The heatsink is too damn big!

"facw" (facw) 08/11/2018 at 21:36 • Filed to: computerlopnik

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So I hit a snag with my !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . I apparently spent so much time worrying about whether the massive Noctua NH-D15 cooler was too tall to fit in the case (it fits, but it has at most a few mm to spare) that I neglected to consider whether it would actually fit properly on the motherboard (after all, the CPU area on a mATX board is the same size as on an ATX board, and surely no one would make a cooler that wouldn’t fit on standard size boards). Upon opening the cooler box, it became clear that this was a mistake, this thing is very wide (150mm) . Sure enough checking their website:

Fortunately its not quite so bad as that. The heatsink, fans, and fan clips do make contact with the video card, but not so much that they cause significant deflection, and the back of the card is almost entirely heat spreader, and even that has a plastic sheet over it, so there’s not much chance of shorting it. Just to be safe I did a lackluster job using electrical tape to cover the bottom of the heatsink and fan clips.

Seems to have worked fine, though I’m a bit worried I might have to replace the cooler if I end up upgrading the video card down the line.

tl;dr: Actually pay attention to those compatibility matrices if you don’t want to look like a moron.

MM54 > facw 08/11/2018 at 21:50

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That is a crazy big heatsink

facw > MM54 08/11/2018 at 21:59

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Yeah, I might have been better going with an AIO cooler, though frankly I don’t have a ton of clearance for a radiator at the front, and while one would fit at the top, I prefer to have those vents closed for better noise control.

Oats > facw 08/11/2018 at 22:12

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When I last upgraded I bought a new heatsink, then discovered it stuck out the side of the case 1/4" leaving no way to put the side panel back on . I decided to keep my old smaller heatsink and delid the CPU, cost less and gave me better temps anyway.

I’m planning a new build and think I will go AIO. Mostly because the case will have a window and be on my desk. They just look better than a huge heatsink.

It is kind of funny that the old discolo red cables for the USB bracket matches brand new very expensive Noctua fans.

facw > Oats 08/11/2018 at 22:20

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Those USB cables are quite old indeed (still plenty of things that don’t need USB 3 though ) . They came with a board I bought in 2004:

The Noctua fans sort of annoy me. I mean you could build a very cool looking 1970s futurist beige and brown system, but really, aside from Noctua, there’s no one else selling parts that would work for that. I would have much preferred the option to buy in black (and indeed I almost bought the Dark Rock Pro 4 for aesthetic reasons). Ultimately though, the case has no windows, so it doesn’t matter much.

Nom De Plume > facw 08/12/2018 at 00:19

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!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Oh no no no, first order of business is removing that plastic protective shipping cover off the backplate. Shock and horror!

facw > Nom De Plume 08/12/2018 at 00:28

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Hmm, seems you are right that it is supposed to come off. Had cutouts in it, which made it feel more permanent (though you can see it is starting to peel on its own). In any event, it’s not doing any more harm on there than it has done for the past two years, so I’m not going to bother with it unless I have other reason to take the card out.

Nom De Plume > facw 08/12/2018 at 00:31

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Actually you have a couple choices for black fans. Phanteks PH-F140 (HP (not HP II) or TS) actually perform better than the Noctua on that heatsink. Another is the Chromax version of the NF-A15 you already have. Then there are the square framed fans like Be Quiet Silent Wings 3.

Has your 1070 Strix been a good card?

facw > Nom De Plume 08/12/2018 at 00:45

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Pretty happy with the 1070. Was a bit concerned about the cooler being too loud. I previously used Radeon 3870, 5870, and 7870 with fanless coolers, so going to 3 fans was a lot, and my last card with a fan was a Radeon 2900 Pro was extremely loud. But the 1070 hasn’t been at all bad in that regard. I hear it sometimes in the new machine but that’s only because I need to adjust my fan curves, the intakes aren’t even spun up at idle, which means the card can get hot if the CPU isn’t warm enough to get those intake fans spun up. Performance-wise I have no complaints, seems to be able to do a good job with most things at my native 2560x1600 resolution.

Cryptopygia - Front Wheel Drive is Best Wheel Drive > facw 08/12/2018 at 01:31

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That’s the reason why I went with the NH-D15S when I picked my cooler. The fin stack is offset a bit to provide some clearance for mobos with the x16 slot right next to the socket. Noctua’s compatibility list says it fits yours with no issues.

facw > Cryptopygia - Front Wheel Drive is Best Wheel Drive 08/12/2018 at 01:40

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Yeah, I had seen that one, but didn’t see that it was offset. My understanding (clearly wrong) was that it was just a single fan version of the NH-D15, which seemed not especially useful, since I could always just mount a 120mm fan on the D15 if I needed to instead of the 140mm it came with. Clearly I was not paying enough attention when I picked this stuff out.

Nom De Plume > facw 08/12/2018 at 01:57

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Helped someone too impatient to wait for GTX 11xx pick out a 1060 Strix last night. Talked them into a 3 fan model because I was afraid of heat. Other than running a couple benchmarks to test stability I didn’t get to play around enough to tell much performance wise.

Glad to hear they seem to be solid cards. Got dinged a bit in reviews for price being higher compared to other options way back in the pre-mining days. Not a gamer so I did my best to help them pick something of decent quality.

facw > Nom De Plume 08/12/2018 at 09:33

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Yeah, there was a bit of a premium when I bought it, but nothing huge. Was easily worth it to me to have at least the potential for a quieter cooler.