AM3+ CPU Cooler Tightening Question

[TikPandora]

So, I have this majestic high-tech beast of a CPU cooler (actually one of a *similar design* by Cooler Master but mine is much newer and nicer looking for an AM3+ socket. I'm not sure of the model and can't seem to find it.) attached to my Gigabyte 970a-ds3p motherboard and I have a question about it. The other day I replaced the thermal paste on my CPU and when I replaced the cooler I encountered a bit of a problem when it came to tightening down the screws. I was petrified to tighten everything down all the way due to wonderful creaking noises, so I simply screwed it down most of the way until it stopped turning completely freely and unscrewed it back one turn on all four sides. I've had this nightmare ever since though that the spinning of the fan is going to undo the screws over time and I'll have a heavy aluminum CPU cooler come crashing down onto my new Radeon RX 560 GPU.

It attaches via mounting brackets and a backplate that looks nearly exactly like the picture above. Should I screw the screws in all the way until they stop moving since it has a backplate or will that run the risk of damaging my MOBO. I just don't want it to be raining CPU coolers inside my case if y'all know what I mean. Don't think they make GPU umbrellas.

 

[SkyNetRising]

And what cpu are you using?
This cooler doesn't look like would be able to cool anything more than 45W cpu.

It most certainly is not suitable for anything from AMD FX line of cpus (those all are 95W and 125W).

 

[TikPandora]

I was trying to find an image which conveyed the way that the cooler itself fastens to the brackets rather than a picture of the actual cooler itself. It's pretty much a similar design, just a fan on top of an aluminum heatsink albeit mine is much beefier and well...better. That photo above is absolutely not the cooler I'm actually using, it just mounts using similar little metal pieces on the side that slide down. I have no idea what they're called. I'm fairly sure photos of the actual cooler don't exist as I looked for one for about thirty minutes but had no luck. It's basically a slightly more hulked up version of the stock AMD fan for the FX CPUs.

It cools an FX-6300. (Remember, not the cooler that's in the picture above.) And I get decent thermal margins in AOD when under load so I'm not necessarily worried about performance, I just want to know how tight I should screw the plastic pieces shown in yellow up above to the black backplate since the MOBO is sandwiched between.

(It's not overclocked, I just use AOD for the thermal margin reading.)

 

[SkyNetRising]

Small block of aluminium will not be able to cool your AMD FX cpu under full load.
If your cooler has no heatpipes, then upgrade it.
Cryorig H7, H5 or Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo.