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About to have a nervous breakdown about this

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I am trying, very patiently, to install the hyper 212 EVO. I've been trying for about 4 hours.

I have the backplate on and apply thermal grease. When I try mounting it, the little metal spreader that is supposed to go into the stands NEVER lines up with the screws in the holes. No matter how I spread it, it doesn't seem to work.

Worse yet, I always wind up accidentally lifting it while trying to adjust the spreader, which means I have to re-apply the thermal paste. I am running out of thermal paste.

Is there some special way to align it? It really seems impossible and it's driving me so crazy that I'm shaking from nervousness.

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Take a breath and relax. You don't need to re-apply the thermal every time you lift the cooler. It is suppose to spread anyway. After the thermal gets warm, it will simply fill in the microscopic pores in the metal. So, relax about that.

Do you have the instructions handy? You don't mention which motherboard/socket you are installing it on, but you need to lift/position/reinsert the screws into the correct portion of the 3-hole slot. With the scissor-like top bracket centered over the heatsync of the cooler, just open-close the bracket until the screws line up with the stand-offs.

I am doing socket LGA 1155. I have the backplate on correctly and the stands. My problem is the scissor bracket. No matter how I configure it, it does NOT fit the stands. There is no doubt about it. I don't know what to do. No matter WHAT it won't fit.
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I have a socket LGA1155 board and Hyper 212 EVO also. I had no issue with mine. Have you tried turning the scissor bracket the other way? Again, do you have the instructions?

Yes, the instructions are useless. I've tried videos, guides, turning the bracket this way and that.

I also find it ridiculous that the bracket has to sit loose on the heat sink until you get it into place. All wobbly. Maybe I'm missing something.

Honestly, installing my 212 Evo was one of the easiest things I've ever done. Took me less than 10 minutes to have it completely installed and the mobo back in the case.

Anyway, the bracket should be in the nice square "X" position with the screws in the middle of the adjustment holes (or the 2nd out of the 3). If it doesn't fit right then, I don't know what to tell you.

That's how I have it, as a square. I even tried lining it up without the heatsink, and no matter which way I turn it, it will line up two of the screws and completely miss the other 2 on the other side.

Am I supposed to do something with that middle push pin besides line it up in the shallow hold at the bottom of the heat sink?

jpastuch said:
Yes, the instructions are useless.

I found the 'instructions' quite informative.
Why don't you clean off the thermal from both surfaces and try a dry run instead of wasting all your grease. I'm sure you are just missing something simple. Hoards of folks use that cooler and I've never heard anyone have problems. I'm not trying to belittle you, I just mean that sometimes a person needs to step back, put it away, and try later.

One thing you may want to look into; take the scissor bracket off the cooler and lay it out on the stand-offs untill you get the correct match.

It should just line up correctly. I really don't get why it's not. As for the pin, it just needs line up with the hole. What do you mean about not lining up? The screws on one side are totally off, like nowhere near the holes, or are they just up too high?

And I completely agree with trying a dry run.

OK guys I'm back, I just cleaned the thermal paste and still doesn't line up. I really feel dumb right now.

The thing that is making me have a nervous breakdown is the thermal paste...I'm using 90% iso alcohol and I'm freaking out about leaving and remnants on the chip spreader or getting dried paste onto the actual chip, even a little.

I'm being very very careful but I do not know how clean is clean, as I seem to be taking some of the finish off of the chip's heat spreader as well.

Hmmm. Can you take a pic of what you're seeing and upload it to Imageshack or Photobucket to post here? (The way the 212 Evo isn't fitting correctly, I mean)

Don't worry about the discoloration of the heat spreader.



Here you can see I put it in the orientation according to how the manual says (the way I'm going to mount the heatsink, anyway)





As you can see, the two holes in the back line up, but not the other two.

And yeah, if it's something painfully easy I'm doing wrong, I know. Trust me, I'm the last person that should be doing this.

Nothing looks wrong with that, really, although it looks like you're mounting it perpendicular to the RAM slots instead of parallel. I have mine parallel (front to back instead of bottom to top).

I'm mounting it so the fan blows out the back, I have no top fans in my case, if that's what you mean.

