Solved Stuck on upgrading CPU cooler

MisterEd said:

When I upgraded my main desktop last December I replaced the 8-year old Corsair H60 water cooler. A lot of people have been saying that a good air is the best option. I bought a Scythe Mugen 6 tower air cooler. It works very well.

The problem is that I have to remove the CPU cooler every time I have to do anything inside the computer. I can't even remove the graphics card without removing the CPU cooler first.

I decided to remove the CPU air cooler and replace it with another CPU water cooler. The Cooler Master case I have can accept either a front 240mm or 280mm water cooler. That is the only option shown in the manual. I picked a Cooler Master 240 Atmos because it is highly rated.

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The radiator should be above the CPU cooler to reduce air bubble issues.

Rollback_Jockey said:

The radiator should be above the CPU cooler to reduce air bubble issues.

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Except when it isn't.

The main thing is to not have the pump (typically in the block that mounts to the CPU) being the highest point in the cooling loop. Reportedly, if there is trapped air in the pump, the air may reduce the pump's effectiveness and reduce its life span.

Mounting the radiator vertically is common. That would allow the radiator to receive cold air from outside the case. (The downside would be dumping the CPU heat into the case.) Ideally, the hoses would connect to the radiator at the lowest point, so that there are no trapped air bubbles at the connections, but that may not be possible.

I sometimes worry about my CPU AIO cooler. It has the pump built into the radiator, not the block. I have it in the top of the case, because the hoses are too short to mount it elsewhere. I hope that Silverstone has configured things so the pump sees no trapped air.

Before I continue, I want to show why this has been such a trying experience...I have had a home computer since 1979. I have been building desktop computers since 1997. I worked with computer hardware professionally from 1980 to 2004.

Working with computers has been very challenging in recent years because I suffer from chronic fatigue. Right now, my vision is dimmished to the extent that even with reading glasses and a magnifying glass, things are still a little blurred. I will be getting laser surgery in December. After that I may also need prescription glasses.

I want to thank everyone that took the time to help me with my problem. I have decided to reinstall the Scythe Mugen 6 and return the Cooler Master 240 Atmos to Amazon.

While reading the instructions for reinstalling the Scythe Mugen 6 I realized that I had installed it backwards in January. I had the fan on the back instead of the front of the cooler. Putting the fan on the front gives more room to access the PCIe release lever. Since I have already put the computer back together I have not been able to test this.

After I put the computer back together I had a couple problems:

Problem #1: DVD does not show in File Explorer. However, it is seen and can be accessed in Disk Management.
Solution #1: In Device Manager uninstall IDE/SATA. After scanning for changes this device comes back. The DVD now shows up in File Explorer.

Problem #2: Neither USB 3.0 ports on case front panel are working.
Solution #2: Opening case revealed 20-pin USB 3.0 connector had been unplugged. Plugging it back in motherboard restored USB 3.0 front panel ports.

Problem #3: DVD had disappeared again in File Explorer.
Solution #3: I had to repeat the solution #1 again.
Note #3: The motherboard and CPU had been upgraded in January. The system went from AMD X370 to a B550 chipset. I did not reinstall Windows. I suspect a clean install of Windows 11 will be necessary to clean up bugs like this. This will be done at a later date.

Photo #1: Computer case front. Note the following:
The orignal 140m case fan has been reinstalled
The 2.5"/3.5" 2-drive bay has been reinstalled
The 5.25" 2-drive bay has been reinstalled
The Blue-ray/DVD burner has been reinstalled in the 5.25" bay



Photo #2: Inside the computer. Note the following:
The 5.25" and 2.5"/3.5" drive bays can be seen on the right
The Scythe Mugen 6 CPU can be see on the left. Note the fan is now on the right side.



Photo #3: Details inside the computer. Note the following:
The PCIe release lever can be seen. Hopefully it can be reached now.
The 20-pin USB 3.0 connector can be seen without the front panel cable plugged into it.



The original intention of working on my computer was to upgrade the two internal M.2 NVMe SSDs.

MBD: ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming WiFi II
M.2 SSD slots
#1: supports PCIe 4.0 x4 & SATA modes
#2: supports PCIe 3.0 x4 & SATA modes

Old drives *
#1: XPG SX8200 Pro (2TB) (TLC; PCIe 3.0 x4)
#2: Intel 660p (2TB) (QLC; PCIe 3.0 x4)
New drives
#1: Samsung 990 EVO Plus (2TB) (TLC; PCIe 4.0 x4)
#2: Samsung 990 EVO Plus (4TB) (TLC; PCIe 4.0 x4)

Photo #4: Comparison of the old and new SSD speeds.
Note the new SSDs are faster than the old ones.
I didn't test the boot speeds before and after but the computer seems to boot faster.

The Mugen 6 is designed so that a second fan could be added, on the back. It'd need to be oriented so that is moving air in the same direction as the front fan (toward the rear of the case).

I'm not sure whether the cooling would suffer if you used a single fan there.

I had to figure out what you meant by "PCIE lever". I presume you meant the latch at the end of the PCI-E slot.



I usually flipped that using a long flat bladed screwdriver. (Carefully. A flat wooden stick would be safer.) I have no idea why having the fan on the back of the cooler would have interfered with it.

It may not be necessary to re-install Windows. You may be able to improve things by going to system>recovery, and selecting "Reinstall now". That basically does a repair install, but online rather than from an ISO. (It makes windows.old, just like an upgrade form an ISO.) This assumes that you have a reliable Internet connection.

I used a long screwdriver the first time but never again. There is too much a chance of damaging something. For some reason the latch is hard to move now. I may have damaged it when I used a screwdriver. Note I was going blind before when trying to press the latch because I couldn't see it. That was because the distance between the cooler to the GPU was only about 0.5". Also, the graphics card, an ASUS ROG-STRIX-RTX3060TI-08G-V2-GAMING, is quite large and hard to maneuver in such a tight and blind space.

I may try a repair install of Windows 11 if I have any more problems. For now it is best to leave things alone.

MisterEd said:

I used a long screwdriver the first time but never again. There is too much a chance of damaging something. For some reason the latch is hard to move now. I may have damaged it when I used a screwdriver. Note I was going blind before when trying to press the latch because I couldn't see it. That was because the distance between the cooler to the GPU was only about 0.5". Also, the graphics card, an ASUS ROG-STRIX-RTX3060TI-08G-V2-GAMING, is quite large and hard to maneuver in such a tight and blind space.

I may try a repair install of Windows 11 if I have any more problems. For now it is best to leave things alone.

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You have my sympathy. So far, my only vision issue is presbyopia. (Lack of accommodation.) Half a century ago, my eyes could focus from 6" (15cm) to infinity. Reading glasses can't replace that.