Installation

A nice touch with the HPK-10025EA is that two important parts come pre-installed with the heatsink: the fan, and the retention bracket. Further, since this is a light-weight cooler, it doesn't need a backplate for additional support. Our installation begins with selecting the right set of mount-holes. Seen here is one of the four arms of the retention clip. The holes farthest away from the center are selected for LGA1366, those closest to the center for LGA775. There are eight washers provided, place four of them along these holes, over which fasten the hexagonal bolts.


Apply the thermal grease provided. Evercool's grease is viscous, and appears to be a silver-based compound. Apply a small dab in the center, let the heatsink's pressure spread it out. Now, aiming the four arms of the cooler to match the mounting holes of the motherboard, place the heatsink onto the processor, ideally with the heat pipe curves facing the northbridge. This ensures that the part of the heatsink that's protruding away from the center gets over the VRM.


Holding the heatsink in place, carefully flip the motherboard, place the remaining four washers around each of the four motherboard mount holes, and fasten the heatsink on to the motherboard with the four screws provided. Since there's no backplate, and since this is a rather light-weight cooler, you needn't fasten the screws too tightly. It might bend the motherboard. Tighten them just to the extent where the heatsink becomes immovable. Connect the fan to the 3-pin CPU fan header.

On a scale of 10, I'd rate the ease of installation at 9. Installing the Evercool HPK-10025EA requires that you have access to the back of the motherboard. If the motherboard tray of your case doesn't have a hole under the CPU socket area, you will have to dissemble your system and pull out the motherboard. A cumbersome task. That aside, installation is a breeze.