You would think a large company like Intel would take time to test out their products, but when it comes to their CPU cooler design I guess they didn’t. Well maybe they did test it, but not for multiple installs. What I’m really talking about is the clip design on the stock Intel cooler, you can see it pictured above. I don’t know who came up with this design, but it’s horrible!
The biggest flaw of the clip design is that it is made of plastic. Plastic breaks extremely easily and also is easy to bend out of place. The design is 4 plastic plungers that you press down through holes in your motherboard. These plungers will lock into place and you’re good to go. Sounds easy right? Well it is if you only intend on installing the cooler once. If you want to use the cooler on another system you are in for some headaches.
As you try to remove the cooler by ejecting the plungers they tend to bend, this makes them extremely hard to install again. Also as I said the entire plunger is made of plastic so it can easily break. The ends can break off, the locking mechanism can break, or the tip can break off. If anything happens to 1 of the plungers you’re screwed because the cooler will not be properly secured onto the CPU.
I have been accustomed to the AMD clip system, which is made of metal. There is a single clip that you attach on each side of the CPU socket. I have installed over 50 AMD CPU coolers and they all have been relatively easy using the clip system, or similar design. Since the Core 2 Duo has come out I have built 4 different systems and each time I have had issues the CPU cooler installation. Even a lot of the aftermarket Intel CPU coolers use the damn plastic plunger design.
There are 2 reasons I think Intel has stuck with this system. One you don’t have to remove the motherboard from the case to install the cooler. Two, a lot of consumers just install the cooler once and never change it, or use it on another system. I really don’t understand why they don’t just use a CPU bracket like AMD does, it would make things a lot easier. If not a bracket then at least revise the current cooler with quality parts that won’t break. If I paid over $200 for a CPU I would feel more comfortable knowing what is keeping it cool is being held into place by metal, not plastic.