Installation

Installing the SE-224-XTS series on AMD could be made a bit easier, but overall it wasn't terrible. To start with, you will need to remove the plastic AMD brackets from the motherboard. Then, taking the proper screws, slide one through the mounting bracket and then slide a spacer over the screw for AMD, which would be the red spacers. Now with one screw barely threaded in, you can slide the next screw through the bracket the same as before and then secure it. Repeat for the second bracket. With the brackets now in place and fully secured, you can then apply thermal paste.


At this point, line up the captive bolts on the cooler's crossbar with the two threaded posts on the mounting brackets and tighten them down. Make sure to alternate between them for even mounting pressure. Once the heatsink is installed, you can then attach the fan and plug it into the CPU fan header. With that taken care of, you are good to go.

Overall, the mounting hardware ID-Cooling has used is fairly good. It could be better through the use of threaded standoffs that secure the backplate on the AMD side, but other than that, it wasn't awful. Enough leeway is available to make it a less problematic task compared to some. As for Intel, the installation process is quick and easy since the backplate is pre-assembled, and the screws slide through the motherboard from the back, thus making the whole process with the spacers and brackets much easier overall.