Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsInstallation difficult and bracket instructions for AMD 4 motherboard owners is misleading
Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2020
I bought the Ryzen 3200G CPU which comes with AMD's proprietary Wraith CPU cooler included, but it did not work very well. The stock CPU cooler fan hardly moved at all when using the PC to search the web, check mail, play music, watch a movie or using a word processor. The fan did, however, move when playing a PC game, but it seemed to be struggling to spin, never really spinning continuously.
I bought the PCcooler SF90 Premium CPU cooler to replace the Wraith cooler, but it was a challenge to install. The company instructions found on Amazon claim the included bracket was not needed to install the PCcooler in an AMD 4 motherboard, but I found you do need a bracket if you want to have the cooler firmly installed into the motherboard. Without a bracket the cooler would rest on the CPU with nothing to hold it in place but it's own weight and thermal paste which would not, of course, prevent the cooler from sliding off the CPU.
Unfortunately, the company instructions about the included bracket were misleading. They claimed the included bracket was not needed for an AMD 4 install, specifically stating you could install the cooler without a bracket. But the real truth is, as I stated above, you do need a bracket if you don't want your cooler to fall out of place. Secondly, it's not that the included bracket is not needed, it's that the included bracket is not compatible with the AMD 4 motherboard. The four mounting holes of the included bracket do not align with the mounting holes of the motherboards CPU bracket mounting plate.
I was, however, determined to figure out a way to use the included bracket, because I did not want to delay installing my new cooler by searching for a compatible bracket. I was able to line up two of the bracket mounting holes with two of the holes in the motherboards CPU mounting plate which would have the cooler installed at an angle facing the rear I/O inputs of the PC, but I could not use the bracket mounting hardware, because the fasteners were too big for the motherboards CPU mounting plate holes. Luckily I had a few screws used to mount the motherboard onto the PC case and was able to use those.
The best way to install the bracket and the cooler is to remove the motherboard from the PC case, otherwise you would have a hell of a time installing these items in the cramped space of the PC case. This is especially true when attaching the clips of the cooler to the bracket which will require a little force to fasten.
If you can deal with the installation issues the cooler may work for you. The price is right and if the cooler will work with no issues then I would consider it a good buy. I haven't had a chance to test it under gaming conditions yet and I haven't had enough time to see if it is dependable. I will post an update after using it for a bit.
