Big heat sink mounting problems on some MBs

[LintMan]

On a couple of different MB's I've considered, I've seen comments form people saying they've had to cut up their heat sink's mounting bracket that goes underneath the MB to make it fit because of components there that block the bracket.

Namely, the EVGA 680i board and the Gigabyte 965P-DQ6 board.

In particular, I've seen this mentioned in combination with the Zalman 9500, which is what I was planning to get (or a 9700).

It seems to me that cutting the bracket into multiple pieces (as one poster suggested) defeats the purpose of the bracket. I know those big heat sinks weigh quite a bit more than the spec allows for. Is this a problem?

Also, how hard/painstaking is it to cut them to fit? Are we talking 30 minutes with a Dremel, or 5 minutes with scissors?

What do most people with these boards do? Buy smaller coolers, or just hack them up?

I'm personally inclined to just pick a MB that doesn't have the problem, but it's hard to tell which MB's will or won't.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Well, with the EVGA, I believe there is really only a small piece that you need to cut off. You can use a nibbler tool (go to radio shack and it is usually near the sodering irons and pliers/cuters) and it takes about 20 seconds. For the DQ6, I don't really know as I don't know what/where it is contacting. You are correct that it can weaken the structural integrity of the bracket, but with the EVGA, it won't do much since it is a tiny piece off the side of one of the posts from my understanding, which won't make a whole lot of difference.

 

[LintMan]

Thanks for the info. That doesn't seem too bad. I checked and the DQ6 is the one with the review on Newegg saying to cut the four corners off and mount them as separate pieces.