modern mobo clearance questions

jojo69

jojo69

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I am getting ready for an X58 build midwinter, first new system here in a loooong time.

I am building in a custom 4u rack case that I am fabricating now.

2 questions;

How short dare I make the board standoffs? I have not worked with modern coolers with backplates. Is 1/2" under the mobo enough?

How tall are these modern coolers above the mobo...they look really tall in pictures? I have been reading in the ATX form factor specs and I don't see a clearance above mobo called out.

Thanks in advance.
 
bump, not trying to be impatient, just lots of board activity right now.

also, I am actively drilling and cutting, so hoping somebody can throw a tape measure on their bench system.:)
 
I never actually measured, but just in my mind I'd say a half inch is enough. I just put my parts into a new case that was released this year, and the standoffs are about that tall at most.

As for a CPU cooler...maybe 7 if you're looking at something like a Thermalright TRUE 120 or one of their other units designed to take 120MM fans? Again I never measured, I just checked reviews to see what cases out of the ones I liked could fit my CPU heatsink.
 
yeah, I think I'm up against it. 4u is 7 inches and the true specs say it is 160.5mm.

That don't leave much for chip/socket/mobo/standoff so I need to tuck it down as tight as possible, hopefully somebody clues me in to how thick these backplate/hardware solutions are.
 
Clearane between the MB and tray is about a 1/4inch/6mm so a 1/2 inch would be plenty.
 
Thank You! I have standoffs cut at 5/16" now which means I will have to cut slots in the case floor for the card plate tabs, I think this is as low as I can go. Does anyone know the bottom of mobo to top of i7 heat spreader dimension? 160.5mm is about 6 5/16" so with the standoffs I only have about 3/8" left.
 
bump

Does anyone know the bottom of mobo to top of i7 heat spreader dimension?
 
jojo69 said:
bump

Does anyone know the bottom of mobo to top of i7 heat spreader dimension?
Click to expand...

I'd e-mail Intel or see if there is a PDF on their site regarding this to be honest.

Having said that, I just remembered that my case's motherboard panel has an access hole to the back side of the motherboard for removing large bolted on heatsinks like my TRUE 120. So, I popped off the side panel and measured and got 1/8" for the combined thickness of the heatspreader and the mounting bracket on the back. Mind you, I'm using a metal tape measure more suited for carpentry then measuring the thickness of small pieces of metal, it's the only thing I have right now, why I'd be more comfortable if you also contacted Intel or possibly a motherboard manufacturer. But I'd say if your clearance is 3/8", you're fine even with a mounting bracket to a large heatsink like one of the Thermalright ones.

Hope this helps.
 
Let me try this from the other side of the case.

Seems like from the reviews most of the good air coolers perform within a few degrees of each other.

Which one is shortest??
 
jojo69, I'd suggest perhaps looking up the stats for each cooler from each one's website for that. Most of them do post dimensions.

To give one of many examples (just to show height, although this might be a good heatsink also) here's a random Zalman one:

http://www.zalman.com/ENG/product/Product_Read.asp?idx=333

Scroll down a bit and it shows height in milimeters.

I think every manufacturer does such, I just looked up the TRUE 120, here's that URL:

http://www.thermalright.com/new_a_page/product_page/cpu/tb120/product_cpu_cooler_tb120_revc.html

I'm sure if you just go down the list of a heatsink review here on HardOCP or any other website you trust you can look each up and get that data.

Oh..I'll add one more at random. I used this in a build for a friend who got a new mobo, memory and CPU, he asked me to swap out his old and put in the parts:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608014

I remember liking the mounting bracket for that heatsink, and other then the fans were an ugly beige color (well ugly to me) the fans seemed to be of decent quality. The CPU stayed cool for the weekend I had his PC over here to test it, to make sure the system worked. I want to say this one was 158mm? I know it's slightly shorter then the TRUE 120 just from looking at it, since I have the TRUE in one of my PC's.

Anyway, like I said..there's three to compare, I'm sure you can find the rest on your own fine with just a few minutes of research.

Addendum: No idea if this is a decent heatsink, but it is a bit shorter: http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=1_42&mID=304&page=spec

Newegg has it for sale, I went from Newegg's listing to the manufacturer's page.
 
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