What heatsinks ARE compatible with the 680i?

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saan44

Gawd
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Dec 13, 2005
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There seems to be a lot of conflicting information out there surrounding the capacitors on the back of the board and whether or not they interfere with the installation of heatsinks requiring backplate mounts.

I gather from some reviews I've read that the Tuniq Tower and the the Zalman CNPS9700 NT both fit - based on pictures in those reviews - but on a couple threads I've seen here there's disagreement about whether the Scythe Ninja (rev. B) and the Thermalright Ultra-120 work. With the plethora of other heatsinks available I'm sure no one has been able to test them all.

Does anyone have definitive answers (preferably pictures) that show what heatsinks are compatible without modifications with the reference 680i board?
 
First hand experience the Ninja Rev B. is the mounting bracket hits the "R50" units next to the CPU socket. I filed the bracket down which was a pain, but it fits now. It will actually snap in without any modification, so it seems fine, but from the temps it's definitly not sitting flush.
 
Zalman 9700 fits, but you have to modify the backplate a little. There's 2 spots where you have to cut the plastic cell divider with a razor blade, and then a corner that you either have to dremmel down or shave off with a razor blade. Took me about 10 minutes to do.

I can post some pics later of it mounted on the motherboard as well as inside a P180B case if you want.
 
TT Big Typhoon fits just fine. Just a little creativity putting the back plate on.
Watch out for shorting the mobo on your case. I have some very long leads sticking out the back. :rolleyes:
 
I was able to use the Zalman 9700LED HSF on my Asus Striker motherboard without modifying the backplate of the Zalman mount. There were no clearance issues at all with this motherboard.
 
I am using the Rev. B Ninja on my EVGA 680i board as well. As stated above, there is some minor filing down that has to be done on one side of HS bracket. It was really nothing for my dremel. Once that was done, it sits perfectly on my QX6700. Idle temps are about 30C at stock speeds. That's a pretty good temp for these processors, I believe.

All in all, I am happy with it. :)
 
Viper87227 said:
I' d be quite curious to know if the Ultra-120 works.
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First-hand experience with Thermalright Ultra-120 on eVGA 680i. . .

The metal backplate is "X" shaped. Upon putting the screws through the motherboard and tightening them, the "arms" of the "X" compress down. . . one of these arms comes down and comes into contact with the smaller of the three capacitors on the back of the motherboard. This causes the arm not to compress as far as it should. The heatsink doesn't seem to mount flush at this point and feels "wobbly". . . it's also putting a lot pressure on that capacitor.

No lasting damage to the capacitor seems to have taken place after this brief attempt, however as the motherboard is still 24-hour prime stable with a different heatsink (Thermalright SI-128) mounted.
 
Thats no good. Given the X shape... i cant really dremel it down. I woudlnt want to make it too weak in one spot and break from the tension.
 
thermal take big typhoon fits fine, part of the backplate is over the capacitor, but the foam insert is on there so it isn't crushing it.
 
Despotes said:
TT Big Typhoon fits just fine. Just a little creativity putting the back plate on.
Watch out for shorting the mobo on your case. I have some very long leads sticking out the back. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Yep, I made some cuts in the back plate sponge in order to make sure I didn't put any stress on those resistors on the back of the board.
 
The zalmans are easy, just take wire cutters and cut off the outer corners of the backplate that contains the nut.
 
My Scythe Inifinity just barely fits. Runs right up to the NB heatsink/fan and hangs over the top of the mb 1/2" or so. It could be a problem if the case isn't big enough.

]Monty[
 
Why don't heatsinks fit on the 680i boards?

Will any heatsink fit on any other C2D board?

Will it be OK to run an E6600 with a 680i on stock air cooling? With minimal to none OC'ing?
 
Viperman5000 said:
Why don't heatsinks fit on the 680i boards?

Will any heatsink fit on any other C2D board?

