Installation of the Domino requires removal of the existing CPU cooler and the motherboard.  We will be testing the Domino on an LGA775 CPU so if your system is using the OEM cooler it can be removed quite simply as noted in the manual. In our case we have a Cooler Master Hyper212 installed and the motherboard needs to be removed before it can be removed.
Removing the OEM cooler is quite simple and done by releasing the 4 plastic spring clips. For the Hyper212 the removal is a bit more complex and involves removal of 4 nuts located on the underside of the motherboard.

Underside Motherboard Coolers

This Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 motherboard came originally with the bottom mounted “Crazy Cool” heat spreader. This had been previously removed for the installation of the Cooler Master Hyper212 but if your motherboard has a similar cooler it will have to be removed to install the Domino. Please refer to your motherboard manual for removal of this cooler if this is applicable to your board.
Installing the Backplate

After cleaning the old thermal paste off of the CPU surface and any residue off the underside of the motherboard select the proper backplate for your installation. In our case installing on LGA775 we selected backplate “part D” as instructed in the manual.  This is easily fastened using the double sided tape provided on the backplate. After this is done the motherboard can be reinstalled!

Prepare Retention Brackets

If you are installing this on an LGA1366 CPU you can skip this section as CoolIT has set this up out of the box for this platform. For all other installations refer to the manual for installation of the proper retention bracket or modifications to the existing one. In our case LGA775 we use the same retention bracket as the LGA1366 we just have to reposition the pin/spring assemblies as shown below.
Just as a note before we do this and our first issue with the Domino cooler. We chose to remove the retention bracket to make the modifications as we found the protective plastic cover over the waterblock (FHE) to be a nuisance. It isn’t press fitted and held on by an elastic band which is easily knocked off.

 

 

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