Noctua NH-u12P and AMD MB

[cerbrus2]

Hi guys I just picked up a Asus M4a785TD-M MB and AMD Phenom II 955 CPU with 8 Gig or ram for a bargain price of £30.

As I am building a small Lan gaming rig for chucking around in the back of the car and going to lan partys with M8's So i dont realy like to lugg around the massivly Heavy Raven RV03 with all the watercooling in it.

However When i got home I first begane to buy removing the old heat sink and straping a brand spanking new Noctua NH-U12P SE2 to the MB.

However after following the fitment the Heat sink is actualy the wrong way round, in other words if you had the MB in a standerd layout case the the air flow of the Noctua would be going vetically rather than horizontal.

Is this Normal? And if so why the hell would Noctua do it like this when most cases airflow goes horizontal.

This would not be all that big a deal if it wasnt for the fact that I orderd a Silverstone SST-PS07B. This presents me with a very large problem.

The case works well for Air cooling because the HDD cage acts as a cowling for the two 120mm fans at the front. And should blow air in the direction of the noctua whitch will then blow it in the direction of the exaust fan. HOWEVER on the AMD brackets Noctua supply the two front fans will just be blowing air at the side of the Noctua. rather than through its intended airflow direction.

Again it wills till probably keep the Temps nice and low, But their is enougher problem. One of the main reasons for buying the SST-PS07B is because its made for lan gaming It has a large Heat sink support bracket at the bottom of the case that you can rest the side ofthe heatsink on, thus removing any strain on the MB itself.

Is it like this for everyone, And does the NH-D14 also sit the 90 degrees off of the normal airflow direction?

 

[dugdiamond]

as long as you have good exhaust fans on the case, it should not be a problem

 

[cerbrus2]

as long as you have good exhaust fans on the case, it should not be a problem

Exaust fan is at the bottom of the case though as the mb tray is fliped upside down.

See my issue? And not being able to use the support bracket is the one thing that is realy bugging me though.

 

[dugdiamond]

as long as airflow is not hindered inside the case, and the case has a good throughtput of air, you should be okay

 

[dugdiamond]

have you thought about a 120mm-AIO-WC unit (ie: H80 or equivalent) ?

 

[cerbrus2]

have you thought about a 120mm-AIO-WC unit (ie: H80 or equivalent) ?

Yeah I did think about it, Their is even enough room for an H100 at the front of the case if I remove the HDD rack. and cut a little bit away from the 5 1/4 drive bay. But I realy just wanted to go with air on this one. And I have allready Orderd 3 Noctua fans with the case. so not wanting to spend anougher £50+ on a sealed loop. As I need a few hundred from the budget for the GPU.

At the momeant I am thinking of ignoring the Air intake on the top of the case and flipping the PSU uopsidedown so The fan on the PSU will be used to exaust the hot air from the top of the case. But then i run the risk of a Hot running PSU.

 

[fcb]

That is quite strange. I'm guessing you've removed the original retention frame that came premounted on the motherboard? Since Noctua supplies the AMD brackets as well, it should be in the correct orientation once you're able to mount the heatsink.

What you're saying is that the airflow direction is either blowing towards the PSU surface or towards the floor of the case and not towards the exhaust port?

 

[cerbrus2]

That is quite strange. I'm guessing you've removed the original retention frame that came premounted on the motherboard? Since Noctua supplies the AMD brackets as well, it should be in the correct orientation once you're able to mount the heatsink.

What you're saying is that the airflow direction is either blowing towards the PSU surface or towards the floor of the case and not towards the exhaust port?

yup m8. I know its strange. And yeah the mb retention bracket was removed and and the noctua ones installed instead. i read through the instruction manuel 3 times looking to see if i had done something stupid. But nope. Thats how the noctua sits on AMD MB's.

 

[cerbrus2]

did a quick test fit after i picked the case up from the couriors after work.

here is how it is.

 

[jayawms]

Actually, because of the heat pipes and the way the brackets have to fit on the AMD board, Your NH-u12P has to sit that way. If you had gotten the NH-D14, it's construction would have it sitting the other way. May be overkill but at least it would be oriented correctly. Also, the Intel cooler mounting holes are a square pattern so it can rotate 90° in any direction. If you want to keep this cooler, you might want to try one front fan and one rear fan both blowing in toward the cpu and just let every other orifice in the case be the exhaust. As long as warm exhaust air isn't being pulled right back in by any of the fans, it should be okay. Although there is something to be said for the through flow that normal fan orientation would provide and that may still be the best option. You could try different things and monitor temps for a while to see what works best.

 

[cerbrus2]

well I have got it cabled up. Need to go Buy a GPU for it tommorow then it happy days.

Yes thats right a fan controller mounted internaly, I hate fan controller with a passion Look wise anyway, Thats why it mounted inside the case, All the fans are silent on full wack anyway, And a fan controller was the neatest way of installing 5 fans into the case.

I will monitor all the temps tomorrow to see what they are like, But I still dont see why noctua could not of made brackets that spand long ways across the AMD mounts so you can install the heat sink in the right orientation.

 

[fcb]

Other than this tiny problem, I think your system looks really nice and clean. Are those braided cables? They look pretty cool.