Will Zalman CNPS7700 cu fit in my mid tower?

windbuks

New Member
Hi there

I recently bought the Zalman CNPS7700 cu 120mm cpu fan, purely because I heard it's a good way of neutralizing my Prescott 2.8's ridiculous noise level.
I knew it was big, but I was still surprised when it arrived - it's bloody huge!
It nowhere near fit into my crappy generic pc case - I have a Gigabyte 8S661FXM-RZ socket 478 mobo and the cpu is right on the edge of the board, leaving no space to mount the fan below the power supply.

I'm stuck now, not knowing whether to buy a new mid-tower or a new mobo. I'm a bit sceptical about buying a new motherboard, all the mobos I've checked out also has the cpu right on the edge of the board or very close to it. I needed a new case anyway, so would rather go for that option. I've been checking out Antec's SLK3700bqe or the Sonata. The SLK3700 is a bit bigger than the Sonata, but I'm still not sure whether the Zalman will fit. Do I actually need a full tower to house this fan, because I don't really want something that huge.

Is there anyone using this particular fan who can shed some light on this subject or if anyone knows whether the Zalman will fit in the SLK3700bqe and with which motherboard?
All help much appreciated.
 
i think its a case of how high the case is, the zalman isn't actually that tall but has a vary large diameter.
buying a bigger case would be the easiest option for you, the trouble is you dont want one thats too big, i suggest a full tower case to be on the safe side. obviously these will be abit more expensive but the benefits of extra airflow will benefit you also
 
Hairy_Lee said:
he got your explanation muddled up, he thought you meant that the heatsink was too tall
You're probably right about that full tower, seems like the only safe way to go. Any recommendations?
Oh yes, one more thing - I've got absolutely no background with full towers so I might be talking out of my arse here, but won't the mobo still be sitting right up against the power supply, thus creating more space, but below the mobo where I don't need it?
 
no, you get a bit more space at the top and the bottom; however, my coolermaster case although very big still has the motherboard quite close the PSU. i would recommend a case (like the coolermaster stacker) that allows you to mount the PSU at the bottom of the case in order to overcome this problem.
 
Thanks for the info, I think I've got some tough decisions to make, the coolermaster stacker is a bit more than I budgeted for, and still no power supply. I might actually end up re-selling the zalman fan and just getting something smaller.
 
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