Installation Tips

Thermalright AXP-140 installs only on LGA775 mainboards (as I have already said this new cooler is compatible with only one socket type) in a fairly simple manner (you can download the installation instructions here: PDF-file, 878KB). Since the cooler retention is already installed between the heatpipes above the cooler base, all we have to do is turn the cooler upside down holding on to the retention at the base, put the board on top and then tighten the screws through the backplate:

The cooler is pressed very firmly against the mainboard but the backplate prevents the PCB from bending when Thermalright AXP-140 is installed. This is what the heatsink looks like on the board:

As you can see, it covers the entire area around the CPU socket and hangs 15mm off the edge of the mainboard PCB when positioned this way. Note that it will be extremely inconvenient to plug in the 8-pin power connector, which is usually located in the upper left corner of the PCB.

If you install the cooler the way shown above, the right side of the heatsink will hit against the tall heat-spreader on the memory module in the first DIMM slot:

I had to bend the module a little. I do not recommend doing the same thing even if you happen to have the new Thermalright AXP-140 and tall memory modules. Make sure that your platform is compatible with the new Thermalright AXP-140 before you buy it. There won’t be any problems if the memory modules have regular heat-spreaders or none at all, because there is a 40mm distance fro the mainboard PCB to the lower heatsink plate edge:

But why did I stick to that particular positioning of the new Thermalright AXP-140 on my platform, namely, with the heatpipes ends facing up? Why not turn the cooler so that the heatpipes run parallel to the PCI-E slots on the mainboard? In this case the heatsink wouldn’t hit against the memory DIMMs. Here are a few other examples of how you could install Thermalright AXP-140 inside a system case:

The thing is that when we installed the cooler the way you see on the picture on the left, its efficiency dropped by 8-10°C under maximum CPU load compared with the installation when the heatpipe ends were facing up. What a tremendous difference! However, I wouldn’t hold only the heatpipe ends positioning responsible for it, especially, since the mere principle of any heatpipe functioning implies that there shouldn’t be any dependency like that at all. It will make sense to remember that the cooler base is very uneven and the central contact spot is a little off. It looks like the contact was best for the highest heat transfer efficiency when we installed the cooler with its heatpipes facing up. This is where the significant temperature difference is actually coming from. However, our Thermalright SI-128 SE sample features an almost absolutely even base, but it is also more efficient when installed with the heatpipes facing up. So, we will not completely exclude the dependency on the cooler positioning during installation :)

Thermalright AXP-140 can work with 120 x 120 x 25/38mm fans and 140 x 140 x 25/38mm fans. You should use two wire clips bundled with the cooler to attach any of these fans to the heatsink. This is what Thermalright AXP-140 with a fan looks like inside a system case:

It may also look like this:

By the way, you should better insert the wire clips into the heatsink before you install the mainboard with the cooler into the system case, because the heatsink size may make it pretty difficult to insert these clips once inside the case. Before attaching the fan you should also stick two silicon strips to the heatsink. They will lift the fan above the heatsink a little bit and will also reduce the resistance and lower the noise.