Sapphire NITRO+ AIO 240 & 360mm CPU Cooler Review

Installation

While the key focus of an AIO cooler should always be on its performance, it is important to know exactly how easy it is to live with. And more specifically, just how challenging the installation might be. Fortunately, Sapphire gets things off to a great start with a good quality, and nicely detailed, manual. Covering various languages, this benefits from having both in-depth written instructions as well as easy-to-understand diagrams.

The only issue we personally found with it came in regards to the stand-offs. The image displayed in the manual was more than a little unclear as to which of the two types provided needed to be used for our particular socket type. Fortunately, this is detailed earlier in the book which you can easily refer back to, but this could potentially lead to a mistake by those perhaps a bit more eager to get it installed quickly rather than correctly.

Mounting

In something we unfortunately sometimes find in both air and AIO CPU coolers, when it comes to the installation methodology, some manufacturers attempt to unnecessarily reinvent the wheel with an overly and unnecessarily complicated system. Fortunately, Sapphire hasn’t done this. If anything, the installation method is remarkably straightforward.

The first great example of this is the fact that the CPU block’s socket type can be changed easily thanks to a simple ‘clip-on’ system. Defaulted to LGA 1700 out of the box, we were not only able to change this to 115X within seconds but thanks to its design this can also be rotated to allow you to get the block in almost (keep reading) the exact direction you want!

One issue the Sapphire NITRO+ definitely has is the aforementioned rat’s nest of cabling that leads away from the CPU block. This, at least for us, was definitely problematic in terms of the installation. It wasn’t that it made it impossible, but with so many cables effectively being in the way, having the space to easily fix the four mounting screws was definitely a challenge!

Additionally, we can confirm that the backplate mounting system for at least both the LGA 115X and 1700 socket doesn’t exactly fill you with masses of confidence. This is because it sits, by design, a little bit loose that might make you worry that it’s not fitted correctly. Once the CPU block attaches, however, things get nice and tight. I think it’s just a personal preference that I always prefer a mounting system that feels really (metaphorically) bolted down.

However, this shouldn’t represent too many difficulties with a little effort and patience. With a simpler CPU block, however, this definitely would’ve made the overall process less challenging. And particularly so given that this cabling effectively acts as the central hub for everything on this AIO cooler. That includes not just a SATA connection for power, but also 2 x PWM cables as well as the adaptor to hook up and control the ARGB and fan speed.

Overall Thoughts

From out of the box and onto our test bench, the Sapphire NITRO+ took us around 15 minutes to install (slightly less for the 240mm version simply on the merits of having one less fan to attach). This, by AIO standards, and particularly those featuring ARGB lighting, is definitely decent and indicative that most consumers shouldn’t have too many difficulties in getting this installed on their system.

That being said, however, with the amount of cabling you have to deal with, it certainly could be more than a little intimidating for the first-time user. Personally, while I understand what Sapphire was trying to achieve with the cabling system here (and making the CPU block effectively the all in one hub) I just found it all a bit rather… messy. More so, it does lead me to wonder just how well this could be hidden in terms of cable management since there are (and this is no exaggeration) around 6 cables all coming away from the pump with none of them being particularly long or generous. – Put simply, I think in attempting to create something useful, Sapphire may have overthought this problem somewhat.

On the whole, however, the installation was fairly straightforward. So, with both the 240mm and 360mm AIO’s attached to our test bench (not at the same time, obviously), it was now time for us to fire it up and see what kind of performance figures these CPU coolers provided!