Does anybody know of a good LGA 2011 CPU air cooler compatible with a Gigabyte x79-ud3?

[lunchboxdeluxe]

I have a 3930k on a Gigabyte X79-UD3 with a Corsair H100i and 2x gtx 780ti in a Cooler Master Storm Trooper, and I'm planning on migrating my gear to a Caselabs Mercury S8. I'm currently using Cooler Master Jetflo 120s as casefans and they move a lot of air but man they are loud.

 

I want to make my build a lot quieter. I'm planning on lining my new case with some sound dampening material and switching to some other sort of case fan, probably noctua...

 

Anyway, my question: I want to sell my H100i and get an aircooler for my CPU to cut down on noise, but I run quad channel ram and sli so I can't cover up any ram slots and I can't cover up the first pci express slot. Does anybody know of a good CPU aircooler that won't block anything on the Gigabyte X79-UD3? I used to have a hyper 212 plus and it fit fine but when all 6 cores were working on a hot day it just can't quite keep up.

 

Any help would really be appreciated.

[Archangel1994]

NH-D15 has recessed fins for high-profile RAM compatibility. My friend is running one with Trident X RAM now (Those are tall). All you need to do is maybe increase one of the fans in height but that's it

[the jolly roger]

I have a 3930k on a Gigabyte X79-UD3 with a Corsair H100i and 2x gtx 780ti in a Cooler Master Storm Trooper, and I'm planning on migrating my gear to a Caselabs Mercury S8. I'm currently using Cooler Master Jetflo 120s as casefans and they move a lot of air but man they are loud.

 

I want to make my build a lot quieter. I'm planning on lining my new case with some sound dampening material and switching to some other sort of case fan, probably noctua...

 

Anyway, my question: I want to sell my H100i and get an aircooler for my CPU to cut down on noise, but I run quad channel ram and sli so I can't cover up any ram slots and I can't cover up the first pci express slot. Does anybody know of a good CPU aircooler that won't block anything on the Gigabyte X79-UD3? I used to have a hyper 212 plus and it fit fine but when all 6 cores were working on a hot day it just can't quite keep up.

 

Any help would really be appreciated.

noctual d-14 rather than the d-15 because it was 1x 140mm and 1x 120mm rather than 2x 140mm, so it has more ram cleaance

[Thorium19]

How about the noctua NH-D15? That has the notches in it to allow for tall ram heatsinks and isn't too bad at overhanging the PCI-E lanes.

[Dredgy]

I use a Noctua U14S with two fans with standard profile RAM in all slots. Great cooler, but I don't overclock.

[Lotus]

If you're looking for quiet, then have you considered just changing the fans on your h100i and altering the fan curves? That might be the quietest, and most cost effective solution.

[Archangel1994]

How about the noctua NH-D15? That has the notches in it to allow for tall ram heatsinks and isn't too bad at overhanging the PCI-E lanes.

The fan size is not an issue, the fan can be moved up slightly with negligible performance loss (1C hotter worst case scenario) and the NH-D15 both performs slightly better and has those recessed fins for compatibility

[Thorium19]

The fan size is not an issue, the fan can be moved up slightly with negligible performance loss (1C hotter worst case scenario) and the NH-D15 both performs slightly better and has those recessed fins for compatibility

Plus you can remove the outside fan and just use the one between the two stacks, although that'll hurt temps a bit more.

[lunchboxdeluxe]

How about the noctua NH-D15? That has the notches in it to allow for tall ram heatsinks and isn't too bad at overhanging the PCI-E lanes.

I looked into the NH-D14 and the NH-D15, and Noctua's site claims both will block the first pci express slot (and only two of them are x16). It's a bummer.

 

 

If you're looking for quiet, then have you considered just changing the fans on your h100i and altering the fan curves? That might be the quietest, and most cost effective solution.

I did this already and it did help somewhat, but I kind of want to get away from watercooling if I can. Removing a point of failure sounds good to me at the moment, but if I can't find anything suitable I may end up just replacing the stock H100i fans with something quieter

[Thorium19]

I did this already and it did help somewhat, but I kind of want to get away from watercooling if I can. Removing a point of failure sounds good to me at the moment, but if I can't find anything suitable I may end up just replacing the stock H100i fans with something quieter

The AiO units are pretty reliable, they've a lot less chance of leaking than a fully custom loop, but replacing the fans would be a good bet. There's no air cooler that compares to it that won't block the first PCI-E slot, as the NH-D-15, Dark Rock pro 3 and cryorig R1 ultimate will all block the first lane. If replace the fans with noiseblocker eloops, black silent pros or noctua NF-F12s to reduce noise levels p, or if you can find them, some gengle typhoons.

[AlexStriz]

Cryorig's R1 has a 30 ~ 35 mm ram clearance height

 

It's a really good cooler. Would recommend it. 

[lunchboxdeluxe]

The AiO units are pretty reliable, they've a lot less chance of leaking than a fully custom loop, but replacing the fans would be a good bet. There's no air cooler that compares to it that won't block the first PCI-E slot, as the NH-D-15, Dark Rock pro 3 and cryorig R1 ultimate will all block the first lane. If replace the fans with noiseblocker eloops, black silent pros or noctua NF-F12s to reduce noise levels p, or if you can find them, some gengle typhoons.

 

Thanks... I was hoping I'd been overlooking a large aircooler that wouldn't block a pci express lane, but it looks like you may be right, best to just replace the stock fans with noctuas or something else good and tweak the curve some more.