Cooling and Ram Slots

paulselhi · 28 Feb 2010 at 11:27

I am planning to build an I7 based rig and hopefully o/c it to 4.0 Ghz i plan on using a Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 MB with 3 sticks of ram

Looking at cooling options the Noctua NH-U12P SE2 Dual Fan Quiet CPU Cooler looks up to the task but i would like the option in the future to make use of all ram slots

Am i right in thinking that that noctua wil block some ram slots. If so is there another comaptable air cooler that will allow for the o/c and free all the ram slots

I have toyed with the idea of an H50 since it is quite compact and should free all the ram slots but 2 things put me off

1. It seems that there are more components likely to fail in an H50 and would require a complete replacement wheeras all that can fail in an air cooler is a fan, a lot cheaper to replace

2. Cooler reviews often give mixed results about the peformance of individual coolers but it seems from most i have seen that the h50 is not as good at cooling as the Noctua.

Also i accept that it may well ne that with all ram slots in use o/c will be restricted but i do a lot of heavy 3d graphics work and on some scenes RAM usage can be very heavy so though the high o/c is preferred i would like the option to increase my RAM if needed

paulselhi · 28 Feb 2010 at 11:54

Here is some useful stuff i found about the venomous on my travels

http://www.thermalright.com/new_a_page/product_page/cpu/venomous-x/memory_compatibly.html

IKMS · 28 Feb 2010 at 12:43

H50 is fine in my opinion, not many problems with it from what I have read.

Bradley8988 · 28 Feb 2010 at 12:54

You should be able to use all ram slots if you only run a single fan on the rear side of the noctua.

paulselhi · 28 Feb 2010 at 13:46

Thanks for the info, from what i can gather it seems that the main issue is with the larger ram sticks with intergrated coolers/spreaders

wingnuttzz · 28 Feb 2010 at 13:59

I would avoid the Venomous

Going by a recent review in customPC, i would avoid this cooler. Apparently the older TRUE performs better...

paulselhi · 28 Feb 2010 at 14:15

This the thing about reviews no two are ever the same !! I was thinking about the Noctua DH-14 just to wind my son up, he has an i7 Goliath bought from here with a combination of birthday xmas money and saving.

I am lucky to get a pair of socks, I would love to see the look on his face as i unpacked a DH-14 !!