Why cpu cooler's height and space available in cases is so tight?

[Morfi]

Hi!

I'm planning to buy Dark Rock cooler for my pc. Both Noctua and Be Quiet are making coolers that are 160mm - 166mm heigh. (exception is Shadow Rock that is 157mm heigh).

Now almost every case I found in reasonable price (say ~€60) and which is made by well-known manufacturer allows cpu cooler to be max 155 - 160mm heigh. The next bar is 180mm. That sounds like most of the coolers would even not fit or touch the side panel...

Is it indented? Cases manufacturers (should?!) respect such popular brands mentioned above. What's the problem to make case 0.5 - 1.0cm longer and spare us all buyers the problem.

Could you help me find a case?

I have fx-8350 cpu (125tdp).
As said, I would like to try Dark Rock 3.
Cases I was looking into were ex. Zalman Z9 or Corsair SPEC-03 -- I'm looking for something similar in design.

Next level is ex. Zalman Z11, however price is higher by something like €30 and i don't really find this piano-surface suitable for myself.

Thanks!

 

[PhIlLy ChEeSe]

Some cases have different MM stand offs for the mother board, so if you cut it close you can swap them out for a lower set. I've seen three different height's for some cases I've gotten, but I always buy huge cases so my help stops there.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

There's always the ball-peen hammer trick in selected places of a metal side-panel. It can even be made to look . . . "stylish" -- "artistic."

To tell the truth, I've got priorities. I have to squeeze every last Celsius degree's reduction in the load temperatures. If the cooler fits, I live with its inconvenient obstruction of motherboard areas and wires. If it doesn't fit, you either modify the case (preferably one you've had for a while), or choose a different case.

How does the Dark Rock stack up against -- say -- a Noctua NH-U14S? Never mind -- I got it:

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2768&page=6

Ok. The U14S is neck-and-neck with the D14. The D14, D15 and U14S are all within a few degrees C of each other. I've been testing an oddball cooler that's a reasonable compact tower heatpipe, fits a 120mm fan and weighs about a kg. It beats the D14 by 6C and ditto compared to U14S.

All of these coolers leave your Dark Rock in the dust . . . . so to speak.

Some folks choose their coolers because they look good. Some for the price. Some because it's sold as a "quiet" cooler. Personally, I'd go for the most effective cooler, pick a fan to push or pull higher CFMs through it, and wrap the fan in Spire rubber pads to kill the noise.

The one I've been testing was released three years ago as the EVGA SuperClock. They changed the name more recently to EVGA ACX, but it's the same cooler.

Don't get me wrong. The Dark Rock is not a bad cooler. Maybe if you think it crowds your case too much, you might want to look at others and they may actually perform better.

 

[Morfi]

I don't negate noctua's outstanding performance, I have one myself actually I was just looking for something else than noctua but similar in performance so to speak.

Yes, Dark Rocks are manufactured by "Be Quiet" which, nomen omen, are silent as tests show. I don't plan to make my CPU a beast (it already is as is). For thing is that I don't want to keep it underclocked anymore like I have to now because "box" fan is louder than hairdryer on max rpm.

If noctuas were, say, 150-155mm heigh, I wouldn't hesitate to buy them and give up on dark rock. Since they are equal or greater in size than dark rocks, I don't see how they look better in this particular problem where we speak about fitting a cooler into a case. Sorry if I wasn't clear about that in my first post ()

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I don't negate noctua's outstanding performance, I have one myself actually I was just looking for something else than noctua but similar in performance so to speak.

Yes, Dark Rocks are manufactured by "Be Quiet" which, nomen omen, are silent as tests show. I don't plan to make my CPU a beast (it already is as is). For thing is that I don't want to keep it underclocked anymore like I have to now because "box" fan is louder than hairdryer on max rpm.

If noctuas were, say, 150-155mm heigh, I wouldn't hesitate to buy them and give up on dark rock. Since they are equal or greater in size than dark rocks, I don't see how they look better in this particular problem where we speak about fitting a cooler into a case. Sorry if I wasn't clear about that in my first post ()

Clear enough. I agree that the Noctua double-towers get too much hype. They take up too much space.

I do think there may be other discoveries to be made about these things. So far, I'd concluded that temperature reduction between two different coolers is linear or no different as a DELTA whether you duct the coolers or not.

I'm only speculating now that this may not hold true between coolers I haven't looked at yet when thrown into the comparison. For instance, the Macho Zero -- falls short in bench reviews. ThermalRight was at the vanguard of heatpipe design not long ago. If the Zero falls behind a D14 by 2C, it can be made to outperform the D14 by breaking the benchtest "rules" and building a duct with a more powerful fan.

But like I'd said elsewhere -- folks may not want to get into this anal-retentive tedium. You CAN solve the noise problem while breaking all the "rules" for fan choices, and Spire pads cost $8 per box.

With my contraption using a D14 and AP-30, I can run a stress test, leave the TV at a modest setting for my 5.1 speakers, and pretty much don't notice anything. Or -- someone might say "Did the air-conditioner kick on? Is that an airplane or something way out in the distance?" It's not perfect, but it's much better, and you won't hear it playing Titanfall as much as you'd hear it with IBT.