Arctic Freezer 34 E Sports Duo issues

[[TW]Fox]

Hi guys,

I picked up the above cooler to go with my Ryzen 5600X and Asus B550-E Gaming. It was advertised as AM4 compatible.

Upon fitting it was clear the supplied brackets don't fit the backplate on the Asus board - the standoffs are the wrong diameter and therefore the backplate is loose. I did a bit of a googling and it seems this is a known issue and all you have to do is contact Arctic who send the right part out.

Easier said than done.

I've contacted them numerous times since discovering this a week ago and they simply do not reply. It's not like I've picked an obscure motherboard brand - to not advertise this on the packaging seems somewhat unfair.

Anyone else had issues and short of throwing the whole thing in the bin and getting something else what can I do?

 

[[TW]Fox]

stock backplates can differ with the high of the threads. That's the issue.

Yup, the threads come through the board and extend a few mm above the height of the board so the supplied standoffs don't fit properly. I can't see how the cooler will fit closely to the CPU when the bracket is free to move up and down?

Is this likely to be an issue with other coolers? I'm wondering what to get instead. Very disappointed that Arctic not only fail to mention this but then fail to engage with you either.

 

[[TW]Fox]

How does this happen? The standoffs are tight to the backplate screw hole and physically won't go down any further? I can't see how the gap that allows movement can ever be closed without a different standoff being fitted.

 

[[TW]Fox]

I've just ordered a Noctua U12S instead (Hope Gibbo posts it out today ) and the Freezer can go in the bin. I am amazed at how poor the customer service has been from Arctic.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Did you even try to put the cooler on or did you give up when the back plate was loose? You dont need to close the gap between the standoffs and the motherboard once you tighten the cooler down it pulls the backplate tight against the motherboard

I stopped when it felt like it wasn't going to work, did some research and encountered lots of other posts indicating that it needed an adaptor Arctic sent out free of charge in order to fit.

The cooler screws to the bracket - if the bracket itself is loose how does screwing the cooler down to it change anything? The issue is that the standoffs and the stock backplate just move about freely. I can't see how I can clamp anything down onto the CPU when there is movement between those two parts? I'll be securing fixing the heatsink to a bracket that isn't secure.

You may be right - but if Arctic had ever bothered to answer my support ticket they may have been able to explain this. They didn't