Here is another quality item from Noctua. Normally I don’t bother reading instructions, but this set intrigued me, as you see that it splits up the AM2 and LGA775 in to different pull out sections. Pull out sections! It’s like kids pop up book…

And with the pop up, sorry, pull out instructions come very clear steps on how to install the NH-U12, right down to the fan clips.

As the cooler is quite large, it requires support from a backplate, installing this is quite tricky as you have to balance the motherboard, backplate and mounting brackets, quite the need for three hands. However with being able to check that I was doing it right so easily it was easy to remain patient until it went in properly.

And here we can see the mounting hardware properly attached.

To attach the common mounting hardware the plates are set in place on the top side of the cooler, and screwed in...

..like so.

The thermal paste is applied, the cooler seated, and the mounts attached. Even pressure is applied by the screw and spring method seen above, and with the screw only fixing in to the correct depth, all user error is removed.

If the cooler were mounted left to right in this picture, the mounts would be covered up and the included long screwdriver would be needed to get at these screws.

Here is the cooler mounted on the board with the fan attached. Noctua includes some self adhesive rubber strips to put between the cooler and fan, to stop any noise from vibration by the fan.

Here is the cooler and motherboard installed back in the case. Even though the cooler is quite large it does not interfere with any other components.

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