The NR200P gives you seven fan spots and only two fans. That’s a lot of choices for a case smaller than a backpack.
Pick wrong and your graphics card bakes in its own heat. Below is the layout to copy for an air cooler, the one for an AIO, and the mistakes owners make most.
The layout to copy
These layouts are for the original NR200P. The V2 and MAX are built differently, so they have their own section below.
With an air cooler (tower cooler up to 155 mm):
| Fan spot | Fans | Set it to |
|---|---|---|
| Top | 2 x 120 mm (included) | Exhaust |
| Side bracket | 1 or 2 x 120 or 140 mm | Intake, aimed at the CPU cooler |
| Rear | 1 x 92 mm | Exhaust |
| Bottom | 2 x 120 mm, optional | Intake only |
With a 240 or 280 mm AIO:
| Fan spot | Fans | Set it to |
|---|---|---|
| Side bracket | AIO radiator | Intake |
| Top | 2 x 120 mm (included) | Exhaust |
| Rear | 1 x 92 mm | Exhaust |
| Bottom | 2 x 120 mm, optional | Intake only |
Both layouts pull fresh air in through the side and push hot air out the top. The two fans in the box already sit on top, set up as exhaust, so most builds only need side fans added.
Why the top fans matter most
The graphics card sits low in the case and dumps its heat upward. The top fans carry that heat out before it reaches the CPU cooler.
Hardware Canucks tested this in the NR200, the NR200P’s sibling. When they pulled the top exhaust fan, GPU temperature went up a lot. Keep both top fans, and keep them as exhaust.
Use the vented side panel, not the glass
The NR200P ships with two side panels: vented steel and tempered glass. The glass looks great, but it blocks the side intake.
- bit-tech, original NR200P: the glass panel made the CPU 7°C hotter than the vented one.
- Tom’s Hardware, NR200P MAX: the glass panel made the GPU 13.5°C hotter and the CPU 3.5°C hotter.
KitGuru also found the glass panel chokes an AIO mounted on the side. If you want the glass look, expect higher temperatures.
Side fans for an air cooler
The side bracket holds two 120 or 140 mm fans. It’s the only spot in the case that takes 140 mm fans, per Cooler Master’s spec sheet.
Set them as intake, lined up with your CPU cooler’s fan. That puts the coolest air in the case right where the cooler pulls from, which is why the vented panel made such a difference in bit-tech’s test above.
Check your cooler height first. The limit is 155 mm with the vented panel and 153 mm with the glass one.
Where to put an AIO
Most NR200P owners put the radiator on the side bracket as intake. It takes a 240 or 280 mm radiator, but not if you mount the graphics card vertically.
The trade-off is that the GPU then breathes air that the radiator has already warmed. That’s why the top exhaust fans matter even more with an AIO. For more on this choice, see our sister site’s guide on where to mount an AIO radiator.
The bottom can also take a 240 mm radiator. Cooler Master only recommends that with single-slot water-cooled or vertical graphics cards, so it doesn’t suit most builds.
Bottom fans: last on the list
The bottom takes two 120 mm fans. Use them only as intake. In the NR200, a bottom intake did almost nothing for GPU temperature, and setting it to exhaust made the GPU much hotter.
If your graphics card is thicker than 2.5 slots, Cooler Master recommends slim fans here. Our Mini-ITX fan guide compares slim and regular fans.
NR200P size limits
All from Cooler Master’s spec sheet for the original NR200P:
| Part | Limit |
|---|---|
| Graphics card | 330 mm long, 156 mm high, 60 mm (triple slot) wide |
| CPU cooler | 155 mm with vented panel, 153 mm with glass |
| Power supply | SFX or SFX-L |
| Riser cable | PCIe 3.0, included for vertical GPU mounting |
NR200P V2 and MAX
These look similar, but the fan plan is different.
NR200P V2: the side fan and radiator mounts are gone. The top takes two 120 or 140 mm fans or a radiator up to 280 mm. It ships with one 120 mm fan on the bottom.
CPU cooler clearance drops to 67 mm, so KitGuru calls it AIO only.
NR200P MAX: comes with a 280 mm AIO, two 140 mm fans and an 850 W SFX power supply already fitted. The bottom takes two slim fans up to 15 mm thick.
The layout for both:
- Top: AIO radiator as exhaust.
- Bottom: slim 120 mm fans as intake, feeding the graphics card.
- Side: keep the vented panel on.
Cooler Master describes this as the design goal for the V2: bottom intake feeding the GPU.
Check which way each fan blows
Air leaves through the side of the fan with the sticker and support struts. So for intake, the sticker faces into the case. For exhaust, it faces out.
Noctua’s guide shows how to check yours.