Review

PCApex.com, November 22, 2006
Vigor Monsoon II TEC CPU Cooler

Manufacturer: Vigor Gaming

Sponsor: Vigor Gaming

Author: Dominik "Anonymous" Haas

Editor: Gary "GlitterKill" Mullins | Product info link. | Read similar articles. | Available at FrozenCPU.

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Installation

The Monsoon II comes in two versions: the AMD version, which includes mounting hardware for the 754, 939, 940, and AM2 sockets, and the Intel version for the LGA775 socket. Basically, your upgrade path is limited to the same chip manufacturer unless you can get your hands on the other set of mounting hardware.

Mounting is pretty straightforward, albeit tedious. You have to remove the motherboard and replace the stock socket with the supplied back plate. The easiest way I found is to spread the thermal paste on the IHS and stand the heat sink upside down on a soft surface. First, you'll need to orient or change the socket clips, shown in the first picture, to your respective socket type and case air flow. The air flow through the cooler should always flow parallel to the case air. A little dexterity is required with a pair of pliers and screw driver, but nothing too major. Next, you'll need to lay the motherboard on top of the cooler, followed by the back plate. All that's left is to align the holes from the socket clips, motherboard, and back plate, and finally screw in the "thumb screws". Easier said than done. If these instructions aren't enough, the user manual provides more information, or even better, Vigor's website, has a fully animated installation demo. The mounting mechanism is my other major gripe about this cooler, but I'm biased because I had to go through this procedure 20 times. It gets old really, really fast. Then again, the frequency with which I remount isn't representative of the average user.

One suggestion that I do have for Vigor is to include a spring mechanism, similar to the one used to connect the TEC to the base plate, for attaching the cooler to the motherboard. Without them, only a few turns of the screwdriver separates "tight enough" from cracked PCB. The only thing absorbing the stress of the screws before the PCB is the neoprene on the back plate, and that's only about a millimeter thick. Once again, common sense will get you far. Don't over tighten. Other than that, the mounting mechanism is very sturdy and quite capable of dealing with the significant weight of the cooler.

You can see just how large the cooler is in these pics. It dominates the motherboard once it is mounted, but I found no clearance issues on my DFI LanParty nF4 board. This is because the fins are offset from the PCB higher than even the RAM. If you have doubts about compatibility I'd contact Vigor first.

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