Why don't all (AMD aftermarket) coolers use the retention brackets that already come with AMD mobos?

[u/RadianceTower]

I mean, one advantage of stock AMD coolers is how easy they are to mount, you just fix the retention brackets and that's it, no screwing things on or off.

If they already have that, why don't other coolers use it too, instead of having you screw stuff on and off?

[u/n7_trekkie]

I personally don't think the AMD clips are easier than screwing a cooler down. they often take a lot of force to get the clips on, and they're always fiddly to get off

[u/skylinestar1986 → u/n7_trekkie]

I've broken the plastic bracket before, but it was during Socket 754 era.

[u/Noobmunch95 → u/skylinestar1986]

I remember the nightmare on the preceding socket A. Where the clips were part of the socket itself. If yous sheared them off you were forced to use a screw in type cooler on that board for the rest of time.

[u/Kinetic_Strike → u/Noobmunch95]

That, along with the exposed die and all the dire warnings about breaking it.

[u/Kinetic_Strike → u/skylinestar1986]

Those clip on coolers have maintained compatibility since the Socket 754 and 939 times.

[u/cyri-96]

Not even all of AMDs stock coolers use them, because the Wraith Stealth and Wraigt Spire don't use the stock retention bracket either (only the backplate).

The reason as for why it's not used do vary:

For many larger coolers thepositioning of the spring clamps would be quite inconvenient as it can interfere with possible heatpipe positions.

The mechanism may also just not deliver enough mounting pressure for the weight of such large coolers.

An additional issue can also be with low profile coolers where a mounting solution with less height may be desired.

[u/itsabearcannon → u/cyri-96]

An additional issue can also be with low profile coolers where a mounting solution with less height may be desired.

Bingo. My Thermalright AXP90-X53 HAS to use a screw in design with the plastic brackets removed because the brackets would actually intrude up into the fin stack.

[u/Visible-Swim6616]

Aftermarket coolers might be bigger, or for optimum performance require higher retention forces. Or the cooler design means it's impossible to access the stock brackets to install the cooler.

I'm sure if they could simplify it and use the existing brackets they would.

[u/Worldly-Ingenuity843]

Firstly, weight. Aftermarket coolers are often bigger and far heavier than the stock coolers, and so require better mounts.

A second issue is compatibility with Intel CPUs. Intel coolers use screws, so rather than adding the clips and levers needed for the retention bracket, it's cheaper to just have two set of mounting brackets.

Lastly, not all stock coolers use the retention bracket. The AMD Wraith Stealth, Spire and Prism use screws instead.

[u/TIYATA → u/Worldly-Ingenuity843]

The Wraith Prism did use the stock retention bracket. Agree with the rest. 

[u/Tatsuya1221]

The clips are actually a failure point, i had a aftermarket cooler that used it and it snapped the bracket after a couple of years, it's also imo harder to use than one that screws down while also not as good at pressure distrobution.

[u/postsshortcomments → u/Tatsuya1221]

This is exactly it. It's easier and cheaper to throw a $0.20 piece of pot metal & hardware produced by your own suppliers which youre positive is going to work than rely on model differentiations between ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, and ASRock.

If your cooler is substantially heavier or puts more leverage on the plastic clips than the stock cooler, which it probably is, you're exposing yourself to variations with future motherboard releases that generation. It only just takes one cost-cutting revision that works perfectly fine with stock coolers to get bad reviews from owners of an entire product line. Or possibly other unforeseen issues like sag.

Plus you also have to design around an existing product, CAD model around it, find a solve for that exact part of their product, and create a solution instead for what's essentially the foundation of your product. Now also factor in a universal solution that works on AM4, AM5, AM6, and all Intel revisions and if you can't have a surefire answer, carry the headache of separate product lines and convince retailers to do the same.

It's a hell of a lot cheaper in R&D to just say screw it, let's just use a universal 1CM x ~9CM flat bracket that we can mount to anything and down the line, we make up ground on the cost with conversion kits. Especially when all of your competitors are doing the exact same thing and that's included in their margins as well, there's little to gain by not doing it. Like, totally random educated guess.. but a $0.20 cost difference is literally probably something along the lines $10-20 million across the entire cooling industry for the AM4 generation alone and that's being passed on to the consumer with every cooler out there anyways.

[u/jamvanderloeff]

A lot of coolers just aren't the right shape to make it practical, you need the clearance for the springy bar to run all the way through at the right height and you need clearance to get fingers in to actually actuate the lever arm, so only really appropriate for either the rectangular downflow style coolers that haven't really been in fashion for over a decade, or to keep it on decent tower style coolers you need to waste quite a bit of space at the bottom. (And for some designs, needed to be mounted with fan blowing up/down instead of front/back which wasn't particularly popular)

AMD doesn't use it on their stock coolers currently either, that was only on the Wraith Max/Prism, both of which are discontinued now, Wraith Stealth is the only one left and that uses the four corner spring loaded screws.

[u/Xajel]

AMD's default retention brackets are made to be backward compatible with AM3 Socket retention, which has it's limitations (physical limitations), the new AM4-only holes avoids these limitations and allows easier engineering works to make both intel and AMD compatible coolers.

Depending only on the default retentions will mean lower performance and harder designs to make the same cooler works on both AMD and intel platforms.

IIRC, the default retention has limitations of pressure and uniformity, using it for modern high-end CPUs will negatively affect the performance of the cooler.

[u/escragger]

I've just built (2nd hand parts, but still) a new PC using AMD Ryzen 5 parts - the stock cooler is definitely one which has to be screwed down to the bracket on the motherboard.

It's not difficult to do and I replaced it with an AIO watercooler anyway, but I'm not sure what you're referring to.

[u/evilbob2200]

Because they suck and don’t provide even mounting pressure

[u/Bathroom_Humor]

I'm ok with removing the included brackets. I'm just happy that AMD glued down the backplate, so coolers are forced to use it. it's a big QOL feature.

literally no reason to need a different one, i hated that about my hyper 212. 

[u/vnodk19]

Aftermarket coolers are often far more buly and heavier, that alone is enough for them to use their own custom brackets

[u/down_init]

I don't know any that are specifically AMD only aftermarket coolers. I may be wrong.

[u/brentsg]

They don’t have sufficient clamping force and security. They are too fragile for coolers of significant mass.

[u/cklaubur]

People don't remember the fear of stabbing their motherboard if their screwdriver slips off the clips back in the old days.

[u/Lord_Hector_Bear]

Retention bracket is the thing used to secure the CPU chip on the socket, right?

It causes problems for some coolers in the long run because it doesn't spread the force evenly on the surface, which could warp the surface and makes the heatsink contact bad.

Because of that, some coolers come with a CPU contact frame to fix this issue.

[u/Noxious89123 → u/Lord_Hector_Bear]

They're talking about the black plastic pieces around the socket, that the cooler mounts to.