Installing Thermalright's Archon SB-E
The Archon SB-E includes the cooler and AMD/Intel universal installation kit from Thermalright’s Archon Rev.A, plus an LGA 2011-specific standoff set.
While other platforms get to this point using long nuts and a separate support plate, LGA 2011 standoffs screw directly to the motherboard’s integrated cooler mount.
The Archon SB-E’s top bracket is installed onto standoffs using small screws.
Self-adhesive vibration dampening pads are most easily stuck to the cooler before attaching it to the motherboard.
The cooler is then clamped down to the hold-down plate using an included strap.
Note that the strap only centers the CPU cooler front-to-back, leaving around ¼” of side-to-side adjustability.
The fan’s lead is then plugged into the motherboard, and the fan itself clipped to the heatsink. Note that the fan cannot be rotated 90° because its hole pattern is rectangular rather than square. No matter how far we slide the base, the Archon SB-E always hangs past our top video card slot. Thus, we were forced to test the cooler with our graphics card in slot position three, which means that it wasn’t tested in a standard configuration. We’ll make sure to mention this as we discuss our thermal findings.