Installation

Installing the SI-120 is a relatively simple affair. To install on a K8 (Socket 754/939/940) motherboard, the stock retention bracket has to be swapped for the one provided by Thermalright. This is simply a matter of removing two screws, lifting off the bracket, installing the supplied bracket in its place and then securing it with the screws provided.

The heatsink is then mounted by fastening the clips onto the holes in the bracket. The instruction manual tells you how to do this in sufficient detail. On a Socket 478 motherboard, the stock heatsink retention mechanism is used, which makes it an even simpler process.

The wires for holding the fan in place then go into holes on each side of the heatsink, after which you can mount a 120 mm fan of your choice, with or without the vibration dampening strips.

It's worth noting a couple of points here. First of all, since the clips hold onto the fan from the bottom, it gives you the option of using fans of either 25mm or 38mm thickness. This is unlike some other fan retention clips such as the ones provided with the Scythe Ninja. Those can only accomodate a 25mm-thick fan.

But by the same token, the fan you use must have a clear path between the screw holes on either side. This picture tells a thousand words.

As you can see, the fan on the left cannot be used with Thermalright's fan clips there's a plastic sleeve between the screw holes at each corner of the fan.

The fan pictured on the right was a Spire 120mm, and apparently Papst fans have the same problem.

However, all other fans from the likes of Sanyo Denki, Delta, Panaflo and Sunon are fine.

Here, you can see the Thermalright SI-120 with a 120mm fan mounted in my system. Looks pretty huge, doesn't it?

But this new design worked well to ensure that the SI-120 does not interfere with surrounding components on the motherboard.

On most motherboards, the overhang also serves to provide some airflow over the memory modules, which is an accidental but beneficial side effect.