Question VRM heatsink touch CPU cooler heat pipes

[Avc7]

I have an Asus Strix B560-G MoBo and i recently bought a new cpu cooler Scythe Fuma 2 because my cpu gets hot (i7-11700KF).

As far as i’m aware, i didn’t have any issues installing the fuma on my cpu but its heat pipes touch the VRM heatsinks on the MoBo. It touches the vrm hs on the left(back port side of the mobo) in the image.

https://ibb.co/N6hcqb2

I can pass through a thin paper among them but a thicker paper won’t pass. it is difficult to take a pic when cpu cooler is installed but i attached a photo of my mobo w/o cpu cooler.

Should i be concerned? I’m not sure if that touching points will affect either VRM or CPU performance. I can return the CPU cooler but fuma 2 is one of the low profile cooler that would fit in my case yet great performer + not many options i have in my country.

Thanks for your help!

 

[DRagor]

Should i be concerned?

Nope. Even if they touch it's not going to do any harm. There is no danger of shortcut or anything like that. I also don't really see how it could affect cooling in any meaningful way.

 

[Avc7]

Thanks! I’m not familiar with the VRM heatsinks (how they work etc.) but IFAIK, heat pipes carry heat over to the fins so those pipes are meant to get hot. If VRM heatsink is also meant to get hot then they can possibly dissipate heat to each other and eventually one gets hotter.

 

[DRagor]

they can possibly dissipate heat to each other

Yes

and eventually one gets hotter.

No. Actually physics dictates they will be same temp. But it does not matter, heatsinks are supposed to get hot and deal with it. And you would need much bigger contact area for this to happen.

 

[geofelt]

You are good.
Whatever heat is on the cooler fins or the vrm fins will get dissipated to the surrounding air and exhausted out of the case.
The only concern is that making room for such a tight fit may leave you with an uneven cooler mount.
There is nothing sophisticated about this, you could even bend a few fins on the cooler if need be.
I like the scythe coolers, they are relatively quiet and efficient.
What is the make/model of your case?
What is your fan arrangement?
Your cooler can take in a lot of cooling air, so you want to have at least equivalent front air intake capability.

 

[Avc7]

You are good.
Whatever heat is on the cooler fins or the vrm fins will get dissipated to the surrounding air and exhausted out of the case.
The only concern is that making room for such a tight fit may leave you with an uneven cooler mount.
There is nothing sophisticated about this, you could even bend a few fins on the cooler if need be.
I like the scythe coolers, they are relatively quiet and efficient.
What is the make/model of your case?
What is your fan arrangement?
Your cooler can take in a lot of cooling air, so you want to have at least equivalent front air intake capability.

Thanks for the support!
After a couple of trial (1st went really bad, I think I didn't place the cooler well or applied the thermal paste badly), I made it work. TBH, it is not an easy cpu cooler to work with. But I'm happy with the result. heatpipes are actually either slightly touching or not touching but very very close to the VRM heatsinks now..

The case is Corsair 4000D airflow, it has very good airflow, I have 1 corsair (stock that comes with the case) + 2 arctic P12 fans. I think it is very good in terms of airflow intake.
1 exhaust corsair at the back (stock fan that comes with the case)
1 exhaust right above the CPU cooler, coolermaster stickleflow 120.
All the fans are 120mm.

Now, may temps are satisfactory. It is usually around 30C when idle,
if discord+chrome = around 45C
When gaming, it is between 70-80C
HWmonitor says, higher temp seen was 86 on one core only.

Not sure HWMonitor is capable of showing VRM tems but I checked MoBo temps as well and the highest ones are AUXTIN0 (105C), AUXTIN3 (104C), TMPIN4(105C).

 

[drea.drechsler]

Thanks for the support!
After a couple of trial (1st went really bad, I think I didn't place the cooler well or applied the thermal paste badly), I made it work. TBH, it is not an easy cpu cooler to work with. But I'm happy with the result. heatpipes are actually either slightly touching or not touching but very very close to the VRM heatsinks now..
....

I'd still be concerned about even slight touching as it could transfer mechanical stress to the components the heatsink(s) are covering under the right circumstances. For instance: when being moved the chassis inevitably flexes, also flexing the motherboard that's firmly attached to it with multiple standoffs. That could bring the heatsinks into much firmer contact, pushing harder against the CPU heatsink and be the source of solder ball cracking underneath the CPU socket.

Since you've worked at it as you have there's probably not much by way of adjustments you can do about it except to be aware of it and watch out when moving the system around.

If I were in your situation I'd hammer-form the copper heatpipes to flatten them just a little bit. All it sounds like it needs is a half mm or so, that won't affect functioning at all and look like it was built that way.

 

[Avc7]

I'd still be concerned about even slight touching as it could transfer mechanical stress to the components the heatsink(s) are covering under the right circumstances. For instance: when being moved the chassis inevitably flexes, also flexing the motherboard that's firmly attached to it with multiple standoffs. That could bring the heatsinks into much firmer contact, pushing harder against the CPU heatsink and be the source of solder ball cracking underneath the CPU socket.

Since you've worked at it as you have there's probably not much by way of adjustments you can do about it except to be aware of it and watch out when moving the system around.

If I were in your situation I'd hammer-form the copper heatpipes to flatten them just a little bit. All it sounds like it needs is a half mm or so, that won't affect functioning at all and look like it was built that way.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'd actually be more interested in keeping an eye on my VRM temps but I'm not sure if there is any software that would show them like HWmonitor.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'd actually be more interested in keeping an eye on my VRM temps but I'm not sure if there is any software that would show them like HWmonitor.

If the motherboard reports VRM temperature in it's sensor data then HWInfo64 probably does. If it doesn't you can contact the author on his website forum and ask he add it if possible. He'll probably put it in the next BETA release and they come out once every other week or so. But sadly, Asus doesn't always report VRM temp sensor data except for upper tier boards. Not sure where a B560 chipset board falls in the Intel eco-system.

But being aware of VRM temperature data won't protect against mechanical damage if the two parts interfere when being moved.

 

[Avc7]

If the motherboard reports VRM temperature in it's sensor data then HWInfo64 probably does. If it doesn't you can contact the author on his website forum and ask he add it if possible. He'll probably put it in the next BETA release and they come out once every other week or so. But sadly, Asus doesn't always report VRM temp sensor data except for upper tier boards. Not sure where a B560 chipset board falls in the Intel eco-system.

But being aware of VRM temperature data won't protect against mechanical damage if the two parts interfere when being moved.

yeah, but at least I will be able to see if VRMs get unuslually hot so I can take action because I will not be able to do anything else than just hope they don't touch sad but...