Scythe Zipang installation problematic

[ivx]

Today I received the Scythe Zipang I ordered from NCIX.

I used Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound instead of the thermal compound supplied with the Zipang. Then came the difficult part...

Installing the Zipang was problematic for me because of the push pins. Knowing what I know now I probably would have opted for a heatsink that used screws rather than push-pins.

Each time I got one push-pin locked in, I would push the push-pin diagonal from it and the previous one would pop out. This caused the Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound to smudge around, though it never spilled over the edges of the CPU or heatsink (not sure if that should be a concern).

That method was going nowhere so I decided to lock in the push-pins in clockwise order.

Sometimes the push-pins appeared to go all the way into the socket but they did not make the clicking sound when doing so, therefore I am uncertain if they actually locked!

Moreover, when three of the four pins did lock, it appeared that the motherboard was warping a little from the tension.

Finally, I got all four push-pins in, though again I am not sure if each is locked in, but that was the best I could do. I didn't want to try to push the pins in any harder out of fear of breaking the motherboard. It may not be advisable, but I lifted the motherboard by the Scythe Zipang and jiggled it ever so slightly just to see how secure it actually was to the motherboard and thankfully there was no movement, therefore it seemed secure.

Mounting the Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L (rev. 1.0) motherboard back into the Antec P182B mid-tower case was easy except the Zipang is so large that it obstructed me from putting in a mounting screw at the top left corner of the motherboard. I am not sure if this should be of concern.

What I am concerned about is that if the push pins on the Zipang are not fully locked to the motherboard how that will effect the efficiency of the heatsink? I assume it will have a negative effect.

Right now my Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 temperatures at idle (if typing here and uTorrent running in the background counts as idle) are:

CPU: 24 °C (75 °F)
CPU #1 / Core #1: 30 °C (86 °F)
CPU #1 / Core #2: 35 °C (95 °F)

Is this a good temperature with the Zipang in conjunction with my CPU type?

Other fans operating in the case are the Antec P182B exhaust fan at the high setting, and a Silen-X 90mm 14db intake fan (which happens to be the loudest fan in the system). The GPU is an Asus EN9600GT Silent Edition which is running at 39 °C (102 °F), so there is no fan on the GPU.

Also, as a side note question: I don't understand the three differing temperatures of the CPU. Which temperature(s) should I be most concerned with?

Thanks in advance for any replies to my post.

[bgavin]

The Zipang in combination with P182 cases gets ugly. I removed the top fan grille from my case, so I could gain hand access. This doesn't show with the external beauty shield installed. Can't do this with a customer machine, though.

Mine is on an ABit IP35 board. The AT12V connector is at the extreme upper left corner of the board... this is a challenge, for sure. You have to connect the AT12V before mounting the board, or remove the top fan grille.

I refuse to mount something size of Zipang with push pins. I use the Thermalright 775 kit. It is a PIA to install, but works great. Arctic Silver 5 applied as a rice-kernel sized blob works perfect. My E8400 runs 24C at stock clocking. I get this same performance on several Gigabyte and the ABit boards.

I use the Red Scorpion 140mm fan at 1200 rpm for a bit better cooling. The stock 500rpm fan is too anemic. The RS fan is quiet, and cools NB, SB and VRM very well.

[ivx]

Mine is on an ABit IP35 board. The AT12V connector is at the extreme upper left corner of the board... this is a challenge, for sure. You have to connect the AT12V before mounting the board

Indeed.