Installation

Installing the cooler isn't difficult, but does pose the same challenges as with most air coolers on an AMD platform. Enermax makes use of the AMD backplate included with the motherboard. So you will first have to hold the backplate on the board. Next, position the plastic spacers as shown and position the mounting plate on the spacers before securing everything with the AMD mounting screws. As you may have guessed, trying to hold a backplate with four spacers and a mounting plate in place while screwing it all together is not going to be fun in a small chassis. I would have preferred a screw pillar that directly attaches to the motherboard backplate, which removes many of these unnecessary steps.


With the mounting hardware secure, it's time to apply the thermal paste and attach the cooler by tightening the captive nuts on the crossbar to the mounting plate.


With the cooler mounted, plug the ARGB top plate header into the connector on the fan, attach the fan to the cooler with the included fan clips, and plug everything in.

As noted above, on AM4, the installation process could be improved. Meanwhile, on Intel, thanks to the included friction fit washers that hold the screws and backplate together, the installation process is much simpler, and, as such, easier. Hopefully, considering AMD has been on quite on a roll, we will see improvements on the AMD mounting hardware in the future.