Why does nobody check if their cooler backplate lines up before mounting

I just spent 45 minutes trying to wrangle an air cooler onto an AM5 board. Every build log I see on here has the cooler mounted all crooked or the screws barely catching. I noticed it because I used to skip the step where you test fit the backplate against the motherboard tray cutout. My last build had a Noctua cooler where one screw was basically floating because the backplate shifted. It's not hard people just hold the backplate with one hand while you start the screws. Has anyone else had a cooler that just wouldnt sit flat no matter what?

2 comments

2 Comments

danielmartinez1mo ago

Bruh that Noctua backplate slipped on me too had to redo the whole thing twice.

alice_reed4729d ago

oh man tell me about it. i was so proud of myself for getting the cooler on without any thermal paste disasters and then that backplate just slid right out of my greasy little fingers. basically spent an hour trying to fish it out from behind the motherboard tray with a pair of chopsticks. my build looks like a crime scene still have fingerprints all over the case from that struggle. at least i learned to hold the thing with tweezers and some tape next time lol.