A couple of H110i issues

So I'm having two issues with the H110i. First a few relevant specs.

MB: ASUS Z170-A

CPU: i7-7700k

Case: Fractal Design Define R5

First issue is with the back plate. Once I've got the double threaded screws in place, I've got about 2 mm worth of play, even with the screws flush and tight to the back plate mounts. Looking up the installation guides and searching for the problem, I've seen that there is supposed to be some play. Is 2 mm an acceptable amount of play?

Second issue is with the Radiator fans. It took me a bit of playing, but I got the radiator mounted to the top of my case. One of the issues was the fan to the rear of the case as it was interfering with the shroud over the motherboard connectors.

Here are some photos I took. The shroud is the white plastic thing. It covers the ports, PS2, USB, HDMI, etc, at the back of the motherboard. You can see that the corner of the fan is flush against it, but the fan is nowhere near being in place. For those wondering about the rear case fan, it was removed when I first tried to put it in place. I just placed the fan back in place for the photos.

Is it a bad idea to only have the one fan on the radiator? I think if I clip, cut or otherwise remove the offending part of the fan bracket I could maybe get it into place. Is this a more advisable course of action?

I am not sure there is a specified amount of play and since I am not on that socket right now, I can't compare. Probably easier to fire it up and see how it reacts.

As for the radiator fans, you can operate the H110i with one fan. This effectively makes it a 140mm radiator, but with a slight bonus from the larger amount of fluid and there should still be some passive heat release on the empty half. However, that is pain to say the least and I think you would be better off trading the H110i back in for a 240mm radiator, if that's an option. The 240 should offer better cooling than the "Half H110i" and make life a little easier. Otherwise, you need a bigger case.

I went to my friendly local computer supplier and I got a few washers which should help with the back plate mounting issue. I'm not going to assemble everything fire it up and hope that the cooler remains connected to the CPU.

As for the fan I think I'll just dremel the corner of technology bracket off until it fits into place. Hopefully I can keep the screw housing, but I ordered tell cooler online and I don't feel like taking the time to box it all up, ship it back and order a new one.

I have a friend that ordered a nearly identical machine, same case, CPU, drives, MB, etc. Only difference is I got a 2 gig platter drive, a titanium rate PSU and I found an H110i whereas he could only get an 80 I think it was. His installed with no issues, so I wasn't expecting any problems with mine.

Thanks for the reply though.

Update for anyone that may happen to find this in the future.

So after a couple of minutes work with a hacksaw, I installed the fan, uninstalled the radiator, uninstalled the fan, did a couple more minutes work with a hacksaw, reinstalled the fan, then finally reinstalled the radiator, I got the problem fixed. The first bit of work with the saw resulted in this bit of (not-so-)handy work.

I initially went with just 3 screws because I couldn't *get* to the 4th screw, due to the shroud...then I realized that if I dismount the radiator I could get the 4th screw installed, then remount the radiator. Did that. The first screw I tried was too small, then the second screw was too big, and that's when I dismounted the fan from the radiator, took off the piece of plastic that's right beside the hole for the screw (the vertical one in the photo). Second screw now fits. Remounted the fan. Remounted the radiator. Connected cables and Cooler is now installed.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get the GPU, SSD, & HD installed and finally finish assembling this thing.