Installation

Due to the monstrous size of this heatsink, I highly recommend that you take a look at the motherboard compatibility list located here. If you're motherboard is not listed, ask around. But if it is, check to see if the SLK 900U will fit. One of the major requirements are holes in the PCB. If you don't have holes on your AMD motherboard, it's safe to say that you aren't going to be installing a heatsink that requires them. For those that can't use the SLK 900U, the SLK 800 is an awesome alternative. Those with P4 systems should have no problem fitting this heatsink on their P4 motherboard, most P4 motherboard's reserve more than enough space for a heatsink this size.

The owners Pentium 4 systems have an obvious advantage. Not only will this heatsink more than likely fit on their heatsink, but they will also have two options when it comes to installed their heatsink! The first option would be to use the P4 retention bracket. Thermalright includes two addon pieces that would convert the normal "bolt to board" attachment method into the P4 bracket method. The upside of using the bracket would be that the motherboard would not have to be removed to be installed. The other option would be to bolt directly to the board, requiring that the board be removed from the case. Because I have an AMD Athlon XP system, I will be covering the "bolt to board" method in more depth, because I can walk you through it.

The bolt to board method has many little pieces. I'd suggest taking the pieces out and using them in a place where the chance of them getting lost is slim to none. In my case, our carpet is a get half inch deep. If I had dropped any little washers down in there, they would most likely never see the light of day again and instead be sucked up inside the vacuum. That is why Thermalright was kind enough to include 1 extra washer of each size! So, if I had lost one, I would have still been in luck! The picture below shows all the little pieces that will be used for the "bolt-to-board" installation.

As stated on the compatibility list, the Asus A7N8X Deluxe does not have room for this heatsink, unless capacitors are extremely bent. I thought I would give it a try. The picture below shows the SLK 900U on an Asus A7N8X Deluxe.

Now I know what they mean by, "severe bending". I still can't believe I thought that I could get it to fit. To make the heatsink fit, all three of the capacitors would have to be bent in the direction of the arrow on the second picture. It was too much for me. If you have an Asus A7N8X, please use these pictures as a reference to your decision. (I actually have more pictures, so please contact me if you have any questions)

Due to SLK 900U not fitting on my A7N8X I had to go to plan B - test the heatsink on my old Gigabyte GA-7DXR. Getting it to fit on my 7DXR was pretty simple compared to what I would have had to do to my poor A7N8X. To begin with the installation, I should note that the processor must be inserted before the standoffs are installed. Why? With the standoffs in, the ZIF clip doesn't have enough room to open. Save yourself some hassle.

Next, before installing the standoffs, the size of the holes in your PCB should first be figured out. The below pictures show the two sizes.

If the holes on your motherboard resemble the one in the first image, they are most likely 6mm holes. However, if they resemble the holes seen in the second picture, they're most likely 4.2mm holes. With 6mm holes, the smaller plastic washer must be used on top of the larger plastic washer. Whereas with 4.2mm holes, only the smaller washer must be used.

To install this heatsink on my 7DXR, I had to use the smaller plastic washer on top of the larger one. I went ahead and followed the directions by placing my motherboard on top of the X-shaped piece of metal (which has plastic on it to prevent the piece of metal from shorting anything out). When the holes aligned correctly, I screwed in my standoffs with the correct washers. Here's what my outcome was.

Before I could put this heatsink on, I had to make sure I put the feet on. Thermalright included the 4 notches on the bottom of the heatsink to show where the feet are suppose to go. The feet were very simple to put on, and would be even simpler to put on with some tweezers.

With the standoffs in and feet on, I was ready to go all the way! I carefully placed the monster on top of my precious 2100+, aligning it with the standoffs as I lowered it. One capacitor did have to be pushed a little bit, but it was nothing compared to what had to be done to the A7N8X Deluxe. After the heatsink was in place, I put the metal washers below the spring load screws and began screwing them in. Be sure to go in a pattern that evenly distributes the weight the whole time, we don't want the core getting crushed now. (I used a criss-cross pattern).

With the heatsink on, it's time to test this baby out!