Installation
Installation with the Ice Blade Pro is pretty easy. It’s a complete tool-free installation, so you won’t need any bulky tools. For this installation we used an Intel Q6600 LGA 775 processor. For all Intel installations you will need to use the included backplate. The LGA 775 installation will use the four holes closest to the center. There is a black material attached to the back of the backplate to ease the pressure on the back of the motherboard.
The backplate installation is a little tricky. You have to flip the motherboard over, align the backplate and place four screws in the holes. You’re then supposed to use the four hexagonal nuts to fasten it to the front side of the motherboard. There are two ways you can do this: the first is to just place the backplate on a flat surface and place the screws underneath and attach it without ever having to flip over the motherboard, or you can attach everything to the motherboard and hold it at a 45 degree angle so that you can attach the screws while not having the screws fall out (like if you would place the motherboard vertical).
Then apply the included thermal grease to your CPU and pull out the retention plate which you will need for installing the heatsink to the motherboard.
Then you can slide the retention plate over the form fitting slot on the top of the heatsink base, align the heatsink so that the heatpipes are facing up/down, not left/right, and secure the retention plate to the backplate mount with the four thumbscrews.
You can then install the fan using two of the four included steel fan clips. They are a little tighter/harder to attach than other fan clips I’ve previously seen. It’s not impossible, but it’s certainly not easy; a flat blade screwdriver does help a lot for these types of fan installations.
You shouldn’t have any issues connecting any cables or securing the motherboard to your case because the Ice Blade Pro isn’t blocking anything. You should also have a good bit of clearance on all sides.
Once you power the fan on it illuminates the motherboard and case rather well.
