heat sink weight consideration?

R

Red Squirrel

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Nov 29, 2009
Messages
9,223
I recently bought parts to build a whole new system, my CPU is a LGA2011 Core i7. I figured CPUs still came with a stock cooler so never bought a heat sink. Well turns out I have to buy one, just got most of my stuff today.

I'm looking at them and they are HUGE. Is this really the norm now? Is there any considerations to their size/weight or are the motherboards simply designed to handle that much weight at the socket now? The last PC I built was 7 years ago, so lot of this is new to me.

I'm looking at this one:

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=70276&vpn=RR-H612-20PK-R3&manufacture=COOLERMASTER

This is my motherboard:

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=65585&vpn=GA-X79-UD3&manufacture=Gigabyte&promoid=1360

Should that motherboard be able to handle such a huge heat sink when in a tower case? I'm just concerned about the downward "plying" force it will cause to the CPU socket.
 
2011 cpus don't come with cpu cooler since most of the users have their own cooler. CPU cooler nowaday are big like that, especially NH-D14 or PH-TC14PE. The only thing you gotta worry about is your ram clearance. The mobo can handle the weight but if you're feeling uneasy, you can buy a h80 or similar products.
 
Ok good to know. I ended up going with this one instead, it looks like I should be ok for ram but it might be a tight fit. The nice thing with the heat pipes is it raises the bulk of it a bit out, the down side is putting more pressure on the motherboard as the weight is held farther out... but if they're designed to handle it then I should be ok. I might see if I can fasten it from the end to somewhere inside the case with copper wire or something just to play it safe. I don't really want to mess with water cooling now, maybe later on, but the thought of doing a single mistake costing me thousands kinda makes me want to stick with air cooling.
 
Yea, as mentioned, socket 2011 is chip only retail, no hsf. Which is in some ways a good thing since the standard intel hsf is barely adequate typically speaking. That being said, the mb's now days seem to be specced to handle the kind of weight that the large blocks carry, but if I'm mounting one vertically ie hanging off as opposed to sitting flat horizontally, I am a little cautious to make sure it's secure. It's also why I often times have recently opted for the faux liquid cooling solutions like the corsair Hxx series.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top