Installation
Installation was easy but the options are limited.
Most casings would have difficulty fitting the 280L due to the thickness, often conflicting with the motherboard mounting.
I have the HAF XB that seems to fit the 280L but it wasn’t opened at the time of the review, so I just tested it with the radiator placed on top of another casing.
Test Setup / Benchmarks
The computer setup used for this review.
| Processor | Intel Core i5-4670K @ 4.3Ghz, 1.25 vcore |
| RAM | Avexir Core Series 8GB DDR3 1600 |
| Motherboard | ASRock Z87 Extreme4/TB4 |
| Power Supply | FSP Raider 650W PSU |
| Operating System | Windows 7 64bit |
Below is the CPU-Z for the processor, on overlock.
Temperature was monitored using HW Monitor. Room temperature is around 25°C.
CPU load was done by converting 10bit MKV video to 8bit using x264, set to -veryslow mode.
| Idle (°C) | Load (°C) | |
| Cooler Master Nepton 280L | 31 | 55 |
| DeepCool Gamer Storm Lucifer | 31 | 51 |
| DeepCool Gamer Storm Lucifer (Fanless) | 32 | 67 |
| ThermalRight SilverArrow SB-E | 31 | 62 |
| ThermalRight SilverArrow SB-E (Fanless) | 36 | 71 |
| Cooler Master Seidon 120M | 35 | 61 |
| DeepCool Ice Blade Pro | 30 | 61 |
| DeepCool Ice Blade Pro (Fanless) | 40 | 79 |
| Stock | 40 | 87 |
The Verdict
The Nepton 280M is huge and at full speed it’s noisier than a screaming banshee as it’s using 2 units of 140mm JetFlo fan from Cooler Master.
I think what’s disappointing is that it’s priced at around RM 400 bulky and doesn’t perform that much better than many air coolers, even the Seidon 120M proves to be of better value due to the size, price and casing compatibility.
In short – the 280M is not impressive and certainly not worth spending the amount of money for.
What more surprising is that deepcool gamer storm lucifer performed better than it for roughly half the price…