Noctua NH-D15, Premium CPU Cooler with 2x NF-A15 PWM 140mm Fans

To begin, stick the NM-IBP2 backplate's legs through the motherboard As you can see, it has three distinct holes, two at the top and one half-hole at the bottom these make it very easy to avoid installing it upside down simply making sure that these holes align with the screws on the back of the mainboard solves this step Side note: I'm installing the cooler baseplate while the motherboard is outside of the PC Even though my computer case does allow access to the backplate of the mainboard no matter if it is already screwed in most modern cases allow the same Now you need to put the NM-IPS1 spacers on the legs of the backplate I like to call them short, fat plastic tubes The NH-D15 comes with three sets of spacers use the black ones The grey and the white ones are incorrect the white ones for example are too loose if you try them out The black ones have a noticeably snug fit on the back