Installation


ASUS products have always been known not only for there top quality, but also for there ease of use. With expectations high we removed the Triton 77 from its protective packaging and began the installation process. The first thing that you must do is install the proper mounting hardware for your motherboard (whether that is 775 or AM2). For example the 775 mounting brackets requires you to simply screw in a few screws to each side of the base of the cooler and then you are ready to install the cooler.


For Intel 775 system the mounting brackets are nothing more than two brackets that hold the standard Intel 775 plunger mounting pins in place. While not exactly unique, the fact that this cooler did not need a backplate for extra support does lend itself to not only a fast but easy installation. If you are a first time DIY’er or even a veteran of a thousand installs, this cooler will be super easy to install.


Even though many other coolers also use the standard 775 mounting system very few actually get it right and this is where the Triton 77 really shines. With many aftermarket coolers that use plunger mounts, at least one of the four corner plungers is a real nuisance to manipulate. In fact it is safe to say that many coolers that don’t technically require you to remove the motherboard from the case usually should recommend it since they are much easier to install if you have the extra room to maneuver. Even though the fan is mounted on the bottom, all 4 corners are not only accessible but it is down-right roomy which makes removal just as easy as installation was. The secret to all this room is in that gentle heatpipe arch that we mentioned earlier. This gentle arch means that the fin assembly way up in the air away from the base so even when you subtract 25mm for the fan you are left with loads of room for your fingers.

The only downside side to this installation process is the lack of mounting options. While ASUS’ installation instructions do not come out and explicitly state there is only two approved mounting orientations it is inferred with the included pictograms which state that you should not have the heatpipes pointing towards the top of the case “in order to occur ineffectiveness of pipes”. This is a minor quibble and since we don’t want to “occur ineffectiveness of the pipes”…which certainly does not sound like a good thing. All in all you can only have the cooler mounted in one direction at a time so this is not a deal breaker for us.

In fact the only annoying part of this installation was the installation manual itself. As we mentioned before it has been heavily padded by being in a dozen or more languages; this by itself would be annoying but not overly so. What is really annoying is that the instructions are written in “Engrish” and are bloody well full of “what the fu…..err….heck does THAT mean?!” sentences like the one about ineffective pipes. We would expect this on some low budget Chinese knock off, but on a product that has the ASUS name on it….it really was disappointing. Hopefully, on future models this will corrected. Please do not get us wrong, the instructions are fairly straightforward and the included pictographs do make the sentences below them a bit redundant, but if you are going to have them there please ASUS, get one of your English speaking manual writers to write the instructions next time!

Overall it is one of the easiest installations it has been our pleasure to accomplish. Total installation time, including removal of old heatsink TIM was about 5 minutes.