SLK 900A compatibilty

[mb26]

[from thermalright site] 'So far we had not yet found a socket A motherboard not able to work with SLK-900A'

is that sort of claim true/ accurate? as i'm thinking of getting one but i'm weary weather it will fit the motherboard.. (its not on thermalrights list of ones that definately work, but not on any list of 'not working' either)
also what kind of clearance there need to be between the fan and the side of the case?

[Cricket]

What motherboard are you planning on using?

Clearance from the heatsink fan to the side of the case? I didn't think they got that close to the side of the case to begin with...unless you're using a really skinny case.

Cricket

[Tin]

what you have to check for is the clearance of the capacitors around the ZIF socket. i havent hear of anybody having mounting problems with it on any socket A mobos.

[mb26]

cricket, i'm planning on getting a biostar M7NCG-400 (dont slate it cuz its biostar; its by far the best M-ATX board around).. i intend to initially run it in an old ATX case i already have, but in the future (when i can get a decent M-ATX PSU), use it as a HTPC in an m-ATX case.. the heatsink is 44mm high and each fan is 25mm.. so if i had a fan and a gutted ducting fan then thats 94mm high to the top of the fan; the case is only as wide as it needs to be for the PCI slot so thats about 10cm from the motherboard (min of about 6mm clearance)... with only 1 fan would leave me a min of about 3cm between the fan and the case.. would that be enough?

tin, could u have a look here .. there is one capacitor which looks like a potential problem [just left of the top corner of the socket], and also the northbridge heat-sink?
i am not sure how 'high' it goes before it sticks out so it may go above the capacitor/ heatsink

things look good though [edit: newegg review] 'Overall the board runs ... cool with a Thermalright 900A.' i think this was an old review which may have been of an older revision of the board.. with a smaller heatsink on the northbridge (i guess it rules out the capacitor however? )
i suppose if worst comes to worst then i can always relplace the northbridge heatsink, but i dont really want to do this unless i have to. mayswell just go for it and hope for the best i guess?

[Tin]

it will fit that mobo, the heatsinks fins arch up above the caps, and the base is just big enough to fit on the ZIF.

[Alfie]

The design of the heatsink has the fins above any capcitators and the heatsink ships with 4 small pads that attach to the base,as the base is too small to rest on the pads on the cpu.
If you look at the base,you'll notice 4 small indentations,these mark where the pads go.
It will fit,no problem.

[mb26]

so does anyone have any idea about how much clearance from the heatsink fan to the side of the case is needed?

[Cricket]

I don't think 6mm is enough space, the closer you put anything to the intake side of a fan, the noisier it gets. And I have no idea how the air flows will be affected.

Try it without the ducting fan and then with the ducting fan and see how it performs...only way to know as guessing doesn't help here.

Cricket

[mb26]

well i'm not getting the mATX case for a while yet so i can't try it yet... no i didn't think 6mm was enough atall..

anyway i have since had a crazier idea, as you may have guessed,
900A>gutted 80mm fan>80mm-120mm adaptor>120mm SilenX fan (58CFM @ 14 dBA ) that will be one big, big combination however. 12cm 'out' so that wont survive when it moves to mATX!. i'd like to lose the first 80mm fan but i don't think the adaptor would connect to the 900a without it.

my poor socket A is going to have a lot of weight on it.. would it need to be supported or would it still be ok with just the lugs?

ok.. i just did a little test holding an 80mm fan i have up to the side of the case.. i'd say the noise didn't really increase (perhaps becuase the fan on my PSU is noiser anyway).. but right close to the side it did have reduced airflow.. i'd say about 2cm was enough to get full-flow. perhaps it would vary with the CFM of the fan, i guess i'll just have to try and see like you say.