Installation

The Zerotherm Nirvana NV120 Premium uses the same mounting system as the BTF92. For Intel systems, this means that the X-shaped bracket needs to be affixed to the base of the heatsink with the four small black screws.


To mount the heatsink on an Intel CPU the motherboard must be removed from the system. The backplate has a thin paper film on it which can be removed for installation ease and a more permanent mounting. Since many heatsinks are tested on this system, the paper was not removed to make it easier to take the backplate out of the system. (In this case the heatsink should be installed before placing the motherboard back in the system, or else the installation will be slightly more difficult.) With the backplate in place the motherboard was flipped over and the CPU was cleaned to remove all the previous thermal compound residue.


The CPU heatspreader was cleaned to remove all previous thermal compound and a thin line of paste was applied to the heatspreader. The Nirvana was placed over the CPU and the screws were tightened down in an "X" pattern a little at a time until all four screws were snug. I needed to use a Phillips screwdriver with a shaft at least six inches long in order to mount the cooler, because the fan is not removable and the screwdriver needs to fit between the heatsink and the fan.


After installation the heatsink was immediately removed to inspect the contact area for the thermal compound. The compound had spread nicely, but it was noticeable that the compound was slightly heavier toward the right edge.


With the heatsink cleaned and Arctic Silver 5 applied, the heatsink was reinstalled. Although the Nirvana is rather wide and hangs over the chipset heatsink on the motherboard, the Nirvana is tall enough to clear the chipset heatsink.


The 3-pin header for the fan can be plugged directly into the motherboard CPU fan header, or it can be plugged in to the fan controller provided with the Nirvana.


As stated before, the Nirvana is a bit wide. In this installation with the fan blowing toward the back of the case, the Nirvana hangs over the top edge of the motherboard slightly. When the motherboard tray was placed back inside the case, one of the fan grills needed to be removed from the top mounted fans in the Lian Li PC-A10 case. With other cases that have the power supply located above the motherboard (or other cases with simply more room), this should not be a problem. Also, if the heatsink is mounted so the fan blows upward toward the top of the case, this is no longer an issue.