are somewhat shaky these days, tiny little screws in nooks & crannies, with equally podgy fingers are not exactly my forté.
The contact point is has pre-applied Thermal Compound. However, they don't think to put a thin protective peel-off film onto this, removable at time of application. which meant that in the process of attaching the brackets the stuff went EVERYWHERE except where it's supposed to - mainly on me & has had to be removed with plenty of Meths, as soap & water won't touch it, leaving my skin a little tender as a result.
There's still some TC left on the plate, which may be enough, but I've decided to call a temporary halt to the installation pending the arrival of an additional tube of Arctic MX-4 Thermal Compound, which is the type they (obviously) recommend ("Don't spoil the ship for a ha'p'orth of tar" & all that).
However, I did a search for TC reviews first, to see if Cheaper ones would be just as good as the Branded ones, and was surprised to see that there was a great deal of difference between them, and that the MX-4 stood miles above all the others, despite not being that much different in price. The cheapest I had found was a Maplins Own Brand for 46p for 2g (plus an extra couple of quid P&P if bought online, of course), but seeing as the 4g pack of proper Arctic MX-4 is only £3.70 (with Free P&P) from Play.com, I decided to lash out for the proper stuff (Hey, Big Spender).
Until that arrives, the unit is now awaiting the next phase, when I have to remove the standard Cooling Fan Unit. I'm hoping that is just a fan & not going to cause any problems with removal due to being stuck on with existing TC. The last thing I want to do is to have to force anything, risking any damage to the most valuable part of the machine - an equivalent AMD Quad Core replacement would typically cost £250 upwards.
So much for it being a 3 -5 minute job, but it looks like I did the right thing by spending a bit of extra time on the preparation of the unit first, rather than removing the old one first. Plus I think that when it comes to applying the grease I'll put it on the CPU itself, pressing the unit into it, rather than the other way round. Contact-wise it obviously won't make any difference, but it'll mean that the messy gunk is static in the right place from the start, rather than being moved around, sticking to everything it happens to brush against.
For those of you that have never used it, if you imagine taking some normal thick, dirty engine grease & mix it with some 4 x concentrated Evo-Stick - that's what Thermal Compound is like. HORRIBLE stuff!!
Cooler
Cooler
FourPart;1461186 wrote: Having received my shiny new Actic Freezer Pro 13 from Amazon on Wednesday, due to recent overheating (probably due, in part, to the weather) of the CPU, I just set to trying to install it, which is not as straightforward as made out.
The additional mounting brackets for AMD usage, although supplied are really fiddly, and for someone like myself, whose hands are somewhat shaky these days, tiny little screws in nooks & crannies, with equally podgy fingers are not exactly my forté.
The contact point is has pre-applied Thermal Compound. However, they don't think to put a thin protective peel-off film onto this, removable at time of application. which meant that in the process of attaching the brackets the stuff went EVERYWHERE except where it's supposed to - mainly on me & has had to be removed with plenty of Meths, as soap & water won't touch it, leaving my skin a little tender as a result.
There's still some TC left on the plate, which may be enough, but I've decided to call a temporary halt to the installation pending the arrival of an additional tube of Arctic MX-4 Thermal Compound, which is the type they (obviously) recommend ("Don't spoil the ship for a ha'p'orth of tar" & all that).
However, I did a search for TC reviews first, to see if Cheaper ones would be just as good as the Branded ones, and was surprised to see that there was a great deal of difference between them, and that the MX-4 stood miles above all the others, despite not being that much different in price. The cheapest I had found was a Maplins Own Brand for 46p for 2g (plus an extra couple of quid P&P if bought online, of course), but seeing as the 4g pack of proper Arctic MX-4 is only £3.70 (with Free P&P) from Play.com, I decided to lash out for the proper stuff (Hey, Big Spender).
Until that arrives, the unit is now awaiting the next phase, when I have to remove the standard Cooling Fan Unit. I'm hoping that is just a fan & not going to cause any problems with removal due to being stuck on with existing TC. The last thing I want to do is to have to force anything, risking any damage to the most valuable part of the machine - an equivalent AMD Quad Core replacement would typically cost £250 upwards.
So much for it being a 3 -5 minute job, but it looks like I did the right thing by spending a bit of extra time on the preparation of the unit first, rather than removing the old one first. Plus I think that when it comes to applying the grease I'll put it on the CPU itself, pressing the unit into it, rather than the other way round. Contact-wise it obviously won't make any difference, but it'll mean that the messy gunk is static in the right place from the start, rather than being moved around, sticking to everything it happens to brush against.
For those of you that have never used it, if you imagine taking some normal thick, dirty engine grease & mix it with some 4 x concentrated Evo-Stick - that's what Thermal Compound is like. HORRIBLE stuff!!
Did you remove the Motherboard from the chassis to do this, or are you trying to mount the cooler inside the chassis?
It is a little extra work, but unless you have a rather large case with lots of room, I have found it much simpler to mount the cooler while the MB is outside the case.
The additional mounting brackets for AMD usage, although supplied are really fiddly, and for someone like myself, whose hands are somewhat shaky these days, tiny little screws in nooks & crannies, with equally podgy fingers are not exactly my forté.