But how am I supposed to make the other two screws fit in? I really have avoided trying to "force" anything for obvious reasons. I'm very very very paranoid about wrecking my CPU.

Have you tried loosening the standoffs a bit and see if they can be slightly moved to line up with the scissor bracket? Also..
(and I can't believe I'm suggesting this) try different holes in the scissor bracket.

jpastuch said:
Almost positive I tried that orientation and it's meant for AM3 but I'll give it another go.


You're right that the closer position is for AMD, but I think you have it expanded the wrong way to have it installed front to back.

DJDeCiBeL said:
I think the bracket is just orientated wrongly, or in other words, expanded in the wrong way.

+1^
Good point. I just remembered I had a momentary head scratching when first installing mine. I just scissored it the other way and it fit.

No, I tried scissoring it the long way and it does not even come close.

Could it have something to do with the screws being able to slide? I noticed the spring screws have another hole next to them

jpastuch said:
No, I tried scissoring it the long way and it does not even come close.

Could it have something to do with the screws being able to slide? I noticed the spring screws have another hole next to them


The way you have it set now is for bottom to top. But the screws are in the right place.

jpastuch said:
Also, quick question....for the LGA 1155 how should the backplate be oriented? Does the insulated side always sit flush up against the back of the mobo?


Installing with the insulated side on the mobo is for AMD. The only parts that should touch the mobo are the "fingers".

OK, so I should be able to see the insulated side and it should not be flush with the back of my mobo, with the metal, uninsulated part facing the back of my mobo, correct?

Only reason i ask is because I just looked in the manual and it says "insulated part should always be facing the mobo" even for the LGA directions.

OK, well figured it out. And I'm an idiot.

I did not adjust the spring screws on the scissor...I didn't realize they can slide into 3 seperate holes and they needed to be in the middle one. I think two of them were not in the right slot.


Now that that is over, how clean is clean enough as far as getting the older thermal paste off? Like, what if one faint little spec ended up on the side of the CPU's spreader and I did not notice? I rubbed it off with alcohol and did several dry passes too, and it seems I got all of it...

just very worried....Also, I hope this is the hardest part of the build for me. ugh

jpastuch said:
Oh sorry, one final question, should that little push pin on the top of retention bracket actually CLICK into the bottom of the heatsink? It doesn't seem to.


Mine didn't make an actual "click", no. It's just supposed to sit in the hole on the heatsink, not actually lock in and "click", as far as I know.

OK. Thank you so much guys, all of the support means the world to me. I'm not a tech person by nature, this is just something I set out to do as a goal and I also have legit OCD that kind of sends me into meltdowns over small things. Everything seemed hopeless, but I'm gonna give it another go.

Thanks again.

jpastuch said:
OK. Thank you so much guys, all of the support means the world to me. I'm not a tech person by nature, this is just something I set out to do as a goal and I also have legit OCD that kind of sends me into meltdowns over small things. Everything seemed hopeless, but I'm gonna give it another go.

Thanks again.


Everyone's new to something or doesn't have a ton of knowledge about something at some point. It's all good. That's why we're here! :) 

jpastuch said:
how clean is clean enough as far as getting the older thermal paste off? Like, what if one faint little spec ended up on the side of the CPU's spreader and I did not notice? I rubbed it off with alcohol and did several dry passes too, and it seems I got all of it...


You're worrying way too much over nothing. Thermal paste is non-conductive.

have fun!

Just wanted to pop in and say I got everything on, screwed on (I did the criss cross method, may have started to cross thread (!!!) one of the screws, not sure).

ANYWAY, it's on tight (not too tight) and the heatsink does not move at all. Popped the fan on, breathed a sigh of relief.

Thanks again!

Oh yeah, one last thing for tonight, if anyone is around!

I'm going to do a test run to see if it posts, but I'm pretty beat and need to sleep for work tomorrow.

Will my mobo be safe just sitting on naked on my desk if no one goes in my room? The only thing that may touch it are dust and spiders. Still, is a bad idea to leave the case mounting until tomorrow?

Thanks again! I'm sure I'll be back tomorrow freaking out over motherboard mounting (after I heard you could accidentally short the entire board).

Thankfully the hdd and DVD drive aren't scary...
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