Asrock 775 Heatsink Compatibility Warning

[HammerSandwich]

My new Asrock Z77 Pro4 surprised me when it came time to mount a heatsink. As with other Asrock 1155/1156 mobos, the Pro4 also has 775 mounting holes. I'd hoped to reuse my Xigmatek HDT-S1283 in a new 3570K build.

Hoped.

The 775 holes are clocked very slightly from the 1155 holes (for obvious reasons), but it's enough to cause the 1283's brackets to foul the LGA socket. If you're able to "install" the HSF, it will have a lot of tension without touching the CPU. This is pretty hard to see with all the stuff around the socket, so look closely when using a 775 HSF on one of these boards.

FWIW, I somehow managed the install, & the system actually passed Prime95 for 8 hours. Temps and fan speeds were both higher than I like, so checking the mount made sense. I'm damn glad I did. All the CPU's heat had been passing through a tiny blob of compound which had never been squished. Oops!

[cmthomson]

This is why I switched to a Magahalems from my wonderful original Ninja...

[HammerSandwich]

Funny - I now have a Ninja Rev B on there with the pushpins. After installing it, I immediately removed it to check the mount, and it's acceptable. It's tighter to the socket than I'd like, but it beats the stock HSF until I buy a replacement.

Your complaint comes through loud & clear, though. I have no problem ditching an old CPU or RAM, but a good heatsink doesn't become obsolete in the same way. 100W hasn't changed that much in the last 2-3 years...