6 COOLING BRACKET
AHEAD OF INSTALLING our Noctua NH-U12S redux, we need
to put the bracket onto the back of the motherboard. Using
the correct LGA1700 backplate out of the box, slot this on the
back of the motherboard. On the pins from the backplate,
add the correct spacers for the socket—the blue ones were
the ones we needed on our build. Then add the brackets. You
have the choice between mounting vertically or horizontally,
but to ensure there was enough clearance for our RAM, we
chose to mount it vertically.
In the manual, there are three slots that the pins from the
backplate can slot into, ours was the middle slot. To finish
securing the bracket, we tightened up the thumbscrews onto
the pins and now we can add the rest of the cooler.7 CPU COOLER
THANKFULLY, our cooler had pre-applied thermal paste,
which even came in a nice hexagonal shape and made
the process a lot easier and tidier than if we had applied
it ourselves. To attach this to the CPU, we took off the fan
by unhooking the clips. This revealed both the screws that
align with the CPU bracket, so we gently dropped it down
into place and tightened it with a screwdriver. After this is
mounted, we attached the fan back onto the cooler block. To
maintain the same airflow with the rest of the build, we kept
this fan facing in the same direction as the others. We also
made sure that the cable came out of the back and attached
it to the CPU fan header on the motherboard. There was
some excess cable, so we looped this out of the way.10 THE JUICY PART
YES, THAT’S RIGHT, it’s time to add the GPU—there’s always
something so satisfying about hearing this component click
into place. To make room, remove the PCIe cover slots on
the back of the case that are aligned with the PCIe slot you
are using. It’s always best to use the uppermost slot on the
board possible. Like the RAM slots, release the clip on the
slot, align the notch on the GPU with the one on the board
and click it down into place. Then use some case screws to
tighten the mount onto the case.11 CASE CABLES
SO ALL OUR COMPONENTS are now in, but it’s no good if
nothing is connected, obviously. Before we bring the PSU
cables into the mix, we need to connect the case cables
and fan cables onto the board. Again, if you are unsure
about where to connect the cables, referring back to the
motherboard manual could save you a lot of time and
energy. Thankfully most headers on the board are named
which helps too. When connecting, try to pick the tidiest path
to route the cables through and be careful not to bend the
pins on the board as they are particularly fragile.APR 2022 MAXIMU MPC 23