Fitting the ArctiCooler onto yer Abit KT7
Date : Tuesday 21 November 2000
By : Wolfman

I am pretty sure many of you AMD lovers out there are using the Abit KT7 Socket A boards right? And I'm also purdy dang sure that you overclock your Durons or T-Birds with it! I know I did! While I still prefer the Alpha heatsinks over anything else anytime for cooling, I was very eager to try those cool HP Agilent ArctiCoolers that were brought into this part of the world by the good guys of Overclockers Arena. In fact, I got a couple of these slick looking coolers the very same day I got my KT7 and my Duron 700! I think the whole overclocking community in Singapore got it somewhere around the same time I did. I tell ya, it was creating such a stir over here at the time!

I got home and quickly unpacked all the stuff that I got and started to assemble them. Of course, a 2B mechanical pencil was already at hand and within minutes, my locked Duron was unlocked! :) I decided to use the ArctiCooler for cooling and also do a review of it too. But I was disppointed to see that the clip design on the cooler was preventing it to lock into the Socket A slug. Apparently, it was the curved part of the clip that's stopping me from getting the cooler on the chip! Damn! Tried as hard as I could, but nuthing works! The bottom part of the cooler was even scratching my Duron.

Thinking that it could be the design of the Socket A that's stopping me, I decided to try it on my P!!! 600E on the Abit BX133 board. And to my surprise, on the BX133 board, it was even worse! There's a row of tiny resistors or capacitors that's also preventing the curved part of the clip to lock into the slug! And the bottom of the cooler also scratched my FCPGA 600E! Arrgghh! I was getting pretty frustrated by this time. I decided to see what others have done so far and visited the local hardware site forum, HardwareZone, and ask around or see if anyone has successfully got theirs to fit.

Some got theirs to fit, but not the KT7 and the BX133, but on some other mobos. There are others who broke the cooler clip while others simply tried too hard and got a new keychain! Woah! This thing is scary! First it was the Gorbage that killed the CPU, now the ArctiCooler? Hhmm...I decided to cool things off a little and studied the clip design a little. On both the boards that I tried it on, it was the curved part of the clip that was preventing the proper sitting of the cooler onto the Sockets. If I can somehow remove that part without sacrificing the clip strength, I could get the cooler to fit!

So you can regard this article as a combo of a mod and installation guide but before we actually go into it, the usual disclaimer. :)

Disclaimer : Modifying the ArctiCooler will definitely void yer warranty and VH or OC Arena would not be responsible if you screw it up! :) Uuhh.....blame yerself! That's it!

The Agilent ArctiCooler from Overclockers Arena

Looks schweet doesn't it?

Cool looking fan...:)

As you can see from the diagrams below, the original clip has these curved part. According to Agilent's Installation Guide, these so-called latch tabs is used when you're going to remove the cooler from the socket.

The whole Socket A setup with the ArctiCooler

Ideal conditions

Not so ideal anymore eh? :)

A little mod sure goes a long way...:)

But the problem is I can't even get the damn thing in! So, I thought, if I can somehow cut that part away, I could be able to fit the coolers into the sockets. Some kind souls in the HardwareZone forum has done it too it seems and has posted their solutions there too. They used a hand file to remove off a little of that part and got theirs to fit their mobos. I prefer the faster way! And there's no other faster and easier way than the Dremel! :) So here we go guys! Gentlemen, start yer Dremel!

Using a small clamp, I securely fix the cooler and start cutting away the curved part. It was an easy job and it took me less than 5 minutes to completely removed it and smooth things out a little.

Another murder? Nah..just torture! LOL

Here you see both end of the clips with the curved part removed. I didn't noticed any weakening of the clip after the mod job though. It was as tough as before. I did this mod to both my ArctiCoolers. Now this thing will definitely fit my KT7! Now the modding guide has been completed! Let's see how I fit this baby in!

Both clips modded!

Front clip modded.

Rear clip modded.

My Duron ready for some ArctiCooler luvin!

The first thing I did was to make sure that the front clip now can easily seat into the Socket slug. It fits like a charm now on my KT7! Woohoo! You can see the cooler hanging on from the front clip! :)

Let the first clip sits into the socket plugs...

The next thing to do is to hold the cooler flat to the mobo or the CPU. Do this slowly. Do not use excessive force or you'll end up with a keychain! I know someone did! LOL!

Then hold the sink flat....or almost. :)

While still holding the cooler flat on the CPU, use a long nose plier to bend the rear clip outwards and down into the rear Socket slug. Alternatively, you can also push down on the clip with yer other hand until the clip snaps into the slug by itself.

Push down on the rear clip, or use a long-nose pliers..

If you do it correctly, the cooler should be sitting pretty right now on your CPU, ready for action. If not, you'll hear a loud cracking sound and.....ROFLMAO! Juz joking!

There! Safe and sound!

I then proceed to the check the contact between the heatsink and the CPU die and it seems purdy snug. I then tried to remove the cooler just to see how difficult it was, but it wasn't! You just have to do the reverse procedure of putting it in. There are no scratch marks or broken CPU core on my Duron whatsoever...

I'm sure you wanna know the results of the heatsink on my Duron right? Well, that's coming soon in another separate review/round-up, so watch this space! In the meantime, good luck modding your ArctiCooler clip! If you got any questions, send it to me!