Zalman heatsink touches case

[ipreferpi]

I have a Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu installed on my ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe with P4 3.2E. Fits on the board fine but in my Lian-Li PC-V1000, the heatsink touches the metal case divider directly above the PSU (this is the case with the inverted motherboard). It doesn't seem to be putting any pressure on it, just barely touches.

Will it cause any problems to have the heatsink touching the metal of the case? I did see this article showing the same heatsink touching the PSU and they didn't mention that as a big problem:

http://www.frostytech.com/25hsf_10.cfm

Any thoughts/recommendations would be great. Will this cause any grounding issues? This is my first time building, so I want to be cautious on any particulars. Thanks.

 

[Adn4n]

I referred that cooler to my collegue, and he had the same problem. However, he hasn't noticed any problems. It's running very cool.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I had a zalman heatsink touching the leds on the top of my ram on one mobo. I used it for a couple of months and never had problems with it although I got rid of the board for other reasons.

 

[Zap]

I can (theoretically) think of one potential problem and one potential benefit. The benefit would be better cooling since conduction works better than convection, meaning the heat will be transferred from the heatsink to the case. However, probably not enough touches to make a difference. The potential problem would be increased noise. The fan noise (ask Nebor, he hates the Zalman fans) would be transmitted to the case, using it as a sounding board.

 

[MrK6]

you might want to stick some foam in between it :thumbsup:

 

[Operandi]

As long as there is no physical pressure being exerted on the HS/F like you said the only concern would be increased noise. Maybe sand bit off the interfering fins?

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: Zap
I can (theoretically) think of one potential problem and one potential benefit. The benefit would be better cooling since conduction works better than convection, meaning the heat will be transferred from the heatsink to the case. However, probably not enough touches to make a difference. The potential problem would be increased noise. The fan noise (ask Nebor, he hates the Zalman fans) would be transmitted to the case, using it as a sounding board.

heeh, i like your idea of conduction, although the contact area is so thin that its negligable in all intents and purposes. However, your idea of vibration is probably very real. Ive found that many HS vibrate a bit when the fan is going.

Mrk6 idea of sticking some foam in between sounds pretty good, might help dampen vibrations in addition. Or of course, you would always do the "cut and dice" way with a dremel.

If you arent bothered by it, you probably dont have to do anything about it - unless, the PSU is somehow adding downward torque and pushing your zalman downwards - causing a problem with your board warping.

 

[Nebor]

I don't hate the Zalman fans. I have quite a bit of Zalman gear. It's just that some people think Zalman is the end all be all of quiet computing, and it's not.