Cod wrote:Does the Big Shuriken cover any memory slots on the ASUS P8Z77-M Pro?
Based on my calculations, it would cover 2, maybe 3 RAM slots, depending on which way you can install it (long side down may block PCIE1).
My cooler width
sans fans: 71 mm. Symmetrical design means 71 / 2 = 35,5 mm goes towards memory slots. Add to that the fan, 95 - 71 = 24 mm (as specified by manufacturer; fan is embedded slightly), and it's 35,5 + 24 =
59,5 mm.
This width from cooler centreline
overhangs the first slot.
The Big Shuriken 2 has 125 mm and 135 mm sides. As I understand, the longer side is to be parallel to the card slots, meaning it hangs over the memory slots. In the pictures the design looks symmetrical, so we can say that the width from cooler centreline for the Big Shuriken 2 is 135 / 2 =
67,5 mm.
This width from cooler centreline is 67,5 - 59,5 =
8 mm more than my cooler, which overhangs the first memory slot on this motherboard. This extra 8 mm would probably extend over the second slot, perhaps a little over the third too.
You can still install standard height RAM, as suggested by the review, but removing affected sticks would be problematic, unlike with a tower cooler (removable fan, more clearance to begin with).
PS. I don't know what the performance hit would be like, but you could, in theory, only utilise the outer two slots. The loss would come from disabling dual-channel memory access.