So I got mine today and just got done installing it a while ago. My case has a cutout behind the mobo so I didn't have to take anything out but I took out my video card for some extra room up front.
Had a little trouble putting in the back brace since the motherboard cutout isn't placed very well. It covers half of 2 holes.
Nothing a pair of needle nose pliers couldn't solve.
Cleaned off the CPU with Goof Off and alcohol and got to work on the new heat sink. The thermal paste that comes with it is certainly a paste. I thought it would be thinner, but this is pretty thick and dry. I smeared it into the cracks between the heat pipes and kinda played the rest by ear. I read
this and basically did what he did except I did 3 lines since there's more spaces on my heat sink.
Lined everything up and bolted it down. You can still twist the HS a bit; hope that's normal. I don't think it's going anywhere without me moving my case cross country though. Snapped the fan on and closed her up.
Turned my computer on and every thing works great! The fan is pretty quiet when I've got it set on auto or w/e. It has a speed where it starts squealing, but stops once it spins up faster or slower. Temperatures are pretty good. Cooler than ambient which is awesome since our AC is out and being fixed atm haha. My room is about 29.5C and Core Temp is showing 27C. Not sure if either thermometer is accurate but there ya go. I haven't really stressed it yet, but I did some stuff in Lightroom that maxes out the CPU and it topped out at 56C.
Can't wait till our AC is fixed haha.