Installation and Display

Installing the Granzon GAISC is very similar to the other recently tested Bykski and Granzon blocks, and is less complicated in general since it is designed only for Intel platforms and has the mounting bracket integrated in the top. I am demonstrating it on LGA 1700 as with the rest of the blocks in this CPU block review generation. First, orient the threads in the Intel backplate to correspond to the socket, although many motherboards will have two sets of cooler mounting holes anyway. Then peel the protective covers off the 3M tape on the contact surface of the backplate which helps prevent any electrical shorting. Place the backplate in such a way that the four threaded inserts line up with the cooler mounting holes around the CPU. If done correctly, you will observe all four threaded inserts jut out slightly from the surface of the motherboard itself. Apply thermal paste on the CPU IHS and then position the block over the CPU before having the four sets of mounting posts/springs/washers go through the backplate inserts in a diagonal manner. There may be some fiddling involved to make sure the posts are in the inserts given how thick the block is, but you will know almost immediately when so. You can then hand-tighten the posts before which you will have to use a 2.5 mm hex key again. As with the other Bykski/Granzon blocks, this is unfortunately not a precise installation and involves some guesswork in making sure the mounting pressure is even all around—again not up to par with other CPU block offerings. Note also that the way you orient the block will depend not only on the ports being used and how they will fit in with the rest of your plumbing, but also the USB and HDMI cables feeding from the side. I suspect most will have this block oriented as seen above, with the cables coming directly down and going to the left (ignore the HDMI cable here going to the right though). The use of standard connectors means that you can at least use your own cables of different lengths, in case these stock ones are not long enough.


Now we get to the part that makes or breaks this CPU block for most of you. I mentioned before how the previous Corsair and Bykski blocks have both have integrated displays, and others have done something similar—be it larger ones with software support to use with sensors or smaller, standalone displays which you can't control. The Granzon GAISC goes the other way and gives you full control, because this is basically just a 2.9" 1440x1440 60 Hz square display that you can treat as a second monitor. This means Windows automatically recognizes the panel and gives you various resolution/scaling options to choose. So while this freedom sounds great in theory, practically there isn't a lot you can do with this which will still be visible from a few feet away. One of the two buttons above the display toggles through the screen brightness in three steps, and the other simply seems to refresh the connection headed to the panel from what I could see. You may also have to manually rotate the screen within Windows depending on the orientation chosen for the CPU block. The photos above are zoomed in and without a case panel in the way, and even here I bet you see the limitations of this display. Granzon has some cool looking sensor panels displayed on the product page as renders, and these look like custom AIDA64 panels, but again does not actually provide any of these for the end user to download and use. You will have to make your own, as most sensor panel templates online are for different aspect ratios. The <3" screen also makes it challenging even if you get something useful, so realistically I feel like the likes of Corsair with several well-designed panels have done it right—your mileage may vary though.