What are the dimensions of the stock i7-980x cooler?

[earwicker7]

I'm going back and forth between whether I want water or air cooling, and I think one of the deciding factors might be whether or not I can fit a nice aftermarket air cooler in my rig.

I've looked all over the place, and I can't find anywhere that lists what the size of the stock cooler on the i7-980x is. If I knew what it was, it would be very easy to look inside my case and guess how much room I would have for an aftermarket cooler.

Does anyone know what the dimensions are?

 

[Abstract Hero]

Wait I'm confused.

What cooler do you have now?

 

[earwicker7]

The stock one...

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[aspire]

Daym, stock coolers have gotten pretty fancy since I last paid attention.

If you have a HAF X like your sig lists, you can essentially fit any air cooler on the market without any trouble.

 

[Yami]

It's only the 980X's cooler that's so fancy. If you're paying $800 for it, it's to be expected

 

[earwicker7]

If you have a HAF X like your sig lists, you can essentially fit any air cooler on the market without any trouble.

I'm not sure if that's true... I measured the current cooler, and at 3-15/16" wide, and 3-7/8" tall, there might only be 3/4" available on each side, and that may be pushing it. I have really tall memory.

 

[Abstract Hero]

If you don't choose something insanely longitudinally wide you should be fine.

View attachment 4583

those 2 pics show some idea.

 

[earwicker7]

Those pics give me some hope...are most aftermarket coolers able to be rotated (i.e., you can point the fans up, or you can point the fans to the side)?

 

[Slaymate]

I warned you about those memory modules with the Tall Heatspreaders.

You should be able to rotate the cooler, but it still might pose a memory clearance issue with some of the larger coolers that utilize a 140mm fan.

For your setup I would get the Noctua NH-D14 but you still might have to make a few modifications. Here's a link to my experience with the http://www.techist.com/forums/f10/noctua-nh-d14-231634/. I had to trim a few of the fins, with my Dremel, so that my Corsair Dominator's would fit without touching the fins.

You don't want the memory heatspreaders to touch the cpu heatsink as the memory heatspreaders will absorb some of the heat from the cpu.

 

[earwicker7]

I warned you about those memory modules with the Tall Heatspreaders.

You should be able to rotate the cooler, but it still might pose a memory clearance issue with some of the larger coolers that utilize a 140mm fan.

For your setup I would get the Noctua NH-D14 but you still might have to make a few modifications. Here's a link to my experience with the http://www.techist.com/forums/f10/noctua-nh-d14-231634/. I had to trim a few of the fins, with my Dremel, so that my Corsair Dominator's would fit without touching the fins.

You don't want the memory heatspreaders to touch the cpu heatsink as the memory heatspreaders will absorb some of the heat from the cpu.

Do you happen to know what the distance between the cpu and the lowest fins would be? My northbridge heatsinks are also pretty huge, so I have to factor them in.

Is the dremel part idiot-proof? I don't mind modifying it if it isn't something I'll completely screw up. Something is strange when it seems like watercooling would be less labor-intensive lol.