Question question about Noctua NH-U12S on my MB

[QueBert]

I want to replace the Coolermaster Halo 622 with this. I have an Asus Z690 Gaming-I, I saw a motherboard compatibility chart on Noctua's website, which is awesome. It say

• Mechanically incompatible due to height of the VRM heatsink

I trust what Noctua says, but I managed to make the 622 fit, which is bigger in every dimension, so I'm really wondering about the Noctua. The MB has some an M.2 expansion board and heatsink thing for the 2nd M.2 that sticks way up and would probably block any decent air cooler, this board was definitely meant for AIOs. The only way the 622 would fit was I had remove that m.2 board and heatsink. I don't really care about the 2nd M.2 so it wasn't a big deal to me. I'm assuming the same will apply to the U12S. But, I don't want to assume and buy a $90 heatsink and have it not fit. I know I could just return it. But removing the old one and putting the new one on only to have to pull it off and put the old one back on is a lot of hassle.

I Googled this, and saw people saying this cooler doesn't fit on this board, but I couldn't find anything from someone who tried or removed the M.2 riser board. I don't see how the smaller Noctua won't fit with that gone, but I've been wrong more times than I can count when it comes to "thinking" I knew what I was doing with a PC upgrade lol. I'm also pretty well versed on things like this where I end up losing something like an M.2 port to make a heatsink fit that wasn't technically compatible.

The only other option I can come up with is to buy it, and if it doesn't fit, buy another MB. But as far as ITX goes, this MB seems to be about the best Socket 1700 there is. And I'd rather not replace a MB just to make a heatsink fit. I do really want this so I'm determined to at least find out if it's possible. I seriously doubt anyone here has this MB, but AT has some really smart people who could probably look at pictures of the MB and be able to tell me if I'm right or wrong here.

 

[StefanR5R]

Go to https://www.noctua.at/en/products/nh-u12s/downloads -> Information sheet. This has got a tiny scale drawing of the cooler. Print this out but magnified to 1:1 scale, cut it out, and check directly if it fits. While this gives you just a profile, not the full 3D shape, it should still be sufficient as a check for this particular mainboard.

Furthermore, the Installation manual on the same web site shows you how the mounting frame is shaped. I wonder if there isn't a collision of this frame with the backside heatsink of the mainboard. Depends on the height of the standoffs of the frame versus the height of the innermost step of the heatsink. From photos, it seems to me as if the relevant part of the heatsink is shallow enough there though. Unfortunately I am not aware of a method to verify this without the actual parts on hand.

 

[dlerious]

since it says VRM height, I'm assuming they mean bottom of fin stack - similar to RAM clearance , but opposite side (or top).

 

[dlerious]

Go to https://www.noctua.at/en/products/nh-u12s/downloads -> Information sheet. This has got a tiny scale drawing of the cooler. Print this out but magnified to 1:1 scale, cut it out, and check directly if it fits. While this gives you just a profile, not the full 3D shape, it should still be sufficient as a check for this particular mainboard.

Furthermore, the Installation manual on the same web site shows you how the mounting frame is shaped. I wonder if there isn't a collision of this frame with the backside heatsink of the mainboard. Depends on the height of the standoffs of the frame versus the height of the innermost step of the heatsink. From photos, it seems to me as if the relevant part of the heatsink is shallow enough there though. Unfortunately I am not aware of a method to verify this without the actual parts on hand.

It looks like 41mm to fin stack. How high are the VRM heatsinks?

 

[QueBert]

Go to https://www.noctua.at/en/products/nh-u12s/downloads -> Information sheet. This has got a tiny scale drawing of the cooler. Print this out but magnified to 1:1 scale, cut it out, and check directly if it fits. While this gives you just a profile, not the full 3D shape, it should still be sufficient as a check for this particular mainboard.

Furthermore, the Installation manual on the same web site shows you how the mounting frame is shaped. I wonder if there isn't a collision of this frame with the backside heatsink of the mainboard. Depends on the height of the standoffs of the frame versus the height of the innermost step of the heatsink. From photos, it seems to me as if the relevant part of the heatsink is shallow enough there though. Unfortunately I am not aware of a method to verify this without the actual parts on hand.

That's a smart idea, I don't have a printer though :| I should go the UPS store and print that out. I'm pretty sure my logic that my current bigger cooler fits means the Noctua will fit isn't probably correct. I did dig up the height of the heatsink from the socket to the bottom of where the fins are for the Noctua, but I can't find this on the CM, looks like I'll have to dig in my system to measure that.

Thanks for the reply, your idea is helpful. I suspect the info I'm looking for isn't common because I have one of the only boards I've ever seen that has hilariously huge heatsinks all around the CPU socket. It wouldn't be so bad on an ATX board with room to space them out, but this is ITX and everything's crammed. I'm guessing even some AIO's might have an issue if the pumps bigger than normal. I guess I should either ditch the MB, the case or both.