The Basics:

The only thing left in the pile of parts is the brightest, shiniest part. The huge turbine shaped heatsink.


This thing draws some attention without its covering. My wife and kids both had to stop and come over to take a closer look, just in case it was some form of jewelry and not one of my "geek computer thingies". I hated to disappoint them, but this thing really does shine.


Installation:

Once the parts were put back together it was time to remove my current heatsink, a Thermalright XP120, and install the Antazone AS-C1000. I could tell right away that this was not going to be a simple procedure and that removing my motherboard was going to be necessary. Once the motherboard was out, the XP120 and the stock mount were removed.

Now this is where things got kind of tricky. The Antazone heatsink uses the foam covered cross on the bottom and the other cross goes over the CPU pad on the top side. This much was easy, however the silver thumb screws that hold everything together pass through the underside cross then thread into the topside cross. In the pictures below you can see the thumbscrews sitting under the padded cross and then the motherboard placed over the top of that assembly.


Once that much is done and the processor is adequately greased up, the AS-C1000 is set in place and the second cross is placed on top. This is where you might want to grow three more hands, buy a couple more screwdrivers, and even then ask for some help. The idea here is to line up the small screw in the top cross with the locating hole in the heatsink, hold all this in place and thread the two screws into the top cross; very much easier to type than to accomplish. The first problem is the fact that the heatsink is now sitting on a nice gooey layer of compound and floats like it is on ice, Second issue is gravity itself, you have to keep all the parts upright and try to screw it all together from underneath, all while fighting a top heavy heatsink. With a little finesse, and a bit of help, the final results look like the picture on the right.