The contact point is has pre-applied Thermal Compound. However, they don't think to put a thin protective peel-off film onto this, removable at time of application. which meant that in the process of attaching the brackets the stuff went EVERYWHERE except where it's supposed to - mainly on me & has had to be removed with plenty of Meths, as soap & water won't touch it, leaving my skin a little tender as a result.
There's still some TC left on the plate, which may be enough, but I've decided to call a temporary halt to the installation pending the arrival of an additional tube of Arctic MX-4 Thermal Compound, which is the type they (obviously) recommend ("Don't spoil the ship for a ha'p'orth of tar" & all that).
However, I did a search for TC reviews first, to see if Cheaper ones would be just as good as the Branded ones, and was surprised to see that there was a great deal of difference between them, and that the MX-4 stood miles above all the others, despite not being that much different in price. The cheapest I had found was a Maplins Own Brand for 46p for 2g (plus an extra couple of quid P&P if bought online, of course), but seeing as the 4g pack of proper Arctic MX-4 is only £3.70 (with Free P&P) from Play.com, I decided to lash out for the proper stuff (Hey, Big Spender).
Until that arrives, the unit is now awaiting the next phase, when I have to remove the standard Cooling Fan Unit. I'm hoping that is just a fan & not going to cause any problems with removal due to being stuck on with existing TC. The last thing I want to do is to have to force anything, risking any damage to the most valuable part of the machine - an equivalent AMD Quad Core replacement would typically cost £250 upwards.
So much for it being a 3 -5 minute job, but it looks like I did the right thing by spending a bit of extra time on the preparation of the unit first, rather than removing the old one first. Plus I think that when it comes to applying the grease I'll put it on the CPU itself, pressing the unit into it, rather than the other way round. Contact-wise it obviously won't make any difference, but it'll mean that the messy gunk is static in the right place from the start, rather than being moved around, sticking to everything it happens to brush against.
For those of you that have never used it, if you imagine taking some normal thick, dirty engine grease & mix it with some 4 x concentrated Evo-Stick - that's what Thermal Compound is like. HORRIBLE stuff!!
Did you remove the Motherboard from the chassis to do this, or are you trying to mount the cooler inside the chassis?
It is a little extra work, but unless you have a rather large case with lots of room, I have found it much simpler to mount the cooler while the MB is outside the case.
The home of the soul is the Open Road.
- DH Lawrence
- DH Lawrence
Cooler
There's plenty of working room. The only minor problem being all the cables, although they can be tucked out of the way.
My first concern was that of being able to fit the cooler in the case, as it's about 3 times the size of the basic pre-installed AMD one, but it looks like that's not going to be a problem.
Plus, of course the MB is vertical, so I'm laying the whole thing on its side to work on it.
One thing I'm not certain about, though (and it may not even make the slightest bit of difference), is whether to point the fan towards the main fan at the back or away from it.
The AMD one is flat against the CPU, and therefore pointing vertically away from the MB, whereas the Freezer's Fan is at 90 degrees. Of course, once I get down to it it may be that it will only fit in one way round, thus eliminating any question, but I imagine it's more likely to be a 180 degree option.
My first concern was that of being able to fit the cooler in the case, as it's about 3 times the size of the basic pre-installed AMD one, but it looks like that's not going to be a problem.
Plus, of course the MB is vertical, so I'm laying the whole thing on its side to work on it.
One thing I'm not certain about, though (and it may not even make the slightest bit of difference), is whether to point the fan towards the main fan at the back or away from it.
The AMD one is flat against the CPU, and therefore pointing vertically away from the MB, whereas the Freezer's Fan is at 90 degrees. Of course, once I get down to it it may be that it will only fit in one way round, thus eliminating any question, but I imagine it's more likely to be a 180 degree option.
Cooler
FourPart;1461191 wrote: There's plenty of working room. The only minor problem being all the cables, although they can be tucked out of the way.
My first concern was that of being able to fit the cooler in the case, as it's about 3 times the size of the basic pre-installed AMD one, but it looks like that's not going to be a problem.
Plus, of course the MB is vertical, so I'm laying the whole thing on its side to work on it.
One thing I'm not certain about, though (and it may not even make the slightest bit of difference), is whether to point the fan towards the main fan at the back or away from it.
The AMD one is flat against the CPU, and therefore pointing vertically away from the MB, whereas the Freezer's Fan is at 90 degrees. Of course, once I get down to it it may be that it will only fit in one way round, thus eliminating any question, but I imagine it's more likely to be a 180 degree option.
Basically, point the cooler fan to move the air in the same direction as the main fan.
(If the main fan is exhaust, point the cooler fan towards it.)
My first concern was that of being able to fit the cooler in the case, as it's about 3 times the size of the basic pre-installed AMD one, but it looks like that's not going to be a problem.
Plus, of course the MB is vertical, so I'm laying the whole thing on its side to work on it.
One thing I'm not certain about, though (and it may not even make the slightest bit of difference), is whether to point the fan towards the main fan at the back or away from it.
The AMD one is flat against the CPU, and therefore pointing vertically away from the MB, whereas the Freezer's Fan is at 90 degrees. Of course, once I get down to it it may be that it will only fit in one way round, thus eliminating any question, but I imagine it's more likely to be a 180 degree option.
Basically, point the cooler fan to move the air in the same direction as the main fan.
(If the main fan is exhaust, point the cooler fan towards it.)
The home of the soul is the Open Road.
- DH Lawrence
- DH Lawrence