Xigmatek Gaia II CPU Cooler Review

Installation

Mounting the cooler is relatively easy, especially if like most people you are going to be putting it on and only occasionally taking it off. I wasn’t overly happy with the fan mounts, as they were a little tricky to use but they do work. The more you use them, the more you get used to them.

First you put the 4 long screws through the back plate and then through the motherboard.

Then flip the motherboard over, put the 4 washers over the screws then use the 4 knurled nuts to hold the backplate to the motherboard.

Use the 4 small screws to attach the brackets to the heatsink.

Now you can attach the heatsink to the 4 screws and use the thumb nuts to make sure that the cooler is secure.

Now you just need to attach the fan using 2 of the 4 fan clips. These fan clips are somewhat tricky. A lot of coolers have a hole for the clips ends to slot into, this cooler however has an open groove so the clips can fall out when you’re trying to mount the fan. With a bit of practice I was able to get used to them, but they are certainly one of the harder clips to use.

As you can see, there is plenty of room between the cooler and RAM once it’s installed so you can quite happily use RAM with large heat spreaders.

As an end user I would be really happy with the installation method. The cooler isn’t loose at all and there is a definite feeling of a quality product. As a reviewer, however, the installation method does become a bit more tricky. When reviewing, we remove and attach the cooler numerous times, this includes removing the fan a lot. Due to the reasons mentioned with the fan clips  above it was a little harder than it needed to be.