MrControversial
Senior member
At first I was worrying about the heatpipes obstructing the memory, but that's the least of my concerns. In fact, it looks like I will be able to use all four memory slots if I wanted to unlike Thermalright told me. I emailed them about compatibility with the VNF4 Ultra and here's what I got:
However...it seems not to be a big deal since the heatsink is snug-tight on the socket. It won't budge. So I came out like a fat rat as far as this mobo/HSF combo is concerned. So if you were thinking about this motherboard, yes, the XP-120 is compatible except for the cap obstructing the one latch. But even with three latches, the XP 120 still sits snugly on the chip. I even booted up the memoryless system for a few minutes to see the temps. It was a rock-solid 28C. That's no real benchmark by any means, but at least I know that it's working.
Wrong and wrong. The XP-120 actually resides in the middle of the motherboard which gives clearance to all memory slots and the PCIe slot isn't even in the equation. In fact, it's nice that the HSF actually envelopes the stock fanless chipset HS providing active cooling to it which is a nice plus. However, to my chagrin, what Thermalright ignored is that one of the tall ass caps obstructs one of the holes in the XP-120 retention bracket. So I have one of four clips loose on the heatsink.
However...it seems not to be a big deal since the heatsink is snug-tight on the socket. It won't budge. So I came out like a fat rat as far as this mobo/HSF combo is concerned. So if you were thinking about this motherboard, yes, the XP-120 is compatible except for the cap obstructing the one latch. But even with three latches, the XP 120 still sits snugly on the chip. I even booted up the memoryless system for a few minutes to see the temps. It was a rock-solid 28C. That's no real benchmark by any means, but at least I know that it's working.
