Project: Blue on Black

[Bolas]

Time to install the blocks. I've removed the hybrid silent pipe. Instructions say to remove the two screws. What screws? Ah yes, there are two screws holding it on. One on the left.



And one on the right.



Hmm.. maybe I should wash out the radiators with some boiling water and let them soak a bit while I do the blocks. That way, I could be ready to leak test some time soon.



Take off the old cpu fan bracket. Eww... double-stick tape isn't playing nice. It doesn't want to come off.



Pushing the plastic tabs through the board to remove the heat sinks.



So that's what the board looks like without the heat sinks!



Old heat sink. The big one.



And the little heat sink that's just for kicks.



Checking the fit.



Ok, so this goes here like that....



Put on thermal paste.



And install the blocks.



Add the fittings.



Not bad.



Now to install the block for the cpu.



First the thermal paste. Hmm... maybe putting the thermal paste on first is a bad idea? Why do the instructions tell me to do that? Wouldn't it make more sense to put it on at the last possible minute, then I wouldn't have this crud all over my hands when I brush it by accident. Arctic Silver 5 on the north bridge and south bridge chips, MX-2 on the cpu and the two gpu's, for those that are curious. Thank you, EK, for including some MX-2 in with your cpu block, very thoughtful.

And we can see that I still need much more practice with applying thermal paste.



Set up the back plate bracket.



Add some washers.



Push it through the board, being sure to smudge the thermal paste with my little finger.... yuck.



Add some washers top side.



And the block.



Tighten down the springs with the thumb screws... and the board has all the blocks installed.



Install the memory and the memory fan. Yes, I know that I probably don't need the fan, but I'm going to try it out and see what I think, so I'm installing it.



Lotta hardware on the board now.



Try to install the motherboard into the case... and there's one screw hole that I just can't get to in order to secure the motherboard into the case. Only eight screws instead of nine. Hope that doesn't cause any issues, but the water block is just plain covering the screw hole.



Board looks decent in the case. I'm starting to like this.





Reconnect the wiring to the motherboard.