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Radiator screws on h80i too short - where to get longer screws or alternate options?


JaegerBane

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Hi,

After I fixed my Corsair Link issues (thanks to these awesome forums :laughing:), I've now got an issue in how to mount my radiator on the outer fan.

 

The supplied m3 long screws are *slightly* too short - they just say poke out of the fan back after being threaded through the case and the fan. It's not really enough to get a decent hold on the screw holes in the radiator.

 

Since corsair's 'support' on this issue amounts to 'sorry dude, you're on your own' (they won't even give me some dimensions to find new ones - cheers guys, much appreciated.... :evil:) I'm wondering what I can do.

 

My current outer fan is my old alienware one, which has a different mounting mechanism (4 m3 screws into radiator, 4 others mounted into case) which works way better than the corsair stock fan mounting, with the inner fan mounted using the supplied screws (since it doesn't go through the case).

 

The alienware r4 case is known to work fine with the h80i, so I'm suspicious that they've sent the right screws. I'd like to pair it with some Noctua NF-12s but with this screw situation, I'm not sure how it would work.

 

All my options have problems:

 

Corsair, in their infinite wisdom, chose to use what I'm guessing are bespoke screws, so finding longer ones is proving to be a chore. I did find some 40mm m4 screws with the right threading that would have worked fine, but are too thick.

 

My other option is put a nut on the back of the nearest thread hole on the fan to the case, and use a shorter m3 screw to mount it to the case, with separate m3 screws mounting the radiator to the fan (basically the same as I've done with the inner fan on the other side of the radiator). Unfortunately I can't access the gaps between the fan thread holes when the fan is sandwiched between the rad and the case, so I'd have to superglue the nuts on to hold them in place when I screw the screws in from the back of my case.

 

I also have a specialist screw place near me that, in theory, can make screws to my specs, but I've been advised there are structural issues making screws this thin over a certain length.

 

What would you all do? Just use bigger screws and make them fit, use nuts on the back and super glue the on, or go through the hassle of getting specialist screws made?

 

I really do wish corsair just stuck with standard fittings, mounting a damn fan on a case shouldn't be this hard....

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these screws are designed to barely poke thru the fan and firmly pressing on the screw while turning allows it to thread into the radiator..getting screws that stick out from the fan will let too much threads to go in the radiator as anything more than 4-5 threads will likely touch the radiator fins,,,something that care must be looked at...
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Yeah, I get that. There's about ~3mm clear of the fan when on the other side when it's threaded through the fan and case (there's about ~7mm clear without my case), I know it shouldn't go too far through. The problem is 3mm isn't really enough room for error when I can't see precisely where the screw and screw hole are when mounting it (due to the fact that radiator and fan sandwich together).

 

I might try it again when I get my Noctuas. I did try getting them threaded for the best part of two hours last time though (hence why I switched out to the old alienware stock fan). This isn't something that I've just tried once and given up on. For longer screws I can always use washers or nuts - shorter screws don't really offer any options.

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As I say, in theory I could have ones made that are identical to the screws that came with the cooler.

 

I'm a little concerned about your mention of 'any more than 4-5 threads will hit the rad'. 4-5 threads would be about how far the screws come out at ~3mm - are you saying if go any longer I'll mash the screws into the radiator?! Gah. I *hate* these kind of fittings...

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take a screw and thread it in the rad and that will give you an idea on how far you can go in.

of course the way the h80i is designed,if you did go too far in it would hit the cooling fins which does no harm,,but some people get upset even if this happens.

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