Noctua DH-14 DH-15 Is everyone mounting it wrong?

[lieutenantfrost]

I keep seeing threads with these coolers and people mention and warn about needing low profile ram to mount these coolers properly. Im am no expert on cpu cooling or mobo Positioning but from what I've learned on toms, I thought the point was to drag cool air across the heatsink? weather it be a AIO radiator or a air cooler. Yet every time I see a picture of either the Noctua DH14 or DH-15 the 1st fan is mounted in front of the heatsink instead of behind it.

Does this actually make a difference in cooling? or is it just a personal preference? seems like an un-necessary hassle to worry about low profile ram when if the fan was mounted properly it wouldn't be an issue

 

[boju]

The idea is push pull so the air is being pushed first into the heat sink then the fan in the middle pulls and pushes air through to the next heat sink then pulled again from the rear case fan/ and or top fan if facing it that way.

These fans have wire clips that latch the fan to the heat sink fins so the need for low profile memory isn't really necessary as it only needs to be raised slightly for normal height memory by only a few heat sink fins which wont bother cooling at all.