1700 bracket won't slide into XC7 RGB Elite LCD

[Loss Mentality]

The XC7 comes with two sets  of bracke ts, one for AMD, and one for Intel 1700. They come in two pieces - they're essentially split in half. The 1700 bracket is what I need to use (bottom picture below).

You must slide each half of the bracket into a narrow slit that runs around the edge of the block; each half of the bracket slides into opposite sides of the block. When you slide them in all the way, such that they are fully seated, the two arms of each half meet, and the screws out at the edges of the bracket line up with the holes in the backplate mounting bracket.

The problem I'm having is that I can only get one of the bracket halves fully seated (middle picture below; the right-hand half is seated, but the left-hand half, pointed at with a screwdriver, is not).

I can see why this is happening. Inside the slit, there are small pillars that look to be the wells for the screws that hold the top half of the block to the bottom half. Two of the opposite sides have wells right in the middle of the slit that prevent you from fully seating the bracket (or they prevent that for the intel brackets, anyway - it's a different story for AMD, more on that below).

As for the other two sides, which you must use for the intel bracket, one of those sides has no screw well in the middle. In the middle pic below, that's the right-hand side. With no well in the middle of the slit, the bracket on that side can be fully seated.

But the other side has a well. Unlike the sides adjacent to that one, this well does not travel the full width of the slit - I can see a gap in it, which is maybe supposed to be wide enough to let the bracket on that side slide fully seat. But it's not wide enough, and it's clear that this half-well is the obstruction that is preventing the bracket from seating.

Now, the AMD bracket (top pic below), which, again, is not the one I need, has notches in the bracket in the middle of one of the bracket sides (one such notch is being pointed at with a screwdriver in the pic). For the hell of it, I tried sliding the AMD brackets in. As I expected, they slid in with no issue, as the notches fit around the wells, allowing them to fully seat.

How do I fix this? Did I get the wrong parts?

I'm seriously wondering that because, strangely, the one well that is blocking one-half of the intel bracket is the only well that doesn't run all the way across the slit, almost as if it was designed to let the bracket slide past it despite the well's presence. But the clearance in that half-well is just not enough. To me, it looks to be about half the clearance I need.

And then there's the AMD brackets with their notches - were the intel brackets supposed to have those notches and I just got sent the wrong bracket (maybe from some other CPU block model).

Or am I just missing something obvious?

Thanks

 

 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2023 by Loss Mentality

[Loss Mentality]

Can't seem to edit my first post. But looks like maybe I did get the wrong brackets in the package. This is a screencap from the install guide. It's a schematic representation of the intel bracket. It's got notches in the sides for the screw wells, like the AMD bracket shown above. If the intel brackets that actually came with myXC7 had notches like these, I'm sure the brackets would slide in. 

 

[BlueFish1]

Did you end up getting this resolved? I have the same problem you did. 

[Loss Mentality]

@BlueFish1

Sorry for the delay in replying. Solution for me was RMA.

I contacted Corsair the day I made this post. I heard back 3 days later, and after discussing back and forth for a few days, they agreed there was a problem and that it had to be RMAed. This took about 6 days in total, but the replacement shipped the day they agreed to RMA. They asked me to send the problem unit back to them for analysis (they paid for shipping).

Overall, a good resolution, if a bit slow.

As to what the problem was: I had wondered in my OP if the intel brackets needed notches in them like the AMD. They stated that no, I had the right brackets, and the picture of the intel  brackets in the user manual (the one I pasted above) was wrong. They said they'd put a notice in to get that corrected.

In the end, they didn't tell me what the problem was (they may not know yet), but my best guess is as follows. 

If the person I dealt with was right about the brackets not needing a notch, then the only other option I can see is that the screw well that was causing the problem I described in my OP should not be there. But it's hard to believe that the XC7 got all the way through and into production with a problem like that. It'd have failed the first time it was tested with intel brackets.

Instead, I think the bottom half of the block I got - the half with the screw well - was the bottom half of a different model of Cosair CPU water block. It'd make sense that they'd make parts that could be used in multiple models using similar top-to-bottom half mounting designs and parts (e.g. screws).  So I think there is a bottom half for another model that can be fully assembled (that is, can be mounted to the top half of) with the XC7, but that has this extra little well inside that prevents mounting of the intel brackets. If this is right, they've got a problem on their line, both assembly and HQA, where some XC7s are going out with the wrong bottom halves. 

I don't see another explanation except for possibly that they were wrong when they told me the intel brackets shouldn't have notches.

I'm just hoping the replacement I get won't have the same problem.

Anyway, I'd suggest you contact them for RMA ASAP and refer to my post here. I referred to it myself when I contacted support directly, so hopefully they can use the data generated from my request to get your RMA processed more quickly.

