GA-965P-DS3 Northbridge heatsink replacement

[internet-user]

Hi, I'm going to start my first build soon, and I can already tell that I don't like that goofy flame-shaped heatsink on the northbridge, I hope to replace it with a Thermalright HR-05. My question is, will it fit with a ninja, or would i have to get the HR-05 SLI version (assuming the SLI version would fit).

Here is the setup im hoping for if i all fits together

P180 case
ga-965p-d3s mobo
e6600 w/ scythe ninja rev.b

thanks!

[mentawl]

I'm 99% certain the standard (non-SLi) HR-05 would fit just fine on that board. The layout is very similar to my DFi board, which fits quite cozily, although there's not a huge amount of free space. I doubt the SLI version would fit any better than the standard one.

[internet-user]

I'm more concerned about either of them fitting at all with that gigantic ninja

[mentawl]

Well, let's have a look at the boards:

Big picture of the GA-965p-DS3:
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/FileList/Image/motherboard_productimage_ga-965p-ds3_big.jpg

DFi Infinity 975X-G (my own board):
http://us.dfi.com.tw/Upload/Product_Picture/INFINITY%20975X-G.jpg

As you can see, the chipset cooler on the Gigabyte board is almost *exactly* as far away from the silkscreened CPU cooler area on the motherboard as it is on my DFi board. You also have to remember that the HR-05 itself isn't as wide as the stock cooler - it's very narrow side-to-side, while being longer front-to-back, as you're looking at the chipset from the direction of the DIMMs.

As you can see from a pic from my own PC (http://www.benslie.clara.co.uk/pc/2.JPG), the HR-05 fits next to the ninja with absolutely no problems (nowhere near touching), so I'm gonna say it really will fit on the Gigabyte board with no problem at all =).

[NeilBlanchard]

Welcome to SPCR!
_________________
Sincerely, Neil
http://neilblanchard.vox.com/