Maximus VII GENE CPU cooler (heatsink) compatibility

[HarbingerOne]

Hey all, newcomer to the forums. I really love the look of this motherboard but I was wondering what CPU heatsinks it will support. I know the 212 EVO will definitely fit but what about larger heatsinks like the Noctua NH-D14 or Deepcool Assassin? This might be a noob question, sorry if it is, I'm tech savvy but its been almost 10 years since I've built a PC, just been out of the loop for awhile. Thanks in advance guys.

[HiVizMan]

No such thing as n00b questions mate only n00b answers.

The coolers will fit but you will need to ensure your memory does not have overly high heat spreaders - if your graphic card is too close to the fins of the cooler for comfort (should be enough leeway if cooler is fitted correctly) you can always just put a few layers of non-conductive tape as insurance onto the vga back plate.

[HarbingerOne]

Awesome! Thank you sir! Is there a PDF file for the Users Manual?

[alien345]

Many choose the crucial RAM which has lower fins and I have tried the tactical 1600 ver which is not listed as compatible but works on the max vii gene. Also these large coolers can take a lot of space in a micro art board, so the hot air build up would be faster. U may be able to get 4.4 on stock just because it is smaller and hot air has more room to disperse.

Sent from HTC one

[Chino]

Noctua is one of the few, if not the only heatsink manufacturer, that has an updated motherboard and RAM compatibility list with all their coolers. Drop by there website and have a look.

[HarbingerOne]

@Chino, thanks man! I checked out the site and it will only fit if it is either installed vertically or if the GPU is installed on the PCI slot further from the CPU (which isnt an option for my setup). Again, thanks for the help guys!

[Hrafn]

HarbingerOne wrote:
@Chino, thanks man! I checked out the site and it will only fit if it is either installed vertically or if the GPU is installed on the PCI slot further from the CPU (which isnt an option for my setup). Again, thanks for the help guys!

You might wish to recheck it. The NH-D14 Mainboard compatibility page states:

Asus Maximus VII Gene Yes[tick] Possible compatibility issues with video cards that have large protruding components at the back. Please see FAQ.

[Retired]

EKL Matterhorn works, the mem isnt in contact with the cooler, its a couple om mm between them, you have to slide the cooler back a tiny bit tho.. its clearance all the way around the heatsink.. No mating to other HW, not even the GPU backplate

And this isnt a tiny cooler, avoid coolers with 140mm fans, if you are planning on using a gpu in the top pci-e slot

[Hrafn]

WhitePaw wrote:
EKL Matterhorn works, the mem isnt in contact with the cooler, its a couple om mm between them, you have to slide the cooler back a tiny bit tho.. its clearance all the way around the heatsink.. No mating to other HW

That's tight. :eek:

And (at 138mm spec width for the Matterhorn) would imply that an exactly 140mm HSF would have only a 1mm of clearance -- which is getting down to the level where engineering tolerances may start to matter.

Is that a 'generous' couple of mm or a 'tight' couple? Also, what did you mean by "you have to slide the cooler back a tiny bit"?

[Retired]

Its isnt much space, but enough