Will it be OK to run an E6600 with a 680i on stock air cooling? With minimal to none OC'ing?
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I found the stock HSF to be OK for minimal OC'ing, but when I raised the voltage a little and OC'd from 2.93 to 3.73 it wasnt enough. The zalman is way quieter than the stocker and keeps the cpu 15-20 degrees cooler under load.

I think the EVGA board is the only 680i board with heatsink "problems" .. You just have to modify the heatsink a little. No big deal.
 
So, the other 680i boards don't have problems?

And is it fairly easy to modify a Zalman 9500 to fit?
 
Viperman5000 said:
Why don't heatsinks fit on the 680i boards?

Will any heatsink fit on any other C2D board?

Will it be OK to run an E6600 with a 680i on stock air cooling? With minimal to none OC'ing?
Click to expand...

It sounds like the mobo manufacturers are leaving it up to the HSF manufacturers to figure out how to design their product to fit to the mobo. They should work closer together on this but apparently with these first revisions they didnt. Too big of a hurry to get the mobos out most likely.
 
Viperman5000 said:
So, the other 680i boards don't have problems?

And is it fairly easy to modify a Zalman 9500 to fit?
Click to expand...

I don't believe the Asus striker has the same problem, but don't quote me on it. Basically anything with a backplate is a problem on the EVGA 680i because it has resistors on the back in that area.

Yes, it's easy to modify the zalman 9500 to fit. I have the same HSF and I just cut the outer parts of the backplate that hold the nut off, and discarded the inner part of the backplate. All that remains is the outer areas.
 
What good quality heat sinks DO NOT need modification to work on the evga board?
 
pogipl said:
i hope the si-128 fits i just ordered my setup
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It does. I have one mounted on my (video card-less) system right now. I'd recommend mounting the heatsink so that it hangs over the RAM with the pipes hanging out towards the I/O stuff (mouse, keyboard, USB, etc.). Otherwise, it will block the motherboard mounting holes in the corners.

Also, keep in mind that you will need to have the motherboard out of the case to mount or remove this heatsink. It hangs too far over the "push-pins" to do it any other way. It's also best not to have the RAM installed prior to the heatsink as well. . . since they can interfere with pressing in the pins.
 
picture071mx3.jpg


No mod for tuniq 120
 
Dan_D said:
Thanks, that's just what I needed. I need to order one of those.
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Hi Dan, I ordered from the mfg because I was to lazy to put it together myself :D They will put it together for a few bucks more. http://highspeedpc.com/

I got to tell you I can not go back to a case after using this for the past year, I change parts way more then I should but this makes it painless, people ask if dust is an issue and its not, its easy to just pick up the air duster can and give it a shot, where as in a case people tend not to look in there that often and the dust collects over time.

The one I have is the standard size but they do have a larger one that is nice.
 
decapitator said:
Hi Dan, I ordered from the mfg because I was to lazy to put it together myself :D They will put it together for a few bucks more. http://highspeedpc.com/

I got to tell you I can not go back to a case after using this for the past year, I change parts way more then I should but this makes it painless, people ask if dust is an issue and its not, its easy to just pick up the air duster can and give it a shot, where as in a case people tend not to look in there that often and the dust collects over time.

The one I have is the standard size but they do have a larger one that is nice.
Click to expand...

Well this will be for doing motherboard reviews, but I wouldn't be comfortable having this as the mount for my regular PC. I have cats, but I don't let them in my computer room.

The other thing is, I have too many drives in my regular PC to make that a good option.
 
Not trying to get off thread topic but I was eyeballing that HSPC Tech Station and I see that they use a 120mm fan. For those that use it I'm curious if a 250mm fan would be just as good or better as the 120mm they use? 250mm is slower but moves about the same amount of air but quieter generally speaking. or is it better to have a fan that blows at a faster speed/amount for this type of open setup?
 
Just installed my Zalman 9700 (freaking huge) yesterday night. Just needed to clip off a few bits of the plastic backplate and it installed just fine.
 
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