M7F heatsink compatibility

[flyinion]

So, for some reason I thought I saw all the Maximus VII boards in the NH-D14 compatibility list at Noctua's website. I just happened to look and realized the Formula is not on it, only the Hero which I was originally looking at. My Formula just arrived today and was going to build my system this weekend. Can anyone confirm if the NH-D14 will work with the Formula? My only area of concern looks like the Crosschill heatsink area, however the VI Formula IS on the list as compatible and looks to have the same Crosschill setup minus the copper interior core so I'm hoping I won't have a problem.

[flyinion]

Well, I hopefully answered my own question. Guess I'll know for sure tomorrow. I shut down my current system so I could get in there and measure the height of the bottom fins off the motherboard surface. I think there's enough clearance by around 1/2" of height, maybe 3/8's. I'm guessing Noctua just doesn't have the compatibility report up yet since the Formula was released much later than the others. Although, they list the Impact and that just came out too so who knows.

[flyinion]

So, yes the NH-D14 fits just fine. However, it does partially block the top x1 PCIE slot and therefore also obscures the nice red ROG logo light on the board. I may be swapping to a Cooler Master water cooling setup though which of course will not have those problems.

[rsquires]

Yes, I also finished my build a couple days ago, reusing my NH-D14, and It works well. I had used coollaboratory liquid ultra on that old build (and again this time, very pleased with it), and man, was it hard to remove it from the cpu! This stuff is like low-temp solder, and has to be sanded off both surfaces once it sets. Finding a all-in-one watercooler that beats it won't be easy, probably would need a 360mm radiator I'd imagine

[flyinion]

rsquires wrote:
Yes, I also finished my build a couple days ago, reusing my NH-D14, and It works well. I had used coollaboratory liquid ultra on that old build (and again this time, very pleased with it), and man, was it hard to remove it from the cpu! This stuff is like low-temp solder, and has to be sanded off both surfaces once it sets. Finding a all-in-one watercooler that beats it won't be easy, probably would need a 360mm radiator I'd imagine

I thought it would be too, but I was reading some reviews of the cooler master 140Xl the other day (never really looked into water cooling before) and apparently it's quite capable once you start really pushing the overclocks. Apparently the NH-D14 starts falling off once you start getting the clock speeds up there on the newer cpu models. I'll have to check back through my browser history if you're interested but one review I was reading I think there was a 10C+ difference under load at high OC between the all-in-one and the Noctua. I suppose it's probably a better idea to look into building my own watercoolign system though so I can take advantage of the hybrid VRM cooler on the Formula.