incompatibility [SOLVED] Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 Rev. 3 Motherboard Incompatibility (Strix X570-E Gaming)

[gal-m]

Hello all.

 

I have decided to purchase an Arctic Cooling Liquid Freezer II 360 AIO (rev. 3), as I've heard wonderful things about this AIO liquid cooler.

I was hoping to cool my AMD Ryzen 9 5900X CPU with it, installed in an Asus ROG Strix X570-E Gaming motherboard. I proceeded following the official installation instructions for motherboards featuring the AMD (AM4) socket. I used the correct AMD standoffs (as seen in my video) and proceeded screwing in the mounting clips, with the four provided screws. After that I noticed my motherboard backplate had LOTS of vertical play - it seemed VERY loose (check the video, link bellow), after which I noticed this compatability warning depicted in the image bellow:

 

It would appear that my Asus ROG Strix X570-E Gaming motherboards backplate is incompatible with the official Arctic AM4 installation procedure. I have made a YouTube video showcasing the issue: 

 

 

On their support page it says: "If your motherboard is equipped with such non-compatible backplate, please contact us here to get a compatible one free of charge", so I'm thinking about doing that.

 

Has anyone else had this issue? I would deeply appreciate if any of you could provide me with further info/experiences, etc.

 

Thank you all for your time!

[narrdarr]

Yes you can do that. They should send you the rev 2 mounting hardware.

[Tristerin]

Sounds like Arctic is doing the right thing, and has ZERO control over motherboard manufacturers and their backplate used.  Good on Arctic.  Love their products.

[gal-m]

8 minutes ago, narrdarr said:

Yes you can do that. They should send you the rev 2 mounting hardware.

Thank you, I will try that ASAP! I have also noticed someone mentioned on the topic bellow reported he in fact DOES have the REV. 3 version successfully mounted to an X570 STRIX motherboard.. just not sure how he did that.

 

[gal-m]

Hello all. The problem is now SOLVED.

 

@narrdarr's solution is NOT NEEDED.

 

As I suspected the key thing here is to ALSO install the CPU, as the trick, I believe, is that instead of the cold plate applying pressure to the CPU, the actual CPU gets PULLED TO the cold plate of the Arctic LF II Rev. 3 cooler - so the whole thing works like a clamshell, I think. After tightening the thumbscrews, the backplate should press against the back of the motherboard as well.

 

There is also a difference between the standard and offset mounting procedure, where the standard mounting procedure covers the whole CPU, but the temperatures are actually a bit higher, which is interesting! The offset (as the name would suggest) actually leaves some of the CPU exposed (it is aprox. 90% covered with thermal paste), but your temperatures get lowered.

 

TO ANYONE EXPERIENCING CLEARANCE ISSUES WITH M.2 COVERS: Some AMD AM4 motherboards are unfortunately not compatible with the offset mount for Ryzen 3000/5000 series. If the mounting clips collide with components surrounding the socket area, you NEED to assemble the cooler using the STANDARD mounting method without offset. (https://support.arctic.ac/index.php?p=lf2-360r3)

 

 

SUMMARY: The Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 Rev. 3 IS FULLY COMPATIBLE with the Asus ROG Strix X570-E Gaming motherboard.

• There is NO NEED to request rev. 2 mounting hardware (unless you'd like to)
• THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO NEED to damage your motherboard by "modifying" (aka. ruining) your m.2 shield
• There is however EXTREMELY tight clearance between the mounting clips and caps on the left side of the board

 

FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS.

[gal-m]

Just a quick update: 

 

 

GN explains a lot of what I'm talking about in this video.

 

[Hophopcu]

On 1/15/2021 at 6:07 PM, gal-m said:

Hello all. The problem is now SOLVED.

 

@narrdarr's solution is NOT NEEDED.

 

As I suspected the key thing here is to ALSO install the CPU, as the trick, I believe, is that instead of the cold plate applying pressure to the CPU, the actual CPU gets PULLED TO the cold plate of the Arctic LF II Rev. 3 cooler - so the whole thing works like a clamshell, I think. After tightening the thumbscrews, the backplate should press against the back of the motherboard as well.

 

There is also a difference between the standard and offset mounting procedure, where the standard mounting procedure covers the whole CPU, but the temperatures are actually a bit higher, which is interesting! The offset (as the name would suggest) actually leaves some of the CPU exposed (it is aprox. 90% covered with thermal paste), but your temperatures get lowered.

 

TO ANYONE EXPERIENCING CLEARANCE ISSUES WITH M.2 COVERS: Some AMD AM4 motherboards are unfortunately not compatible with the offset mount for Ryzen 3000/5000 series. If the mounting clips collide with components surrounding the socket area, you NEED to assemble the cooler using the STANDARD mounting method without offset. (https://support.arctic.ac/index.php?p=lf2-360r3)

 

 

SUMMARY: The Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 Rev. 3 IS FULLY COMPATIBLE with the Asus ROG Strix X570-E Gaming motherboard.

• There is NO NEED to request rev. 2 mounting hardware (unless you'd like to)
• THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO NEED to damage your motherboard by "modifying" (aka. ruining) your m.2 shield
• There is however EXTREMELY tight clearance between the mounting clips and caps on the left side of the board

 

FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS.

Hi Gal-m,

 

Did u use offset mount or standart mount? I have Rev.2 mounting clips and its work like a charm, no issues at all. Anyway, several days ago i send email to Arctic support and now they are sending me Rev.4 AMD offset mounting kit. In another forum i read that with Rev.4 clips, u can use offset kit with x570-E or Dark Hero MB. Do you know anything about that?

 

A little bit different than Rev.3

https://support.arctic.ac/lf2-360r4

[gal-m]

On 2/27/2021 at 7:12 AM, Hophopcu said:

In another forum i read that with Rev.4 clips, u can use offset kit with x570-E or Dark Hero MB. Do you know anything about that?

Hey @Hophopcu and sorry for the late reply, I must have missed your notification!

 

There is a difference between the standard and offset mounting procedure, where the standard mounting procedure covers the whole CPU, but the temps are actually a bit higher. The offset leaves some of the CPU exposed, but your temps get lowered.

I am (going) to use the standard mounting procedure, because the Strix X570-E is incompatible with offset (Rev. 3), due to m.2 shield proximity.

 

I am not sure about Rev. 4.. I think GN must have mentioned that in the video linked above

 

Will you let us know, if and/or when you try installing using Rev. 4?