A lot of Neo4 users have been asking if the Zalman NB32J and 47J coolers wil fit on this board given the incredibly tight clearance around the chipset and PCI-E X16 slot area. Well, it'll depend on the dimensions of your video card's cooler, but most users should be able to get one on there. I got my 32J in the mail from Jab-Tech today and went to work, I took some pics along the way so others can have a look at the clearances and positioning of the Zalman to determine if they'll be able to replace their little MSI buzzbomb with one as well. And I'll apologize in advance, the pics aren't the greatest quality and the're a tad large, but they get their job done!
Sooo...
In Pic #1 we have a shot of the newly installed NB32J. The shot is to the side so you can see how the heatsink is mounted quite a ways off the center point of the NF4U package, yet the silicon core is fully in contact with the heatsink base.
A note about mounting a fan on the NB32J: The fan is a 40mm Sunon BB fan, attached with #6/32x1" machine screws. Zalman designed the fins on the 'sink so that the gaps between the fins line up PERFECTLY with the screwholes on a 40mm fan, and the gaps are just large enough to allow a #6 screw to bite into the fins without bending them out. Makes the unit look very clean and neat, and not kludgy.
Pic #2 is a close-in shot of the 'sink's front mounting arm so you can see its orientation.
Pic #3 Shows the orientation of the rear mounting arm. Yes, the HS blocks access to the PCI-E slot clip release lever. Don't worry, you can push on it from the other side to release a card from the slot.
Pic #4 - a straight-on side shot of the HS to show more positioning and orientation detail.
In pic #5 we now have the video card in place. You're looking at a whopping 1.5mm clearance between the HS and that little choke on the card. I'm going to cut a little piece of foam tape to put on top of that thing as an insulator just in case.
Pic #6 is a view from the back side of the video card.
Pic #7 is a view of the clearance between HS and video card from another angle.
Pic #8 makes it look like the 'sink is in serious danger of hitting some components, but in pic #9 we can see that there is enough height clearance on that part of the heatsink to avoid any trouble.
Pic #10 is another shot down the narrow gap between the HS and video card components, this time we have everything wired up and the system is almost ready to run again.
Pic #11 is more of the same from another angle, with the tip of my finger getting in the shot.
Pic #12 is a parting shot of the little piece 'o crap I just de-commissioned. Wave bye-bye!
Hope y'all found that helpful, hope my ISP doesn't crap on the pic links!
Sooo...
In Pic #1 we have a shot of the newly installed NB32J. The shot is to the side so you can see how the heatsink is mounted quite a ways off the center point of the NF4U package, yet the silicon core is fully in contact with the heatsink base.
A note about mounting a fan on the NB32J: The fan is a 40mm Sunon BB fan, attached with #6/32x1" machine screws. Zalman designed the fins on the 'sink so that the gaps between the fins line up PERFECTLY with the screwholes on a 40mm fan, and the gaps are just large enough to allow a #6 screw to bite into the fins without bending them out. Makes the unit look very clean and neat, and not kludgy.
Pic #2 is a close-in shot of the 'sink's front mounting arm so you can see its orientation.
Pic #3 Shows the orientation of the rear mounting arm. Yes, the HS blocks access to the PCI-E slot clip release lever. Don't worry, you can push on it from the other side to release a card from the slot.
Pic #4 - a straight-on side shot of the HS to show more positioning and orientation detail.
In pic #5 we now have the video card in place. You're looking at a whopping 1.5mm clearance between the HS and that little choke on the card. I'm going to cut a little piece of foam tape to put on top of that thing as an insulator just in case.
Pic #6 is a view from the back side of the video card.
Pic #7 is a view of the clearance between HS and video card from another angle.
Pic #8 makes it look like the 'sink is in serious danger of hitting some components, but in pic #9 we can see that there is enough height clearance on that part of the heatsink to avoid any trouble.
Pic #10 is another shot down the narrow gap between the HS and video card components, this time we have everything wired up and the system is almost ready to run again.
Pic #11 is more of the same from another angle, with the tip of my finger getting in the shot.
Pic #12 is a parting shot of the little piece 'o crap I just de-commissioned. Wave bye-bye!
Hope y'all found that helpful, hope my ISP doesn't crap on the pic links!
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