Assembly and Installation Tips

Before you try to assemble the cooler and install it onto your mainboard, I suggest you take a look at the detailed step-by-step guide included with it. The guide has pictures illustrating the assembly and installation process, but one step seems very questionable to me. I’ll tell you about it shortly.

The GeminII can be installed onto every modern platform. Cooler Master regards LGA775 as the only modern platform for Intel processors (Socket 478 is not on the compatibility list). As for AMD processors, the GeminII supports Socket AM2, 754, 939, and 940. So, you have to attach an appropriate steel plate to the cooler’s copper bottom:

Socket AM2/754/939/940

LGA775

But first of all, you insert fastening screws into the plate’s holes. Then you put on rubber rings to protect the mainboard from damage as you fasten the cooler on it:

Then you take the included guides and fasten fans on them:

After that you can put the fans on the heatsink and secure the whole arrangement with screws:

This is the order of proceedings according to the included installation guide. But I would advise you otherwise and that’s why. If you install the assembled cooler on the mainboard, you may find yourself unable to put it back into the system case because the GeminII is as long as 240 millimeters with two fans installed! So, I recommend you to install the heatsink without fans on the mainboard first. Then put the mainboard back into the system case. And only after that you can secure the guides with fans on the heatsink.

Installed on an ASUS P5B Deluxe mainboard, the GeminII looks like this:

As you understand, you’ll have to take the mainboard out of the system case to perform the installation. Moreover, considering the dimensions of the new cooler, it is simpler to turn the GeminII upside down and install the mainboard on it rather than vice versa.