Asus Sabertooth Z97 Mk1 Compatible (non water) Aftermarket CPU cooler

[RandoCalrisian]

With the thermal shielding on this board, my choices of aftermarket CPU coolers seems ... more specific.

I got the Enermax ETS-T40, but the brackets collide with the shielding for sideways mounting to prevent using it that way at all, and it looks like I COULD mount it vertically, but I don't want to have it flowing that way, and the brackets still seem to come into contact with the shielding.

Does anyone have any suggestions of good aftermarket CPU coolers that work with this board?

Thanks!

 

[pm4]

I'm using Noctua NH-D15 with that board, but not sure if its in your price range as I think its about double price in comparisson with ETS-T40.
Only problem with that cooler is that it overlaps i think 2/4 ram slots, but because i use low profile Crucial ballistix ram it's not problem for me. Otherwise that cooler fit well.

You may look for some smaller models like NH-U12S.
If you want you can look on noctua site for some other models. They have extensive compatibility list of their coolers with pretty much all motherboards currently on market, also if you will need specific combination of ram/board you can ask them directly and they may help you. Only problem is higher price.

 

[RandoCalrisian]

Thanks for the response, pm4.
I'll look into that specific cooler, and Noctua more broadly.

I currently have the corsair vengeance memory.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233538&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Desktop+Memory-_-N82E16820233538&gclid=CO3C1-mLlsMCFRAwaQodiQ0AFA&gclsrc=aw.ds

They sit about 1/2" above the height of the thermal shielding surrounding the cpu.
Not sure how much difficulty that'll cause me.

 

[pm4]

Thanks for the response, pm4.
I'll look into that specific cooler, and Noctua more broadly.

I currently have the corsair vengeance memory.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233538&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Desktop+Memory-_-N82E16820233538&gclid=CO3C1-mLlsMCFRAwaQodiQ0AFA&gclsrc=aw.ds

They sit about 1/2" above the height of the thermal shielding surrounding the cpu.
Not sure how much difficulty that'll cause me.

With those rams I would pick cooler which wont overlap ram slots at all. Those rams are quite big so big coolers will be problem. NH-D15 wont be option in that case, but I think NH-U14S or NH-U12S will fit.

 

[RandoCalrisian]

Okay, so I decided to go ahead and try the Noctura NH-D15. I got it installed and it all works.
The lower cutouts on the heat sync fins allow it to clear the memory.

The only thing that was slightly wonky was the second fan. It wouldn't mount in the default position as it didn't clear the memory, but I just mounted it a bit higher.
This probably isn't the most efficient use of the fan as probably like 15-20% of it is going over the top of the heat sync, but whatever.

This seems like a terribly nice unit, and I'm pleased so far.
I'll be running some tests soon to see how far I can push things.

Thanks for everyone's help and input.

 

[pm4]

Good that it fit with rams. I was worried that height of your rams may be too much.

About that 2nd fan placement. I guess it lower cooling a little, but it probably wont be too much as most important part of heatsink is covered by fan. Noctua alone do support putting 2nd fan bit higher to increase space for rams. They write about it at compatibility page for NH-D15 so I wouldnt be worried about it too much.