PCIE Compatibility - Z97X-Gaming GT

[achildabrowski]

Good evening,

I have had a Hyper 212 installed for my 4790K in my Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming GT motherboard. I would like to install a large air cooler to allow for greater thermal headroom when overclocking. The issue I am having is that my PCIE slots are set closer to the CPU socket than other mobos' sockets because it has 4 PCIE lanes (meant for 4-way SLI max). Here is a link to a picture of the mobo: https://geizhals.de/gigabyte-ga-z97x-gaming-gt-a1107783.html
I would like to install either a Cryorig R1 Ultimate or Universal. I would like to avoid the Noctua D15S if possible because their color schemes are hideous. Would either of those two Cryorig heatsinks fit while allowing for me to keep my GPU (GTX 1070 FTW Hybrid) in the first PCIE slot?

Thank you very much for the help and have a happy new year.

 

[Aeacus]

A little bit of common sense will give you your answer. Here's how:

Hyper 212 is 120mm wide and the heatsink flat base sits in the middle of the heatsink (either by looking from the front or from the back),
specs: http://www.coolermaster.com/cooling/cpu-air-cooler/hyper-212-evo/

Cryorig R1 Ultimate is 140mm wide and it's heatsink flat base also sits in the middle of the heatsink, just like with Hyper 212,
specs: http://www.cryorig.com/r1-ultimate_us.php

So, you'll need to have extra 10mm of clearance on either side to fit the Cryorig. Take out ruler or measuring tape and measure how much of a free space you have between CPU heatsink and GPU backplate.

While NH-D15S is 150mm wide, it's heatsink flat base is off centered, giving more clearance to the PCI-E slot,
specs: https://noctua.at/en/nh-d15s/specification

Measured from dead center of CPU, Hyper 212 expands 60mm towards GPU, R1 Ultimate expands 70mm towards GPU and NH-D15S expands 67mm towards GPU. Also, if you don't like Noctua fan coloring, you can always replace them since fans aren't soldered to the heatsink.

Btw, consider the RAM clearance also since Hyper 212 doesn't hang over RAM slots while all big heatsink CPU coolers will.