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OverSize Air HSF Weight Leverage Effect

U

UaVaj

Golden Member
talking about Notura NH-D14, Thermaltake Frio Extreme, Phantek PH-TC14PE, DeepCool Assassin.

these large HSF weights in an average of 3lb.

mounted horizontal the test bench or in desktop case. the weight seem to be well distributed.

however vertical mounting in tower case (most of us). in this position there will be a 3lb perpendicular leverage on the motherboard.

will this cause the motherboard to warp in over time?

-----

the ASRock Z77 Extreme4 is a bit filmsy to begin with.
 
Yes it will warp given enough time, that's a fairly long time though.

Almost all heatsinks that are "mounted" rather than just stuck on the CPU/IHS will warp the motherboard, either in a Concave shape around the CPU (any mounted heatsink) or in a C or S shape from the weight.

However, other than the warping while the heatsink is mounted and the motherboard/computer is sitting in it's usual position... when removed, it will return to about 99% of it's original shape.

The Z77 Ext4 will take it though, it's not the thickest of boards (a decent 6 layers I think, maybe 5?)... it's pretty tough though.

Obviously you wouldn't want to toss it around much with a large HSF mounted, but... it'll take all 4 you mentioned.

I've got one with a Zalman 9900Max on it, about half the weight of the ones you mentioned, but it has no unusual effect on the board for warping, that's what the backplates are for.
 
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Silver Arrow: 900g
NH-D14: 900g
Frio Ex: 1,200g
PH-TC14: 1,250g

I have the Zalman: 755g

If I stick a Samsung SP0802N on top of it (1.3lb, 590g), that's 1,345g... it sinks by a little under 1mm.

If I stick an additional Seagate ST3120026A, that's 1,945g (4.3lb)... sinks by about 1.5mm.

I only have room for 2HD's on top of it, so that's as far as my semi-verifiable testing goes.

By "sink" I mean I have my cooler mounted horizontally... so it's sinking like a see-saw, not sinking *into* the board.
99EXiTA.jpg


if you want I'll take a picture of it with 2 HD's on it...lol
 
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The weight of the cooler has little to no effect to warping the PCB. The only case of PCB warping is due to pressure being applied by an improperly installed heatsink where the mounting bracket was blocked by the case not having enough clearance for a bracket.

As for the weight itself, it'll hardly make a difference if you're not moving the case around very often, take it to LAN parties, etc. The heatsink itself is heavy but without any external interference in the form of shaking or strong vibration, its not going anywhere.

If it is a real problem for you, cases like the Silverstone TJ08-E is perfect as they've implemented something that resembles a scissor jack at the bottom which should prevent the heatsink from swaying up and down in transit.
 
think i just had a case of motherboard flex due to oversize hsf.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=34763915


per tomhardware

"Because I had problems with both the CPU memory controller and motherboard flex, I can’t be completely sure that Noctua's NH-D14 isn’t responsible for the whole mess. I only know from experience that the big cooler had a negative impact on at least three of my ASRock Z77 Extreme4 motherboards. And I’m not willing to talk about what might have happened to my fourth motherboard sample in my mad rush to find the problem."
 
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