Cooler Master NEPTON 120XL Review: One and Done
Installation Procedure and Clearance Issues
Installation was actually very simple. What really came handy is the illustrated guide which is included with this package. Once you have figured out where to mount your CPU plate with appropriate tabs in place, use the provided extended nuts to secure the back plate to the motherboard from the front of the board. Depending on what kind of socket you are installing the Nepton 120XL on, use proper mounting brackets to secure the brackets to the CPU block. At this point you should be able to apply a small amount of thermal paste to the CPU block and secure the pump to the CPU/Motherboard.
The tricky part in the installation of Nepton 120XL is the installation of the radiator. As I have mentioned earlier in the review, if you are worried that Nepton 120XL wouldn’t fit in your case you have a couple of options as far as mounting the radiator block. In my case (Cooler Master Cosmos II), I had plenty of room to work with, however with smaller cases I can see installing both fans can be difficult. In the case that your case is too small, you can always use only one fan or mount one of the fans on the outside of the case.
Installing Nepton 120XL doesn’t take a whole lot of time. It is safe to say you can completely install this loop in under 20 minutes. While installing Nepton 120XL I have noticed only one small clearance issue with the ram. I am using MSI 970 GAMING motherboard which has 4 DDR banks and Nepton comes very close to the ram modules. The clearance between the CPU pump and the ram modules is just about 3 mm. Does the pump touches the ram? No however, I am not sure if the heat from the ram would transfer to hoses. Besides this little issue Nepton 120XL doesn’t have any other clearance issues.
