Arctic Arctic Liquid Freezer II + Z790 = RAM Channel not working

[B1ack0p5]

I found out that the Arctic Arctic Liquid Freezer II destroy the connections to the memory and that is the cause of the error when the board does not boot when a memory stick is inserted. Right now I'm not 100% sure if it was channel A or B, but one was working (I think it was B, even with 2 modules) and when a memory module is mounted on channel A, the board no longer boots.

ASUS routed the wires to the memory too close to the CPU cooler mounting holes and if you tighten the screws too much, the wires get cut. I'm attaching a few pictures where you can see the destroyed connections.
So be sure to tighten the screws for the cooler only minimally.
For my first board, I used the adhesive pads that come with the Artic AOI. But they do not help either!
I bought a new board and washers extra and put under. So it works now.

[JohnAb]

The length of those tracks is critical to correct operation, but if it was not possible to avoid tracks next to the mounting holes, protective washers could have been bonded to the board. Would have added very little to the overall cost. 

Failing that, advice could be added to the manual to take suitable precautions 🙄

[yangning8109]

Refering to the installation guide here, https://youtu.be/ZLPDPom8eVQ

Maybe you used wrong standoffs which are too short for LGA1700.

[BenchAndGames]

I dont know but looking at the pictures seems that you used extremely high screwing force. You litteraly destroyed the holes and the MB

[reddeath]

All motherboards should be designed in such way to prevent this problem. Same like the screws and screw holes that connect the motherboard to the case or simply have a proper mounts like in other Intel sockets. I also got my motherboard destroyed in the same way.

[Silent_Scone]

Or simply use the cooler supplied washers and don’t over torque. To physically remove the motherboards coating in that way far too much pressure has been applied fitting the cooler. ASUS is always innovating to prevent damage during installation, but I don’t think this is something that needs addressing.

[Assarelius]

Share this with Arctic since they are more likely to do anything about their product. ASUS don't care for this kind of input (they are not consumer oriented).

This regardless of if you did it with wrong standoffs, too much torque, bad product design from ARCTIC or ASUS. 

[Silent_Scone]

Not being consumer-orientated must also apply to the following Quality of Life changes, some of which were later adopted by others.

SafeSlot Core+
DIMM.2
M.2 Q-Latch
PCIE Q-Release

to name but a few.

[Assarelius]

Innovation is needed to stay relevant, and almost every human been will have its own experiences and at least from my perspective ASUS doesn't care about end-user.

ASUS however will do whatever to stay relevant, as they should.

[Silent_Scone]

That's the point. The quality of life choices listed above are relevant because they improve the user experience. That's how a company stays relevant, by making attractive features (most of which were pioneered by ASUS before other vendors adopted them). I don't see how what you're saying is pertinent to someone over-torquing a cooler.

All manner of products PC related or otherwise advise torque settings.