ZALMAN CNPS9900 and the MSI Big Bang XPower motherboard

[ambam]

The ZALMAN CNPS9900 aftermarket CPU cooler won't be physically obstructed by the heatsinks surrounding the CPU socket on the MSI Big Bang Xpower motherboard?

I'm not sure about this, that's why I'm asking.

 

[dogman_1234]

Te heatsink is the CPU cooler, unless you are talking about the Northbridge heatsink.

 

[abully]

he is talking about the northbridge as well as other capacitor heatsinks besides the cpu...

The cooler is an old model of Zalman... did u buy it already or its an old one which you're trying to use??? The coolers max width is 131mm which should be OK in most boards... and you can install it in another orientation if there is a clerance issue with one... if you have the cooler with you then measure the clearance height from the first fin to base of the cooler... that'll give you an idea...

 

[ambam]

he is talking about the northbridge as well as other capacitor heatsinks besides the cpu...

The cooler is an old model of Zalman... did u buy it already or its an old one which you're trying to use??? The coolers max width is 131mm which should be OK in most boards... and you can install it in another orientation if there is a clerance issue with one... if you have the cooler with you then measure the clearance height from the first fin to base of the cooler... that'll give you an idea...

The stock Intel heatsink and cooler is absolute rubbish. It causes your CPU to overheat even at stock speeds. The ZALMAN CNPS9900 was on sale for $40 so I picked it up. It should give a bit of headroom for overclocking. Maybe 3.6 GHz tops.

It's not the best cooler out there, but certainly leaps and bounds better than Intel's paperweight cooler. The higher end aftermarket heatsinks are physically enormous and very heavy. Such a large and heavy heatsink may damage the CPU and/or motherboard while physically moving your computer.