To begin the installation process, first you’ll need to pick out the Intel or AMD package from the bundle. Weirdly, only the AMD bag is labelled, with the other two bags being unlabelled. For experienced users this won’t be an issue at all but really the Intel bag should have a label on it for simplicity.
Next you need to push the backplate through the Intel mounting slots and screw the standoffs into the front.
Then you’ll slot your AMD or Intel mounting plate onto the pump and line it up with the standoffs. The thumb screws are large enough to turn by hand and can then be nipped up to tight with a screwdriver.
Once that’s in place, it’s time to install the radiator in the top of your case, having first ensured that you have the cables from the fans pointing towards the rear of your case so you can marry up the PWM and RGB connections behind the motherboard, keeping things neat and tidy.
However, this is where the installation process, which has been largely hiccup free so far, to become a small nightmare. XPG have implemented an overly complex array of cables that you’re to join up and plug into the motherboard. You’re to daisy-chain the pump and fans for the RGB lighting, which you connect to an ARGB 5v connection on the motherboard, and then join the two 120mm fans together, plug into a secondary CPU fan slot and then wire up the pump to the motherboard. This is the most confusing wiring system we’ve encountered on an AIO. There are far more elegant and easier solutions than this; XPG definitely need to go back to the drawing board on this.
We also found the instruction manual to be worse than useless, it was giving the wrong information. If you pay close attention to the image below, in regards to connecting up the 4-pin PWM fan connections and 3-pin ARGB connections, the diagram isn’t labelled correctly. Look at the two 4-pin connections at the bottom, those are actually 3-pin cables, as it actually mentions in the instructions above the diagram! The pump unit also features an ARGB 3-pin connection, but the booklet doesn’t tell you how to install that, nor make any kind of mention of the cable at all. This feels rushed and definitely not the high-quality we expected when going into this review.
Once everything is installed, we’re sure you’ll agree it looks great even without the RGB lighting.
Next you need to push the backplate through the Intel mounting slots and screw the standoffs into the front.
Then you’ll slot your AMD or Intel mounting plate onto the pump and line it up with the standoffs. The thumb screws are large enough to turn by hand and can then be nipped up to tight with a screwdriver.
Once that’s in place, it’s time to install the radiator in the top of your case, having first ensured that you have the cables from the fans pointing towards the rear of your case so you can marry up the PWM and RGB connections behind the motherboard, keeping things neat and tidy.
However, this is where the installation process, which has been largely hiccup free so far, to become a small nightmare. XPG have implemented an overly complex array of cables that you’re to join up and plug into the motherboard. You’re to daisy-chain the pump and fans for the RGB lighting, which you connect to an ARGB 5v connection on the motherboard, and then join the two 120mm fans together, plug into a secondary CPU fan slot and then wire up the pump to the motherboard. This is the most confusing wiring system we’ve encountered on an AIO. There are far more elegant and easier solutions than this; XPG definitely need to go back to the drawing board on this.
We also found the instruction manual to be worse than useless, it was giving the wrong information. If you pay close attention to the image below, in regards to connecting up the 4-pin PWM fan connections and 3-pin ARGB connections, the diagram isn’t labelled correctly. Look at the two 4-pin connections at the bottom, those are actually 3-pin cables, as it actually mentions in the instructions above the diagram! The pump unit also features an ARGB 3-pin connection, but the booklet doesn’t tell you how to install that, nor make any kind of mention of the cable at all. This feels rushed and definitely not the high-quality we expected when going into this review.
Once everything is installed, we’re sure you’ll agree it looks great even without the RGB lighting.
