The GeminII Exposed:

Now, let’s take a look at the actual component and the package contents (Be sure to pay heed to the label attached to the heatsink):

An overhead view of the entire unit showing the cooling pipes and fins

The rest of the packaging shown above.

Preparing for Installation:

After pulling out everything and checking that the listed components were all present, I then proceeded to read the instruction manual. Unfortunately the print in the manual is extremely small and hard to read but, with adequate lighting, I had everything under control and then started making my plans to replace the current standard Intel Cooler for the Core 2 Duo E6700. The following photos will show the system into which the GeminII will be installed:

The D975XBX (Bad Axe) motherboard with the Intel CPU cooler removed.

The GeminII with the protective label removed and ready to install with rubber washers in place at each bolt.

In order to install the GeminII the motherboard has to be completely removed from the case. So, plan ahead and allow adequate time to remove all the attached devices and make sure you know how they all go back. A digital camera is a handy-dandy device if you need a record to refer to, so, if you have one, take plenty of shots during the process.

Notice in the above photo that the bolts of the GeminII are sticking through the motherboard.

The above photo shows the non-conductive washers in place and ready for the nuts to be applied.

Finally, the GeminII is completely secured and the motherboard is ready to be placed into the case again.

Onward and Forward:

Reading through the manual and, as mentioned above, checking that all the components were included as listed; I was quite puzzled that something I thought would be essential was absent. This is an item I’ve never seen missing from an air-cooling system and I’ve never dealt with a passive CPU cooler. Everything on and in the box indicates that this is an “air-cooling” component. Yet, there are no fans included in the box. In fact, according to the manual, the fans are OPTIONAL. Let’s take a look at the actual article for this in the following scanned image:

I’ve outlined in red the heading for this section. It says: "Optional Parts"
(Remember, I said the instruction manual has very small print.)

This seems to be very straightforward and clear. But, in the back of my mind I had to question whether or not these parts – especially the FANS – were truly optional. Optional clearly means that whatever is being referred to is up to the discretion of the user whether to use them or not. So, with this in mind, I decided to proceed and see just how accurate this section of the manual is.