Can a heavy cooler break a motherboard?

[Cristu]

I'm building a new rig and I think I'm going with noctua d15.. however.. I would carry my computer here and there a lot. Isn't there a danger that the noctua's d15 weight could break my motherboard apart?

[Imbellis]

It *could* torque the motherboard a bit; however, you could tie or connect it to a part of the chassis, reducing stresses on the motherboard. I'd just recommend a case that's as close to the same height as the D15 - reducing the amount it can tilt before bumping into the side-panel of the case.

 

The main problems that I see with CPU coolers damaging motherboards is through over-tightening the mounting - causing the motherboard to flex under it.

 

[W-L]

4 minutes ago, Cristu said:

I'm building a new rig and I think I'm going with noctua d15.. however.. I would carry my computer here and there a lot. Isn't there a danger that the noctua's d15 weight could break my motherboard apart?

Unlikely as any large cooler will have a backplate to spread the weight and mounting pressure but if you are planning on moving it in a car or such it wouldn't be bad to add some temporary foam supports or laying it on it's back when moving. 

[WoodenMarker]

Unless you actively try to break the motherboard with the cooler, it's very unlikely. Here's a pretty extreme example with cooler bent and the motherboard surviving: 

 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

Just don't drop it. 

[Nogghan]

1 hour ago, Cristu said:

I'm building a new rig and I think I'm going with noctua d15.. however.. I would carry my computer here and there a lot. Isn't there a danger that the noctua's d15 weight could break my motherboard apart?

I have a cheap motherboard and a massive fucking heatsink you'll be fine  check my profile if you wanna see it

 

[Type 2501]

If you have to move your computer a lot, put some packaging material inside the case to stop the GPU and cooler moving around. 

Btw, why don't you consider the D14 or even the U14 with push pull? They should be good enough for most cup with a decent overclock. (ignore if you are planing to OC on x299 or x399 platform)

[DeLorian]

It shouldn't, coolers are engineered in a certain way so they wouldn't do that.

[LogicalDrm]

People have been using big coolers for years. The way bigger coolers are designed, they will distribute weight across whole mobo and even whole case. This is basic physics (surface tension if you want to read more about it). When mobo is tight in case with all screws, and cooler is tight in backplate, the backplate will transfer coolers weight onto whole mobo. Meaning that you would need to break mobo before cooler moves. There are things that are much more prone to damage from even case falling to its side than cooler.