I looked at the manuals of the two coolers, and there is no backplate in revision A... instead it looks like it has a washer on the screw, which is to dissipate the pressure over a larger area I guess. Is this safe? I like the nickel plating, it looks nice. But a crack in my motherboard sounds nasty.

I mean no one can give you any certainty about: at any rate, I guess you can still mount on a backplate (whether you buy it).

Wonder why they dropped the backplate, looks like a pretty massive cooler for no backplate whatsoever. Just little washers. But maybe it's enough... I'm tempted, as I like the looks of the Rev. A better, it's pretty!

I also got the warranty from Micro Center on the motherboard, so if it cracks it in the next 2 years, I can take it back and say "geeze, it seems like it got unstable" assuming it still works afterward. Lol.

After a bit of contemplation, it could fry the processor too, which I don't have a warranty on. Might be better to not chance it.

On closer inspection, they dropped the "backplate cap" as it's called, also, on revision A. No backplate, no cap I guess. Maybe the backplate was shorting things, and causing problems, so rather than redesign it they just removed it for a less safe setup.

I emailed thermalright to see if it will work with the 120 Rev. A. Nice looking kit, if it does.

Edit: Looking closely at the way the bottom part (where the mounting bracket goes over) I don't think it will, because the 120 has an outward slant to the metal, where the Silver Arrow is flat. The Silver Arrow is listed as compatible with the kit.

that is not a concern. it would throttle then shut down before any heat damage would occur. now physical damage to mobo, that's another issue.

Yeah, that's what scares me. Crack in the mobo could be fried video cards, processor, who knows what all.

id say if its not riding in a car/bike/bus/train, youd be fine. the mobo has its own socket backplate that stiffens the core area much more than older boards ever were.

Thermalright wrote me back and said it will fit. I responded to see if the top mounting panels will fit it also, so we'll see if they just meant the back panel fits. Either way, I have a solution!!

I ordered the mounting kit and the Macho 120 Rev. A from Nan's Gaming Gear. Best price I found, with free shipping if you throw in a couple fans (I did).

One of my big peeves with computers is seeing something inside that didn't look like it was meant to be viewed, like uncoated copper heatpipes look like plumbing or something compared with the nickel coating. I'm excited I got the Rev. A, and a rock solid backplate for it.

Ok, well the threads are different on the separate mounting kit. Can't use the backplate as is. I tried installing it with the screws and washers as provided with the heatsink, but as I was putting the back of the case back on I noticed the board is warped alarmingly, away from the backplate behind the cpu. I may take another try at this and use the backplate without the screws that come with it, and see if it is possible to utilize it. I don't recommend installing it without a backplate, after seeing how warped the motherboard is from tightening down the heatsink.

Edit: I removed the heatsink, and after removing it all warping was gone. It's definitely from the tension of the heatsink to the cpu that causes the warping.

I can say the Rev. A looks very handsome in the case though.

Ok, so the backplate referenced above does not do anything for a heatsink, sadly, because the heatsink pulls AWAY from the backplate, so it does not re-enforce it at all. It was this backplate that alerted me to there being a problem, the board warped away from it toward the top of the board.

The problem is not so much being in a car/bike/bus/train, as it is the force applied by tightening down the heatsink, which could over time crack the PCB from stress.

I took another try at what to do, after looking at the warping a second time. I decided, without a backplate, I would not use the heatsink. Period.

Ok, so I got this kit, which doesn't work with the included kit of screws that are mounted to it. So I pried off the little black tabs that hold the screws into it, and removed the screws and tabs. Having done this, I verified that the screws included with the heatsink would indeed fall through it, if tipped at all. So if you keep them exactly straight they might grab enough to allow the backplate to function.

Next I took the screws and verified they were long enough, after running through the backplate, to reach the thumb nuts on the top of the board. They poked through a good distance in fact, several millimeters. Given that the screws were nice and long, I decided to use the little plastic washers that are included with the heatsink, the ones that the screws normally go through without a backplate.

I then placed those washers on the four screws after feeding them through the backplate. I slipped the washers up far enough to hold the screws straight so they wouldn't fall through the backplate by tipping. The washers catch on the threading of the screws, and are fairly snug, so they don't slip off after shifting them up. Then I put the backplate on the motherboard, making sure each washer's little ridge fit the holes on the motherboard. Once they were all poking through, I attached the nuts, and tightened them on with a screwdriver until tight. Much tighter than you'd make them by hand tightening the thumb nuts. This was to be sure they wouldn't shift and slip through the backplate, as they catch about a hair's diameter on each side of the screws head (putting big metal washers on them would have been nice, but no room as the screws have to poke through the motherboard far enough for the nuts to grab them well).

After attaching the backplate and nuts, I installed the motherboard as normal and added the top plates and attached the motherboard to the case. Mounted the heatsink, and checked the back for warping. None. No warping at all. What a relief.

So the kit worked, sort of, and allowed me to use a Rev. A heatsink with the kits backplate. Feels very secure, even if the screws only grab the backplate by a hair.

I find it hard to follow your adventures in the land of backplates, my english isn't up to the task.

*Every* Thermalright cooler I installed actually *warped* to some degrees any board: the more massive the cooler, the more severe the warping, regardless of any backplate.

At any rate, I have a True Spirit 120M laying around, and it seems to have the same mounting mechanism of the Macho 120: I will give it a try with a VX-II kit some day, just in order to see what's going on with it.
If you're not satisfied by your purchases, you may try to ask to TR Customer Support a spare mounting mechanism of the previous Macho 120 revision: I always received any spare part I asked them (the same it goes for Noctua and Prolimatech too).

Cool, I think using the right backplate would be nice. I guess how it works is they have one of their retailers list the part and then I purchase it? That is what they offered me, which I'm waiting for them to send me the link. In the meantime I'm using this other backplate, so no warping. I verified it with a flashlight that it did not warp at all, using the backplate.

Idk what they told you, and how it will work: when I asked for some replacement, every time they send me the spare parts directly from China (but I am in Europe, not in the U.S.A.).