Just looking at the substantial heat-pipe in the centre of the Vanessa Type-L, we were worried that we were in for another tricky fixing job.
Things turned out better than we'd expected, though, in part because of one rather clever design feature. Even so, the motherboard did still need to be removed from the case.
Motherboard fixing uses a two-plate system that needs to be separated when removed from the box. Having positioned one plate under the motherboard, you apply thermal paste to the CPU before fitting the top plate over the bolts pushed through from the underside. There are four screws to tighten in opposite corners to lock the two plates together before the cooler gets attached.
We already mentioned that the Vanessa Type-L comes with a long-shaft screwdriver. Well, it's at the cooler-fixing stage that this comes into its own. It's used to tighten the four screws on the cooler's bottom collar that hold the whole thing in place and makes the job surprisingly easy.
That's because the screwdriver blades is inserted into the four matching holes running right through the stack of fins. Getting the cooler screwed down is very straightforward – though, as always, you tighten in opposite corners to ensure even pressure on the CPU cap.
There's also a further advantage - you can mount the cooler with its fan already attached, avoiding the stress and strain on the CPU and motherboard that could happen if the fan had to be fitted to the cooler in-situ.
Fitment Time
Although the mounting system for the Vanessa Type-L might sound a little complex, we found the task pretty easy. This is confirmed by the time taken, the Vanessa slotting in at 10th place. The most time-consuming part was the screws that attach the cooler.
