iKillSteal Posted May 25, 2007 Posted May 25, 2007 I was originally going to order the Copper Butterfly as my new HS but due to some financial issues, I had to go with the Cooler Master GeminII which put me right at the edge of my budget with 2 fans. I got it a little over 4 hours ago from the UPS man and spent 3 HOURS installing it. It's an amazing cooler if you use a good pair of high-cfm fans on it like I did. But anyway, time to get to the bad news. If you have a motherboard such as mine where the cpu socket is about 4-5cm away from all the connections(usb, vga, etc...) on the back of the motherboard and a mid tower(18.0cmx41.1cmx47.2cm (W x H x D)) like my case, you will have one heck of a time getting this into your computer... One of the fans sits flush against the backside of my case and on the other side they are just a little over half a cm away from the molex connector of my dvd drive. :angry2: Because of it, I can only use 1 extra fan in my case, which is absolutely fine with me because this thing pushes so much air everywhere. I'll try to get some pictures in so you guys can see exactly what I mean but since I don't have a digital camera of any kind(folks still believe that film is overall cheaper than digital <_< ) it may take me some time. If you're getting it, make sure to install your ram and connect your 24 pin power cable(and 4 pin cable) BEFORE you drop it into the board. I made the mistake of not doing that so I had to remove the motherboard just to get the 24pin power cable connected. Then I realized that I forgot the extra 4pin power cable. Removing the motherboard at this point was too big of a hassle thanks to the 24pin power cable so I had to unscrew my PSU, slide it into my case, reach into my case(cut myself in the process ) from the PSU opening and then connect it. Stuff like that probably won't be too big of a problem with full atx boards that have all their connections spaced out and in the open, but micro atx users need to be careful of connector placement. If you're thinking of building a rig with this cooler, make sure the motherboard you get has all power related connections FAR away from the cpu socket. That will make your life so much easier. Overall I'm very happy with this cooler. Idle dropped from 37c, with the stock AMD heatsink, to a nice 31c and load dropped from 46c to 36c with an ambient temp of about 25c. The reviews really do it no justice at all but they're spot on when they complain abut the size of this beast. I just wanted to warn you guys if you were considering buying this for something like an HTPC or anything like that. You can get it in but it will require some serious work and cable routing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlimmerMan Posted May 26, 2007 Posted May 26, 2007 When you put a heatsink that big on a micro atx board, what do you expect??? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iKillSteal Posted May 26, 2007 Posted May 26, 2007 (edited) When you put a heatsink that big on a micro atx board, what do you expect??? That's just it, though. I did tons of measuring and all that to make sure that I would have room and it somehow ended up being bigger than I anticipated. It looks pretty tiny in the pictures but it's not...at all. And there's no reason to get snappy. I was just warning anyone who might consider buying it. <_< The reviews are a bit too nice when they talk about the size of this thing. Edited May 26, 2007 by iKillSteal Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyper Threaded Posted May 27, 2007 Posted May 27, 2007 Seems as you're the gimp here.. that heatsink was obviously not made for mATX systems. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iKillSteal Posted May 28, 2007 Posted May 28, 2007 Seems as you're the gimp here.. that heatsink was obviously not made for mATX systems. Well then let me restate my warning in a way that would please all those taking shots at me. This cooler is NOT for cluttered motherboards. Any mobo could have problems with this cooler, not just micro atx boards. Why people hone in and single out the fact that I have it on a micro atx board without thinking about the possibility that there could be problems with other form factors is beyond me. Everyone is just looking for faults to exploit, I guess Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
werty316 Posted May 28, 2007 Posted May 28, 2007 (edited) Lesson learned and because of its mass, I wouldn't have even tried. Edited May 28, 2007 by werty316 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iKillSteal Posted May 28, 2007 Posted May 28, 2007 It's actually not as heavy as you'd think by reading the specs. There's absolutely no bending with my board and if you're smart, you'll find something to anchor that beast onto if you're paranoid about it slipping(such as a psu's fan grill). Plus it's shiny and sexy. And we all know the most important thing about computers is how they look. That 4 thousand dollar paint job actually adds 10fps to all games you play Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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