Edited December 12, 2023 by Loss Mentality

[Loss Mentality]

PS: I'd make sure to tell them that you tried very hard to make the brackets work and that you were carful to align the the bracket left-to-right so that the forward-facing arms were both clearing the central part of the housing that they slide by. I lost a day when they came back and asked me to check that because in the one picture I had taken to show the problem, the bracket wasn't centered.

[Loss Mentality]

For anyone watching this topic, I got the replacement block today and it has the same problem.

I've reported this to Corsair support, but only just now, so I've not heard back.

I'm beginning to wonder if this is actually how it's supposed to be. And indeed, I could attach the block to the back bracket even though one side of the intel bracket can't fully slide in and was able to fully seat the screws into the back bracket. Now, I tried this as a test outside of the computer, and the flexing I discuss below could cause problems when the back bracket and screws need to actually pass through holes in the motherboard. 

So, since the bracket doesn't slide in, even though I was able to fully seat the screws into the back bracket, things don't align perfectly, and this causes some slight flexing of the brackets in various places, and the screws don't seat into the back bracket perfectly perpendicularly - the path the screws take end up being bent inwards at a very slight angle,

Now, I've seen CPU/GPU mounting system where the brackets act as spring to more firmly seat the block to the processor and so I could almost believe all this is intentional. The way the bending happens seems a bit imprecise, however, so I just don't know.

I'll see what support says, but I may give it a shot...

The only other possibility is a serious HQA issue on their manufacturing line (it's still hard to believe an issue like this would go unnoticed all the way into production, so it would seem more likely that parts are getting mixed up during assembly). This could include, despite what Corsair support said, that the intel brackets should have notches and they're just putting the wrong set of intel brackets in the box. I've asked support again if they have brackets with notches available.

[Loss Mentality]

Well, I could not convince myself that the brackets should be misaligned (the misalignment was too sloppy and imprecise to be intentional) as I was wondering in my previous post. And I couldn't wait for Corsair to figure this out on their end.

So I used my Dremel to cut a notch in one of the intel bracket halves, right in the center of the back arm. This notch is just like the one in each of the AMD bracket halves that come with the XC7.

A Dremel, a metal cutting wheel, a few minutes, and the brackets now fully seat. I don't see any downside to this approach other than the annoyance of having to do it (though if you don't have a dremel, I feel for ya).

Hopefully whoever reads this won't wait two weeks and try to RMA the block - just do this.

The part I'm most annoyed about? After two weeks of handling both the old block and the new one over and over while trying to figure out the problem, photographing it extensively for Corsair, and trying to work around the problem, all while leaving the plastic shield in place as often as possible, and being very careful to not touch the TIM when I was forced to remove it to slide the brackets in and out or photograph it, and succeeding it not doing so, what did I do just as I finished inserting the bracket with the newly cut notch and seeing that everything was now perfect?

I put my ********ing thumb in the TIM. What an asshole I am. It's not the end of the world - I've got TIM - but christ, can you believe it? Don't answer that. Of course, that's how this ends. How could this comedy of ineptitude end any different?

 

Edited December 17, 2023 by Loss Mentality

[DarkCrazy]

18 hours ago, Loss Mentality said:

Well, I could not convince myself that the brackets should be misaligned (the misalignment was too sloppy and imprecise to be intentional) as I was wondering in my previous post. And I couldn't wait for Corsair to figure this out on their end.

So I used my Dremel to cut a notch in one of the intel bracket halves, right in the center of the back arm. This notch is just like the one in each of the AMD bracket halves that come with the XC7.

A Dremel, a metal cutting wheel, a few minutes, and the brackets now fully seat. I don't see any downside to this approach other than the annoyance of having to do it (though if you don't have a dremel, I feel for ya).

Hopefully whoever reads this won't wait two weeks and try to RMA the block - just do this.

The part I'm most annoyed about? After two weeks of handling both the old block and the new one over and over while trying to figure out the problem, photographing it extensively for Corsair, and trying to work around the problem, all while leaving the plastic shield in place as often as possible, and being very careful to not touch the TIM when I was forced to remove it to slide the brackets in and out or photograph it, and succeeding it not doing so, what did I do just as I finished inserting the bracket with the newly cut notch and seeing that everything was now perfect?

I put my ********ing thumb in the TIM. What an asshole I am. It's not the end of the world - I've got TIM - but christ, can you believe it? Don't answer that. Of course, that's how this ends. How could this comedy of ineptitude end any different?

 

 

 

With a little bit of force, it will fit perfectly, I think you were afraid that it would break. I had no problem for lga1700.