Let’s take a moment and review thermal compound placement and quantity. Most manufacturers suggests using more thermal compound than normal on a heat pipe direct touch cooler, and I’m inclined to agree.

By placing the thermal compound on the two centermost pieces of the aluminum base plate, we can insure proper coverage of the valuable CPU. It appears that the mounting pressure on the Vortex Plus is excellent as the compound has evenly covered the base of the cooler.

Installing the Vortex Plus was relatively easy on my AMD system. I’ve detailed the steps below. Please note that the installation on Intel systems varies just slightly.

1. Attach the fan using the provided wire mounts.  Take your time with this step, as the wire clips have to be oriented just right or they will not hold the fan correctly. 
2. Apply thermal compound to the base.
3. Install the cooler by placing the device over the cpu and use the provided metal bar to clip to one side of the AMD CPU retention plate.  While holding the bar in one hand, take the fastening clip and place it over the end of the retention bar and use the lever to securely fasten the cooler.
4. Connect the fan power cable to your motherboard.

Time is upon us to load up the Vortex Plus with some heat and see how it performs.

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