C14s + Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro AX issue

Soulforger90

Trash Compacter
Original poster
Sep 30, 2019
48
10
Mounting the C14s vertically on the new Gigabyte B550i Aorus Pro AX motherboard results in the end of the heatpipes making contact with the GPU backplate.

This is also with the bend of the C14s heatpipes pointing up which Noctua says not to do. I'm not sure how much of a temp difference that makes, but I'm more worried about the contact between the heatpipes and the GPU backplate.
I thought about sliding a thin piece of electrical tape or construction paper (something to insulate the connection) and see if that works and what kind of temps I get. I just don't want anything to short out.

I had a 3700x on an Asus B450i gaming itx board and it runs fine. I just wanted something beefier for my 3950x build and potentially upgraded to the Ryzen 4000 stuff later on.

The only other B550 options don't look that great. The MSI board has the same issue of the socket being off center like the Gigabyte, and the Asrock board has 90 degree sata connectors, and the Asus doesn't have great VRM's and a fan, which I'm not a fan of. Pun intended. The Gigabyte board was the only one without any fans, which was a plus as well.
 

Soulforger90

Trash Compacter
Original poster
Sep 30, 2019
48
10
UPDATE: Fixed the issue, had to tear the board apart just to get to the battery in order to reset the CMOS. Trying to short the jumper on the board just doesn't work.

Also, the board + C14s is not compatible, no matter how you mount the C14s on the B550 Aorus Pro AX it won't fit. The vertical orientation doesn't just have the heat pipes touching the backplate, then actually go over the PCIE slot, making the GPU not seat correctly. The GPU is slanted in the slot and pushes up against the CPU cooler, and vice versa.
 

osff

Chassis Packer
Aug 22, 2019
19
2
Thanks for sharing this. Do you have some pictures? As far I can see, the new B550 are not the best option for the ncase M1, isn't it?
 

Soulforger90

Trash Compacter
Original poster
Sep 30, 2019
48
10
Sorry for the late response. I don't have pictures of the overhang of the C14s on the Aorus board. I swapped it out for the Asrock B550i Phantom Gaming ITX/AX board, and everything fits just fine. Of course the socket placement on the Asrock board is more central compared to the Aorus board.

Had another user on Reddit tell me that the instructions for clearing CMOS in the Aorus board was printed wrong in the manual. But by that time I had already tore it apart to get to the battery. However, I did have to clear it again later, and it worked just fine, which was a relief.

The Aorus board is still a great board though. I just threw it into an NR200 build with my 3700x and used a Scythe Fuma 2 in that build. It's just the offset doesn't play nice with the C14s. Other coolers / AIO's won't have that issue.
 

Lallo

Trash Compacter
Jun 1, 2018
39
2
Sorry for the late response. I don't have pictures of the overhang of the C14s on the Aorus board. I swapped it out for the Asrock B550i Phantom Gaming ITX/AX board, and everything fits just fine. Of course the socket placement on the Asrock board is more central compared to the Aorus board.

Had another user on Reddit tell me that the instructions for clearing CMOS in the Aorus board was printed wrong in the manual. But by that time I had already tore it apart to get to the battery. However, I did have to clear it again later, and it worked just fine, which was a relief.

The Aorus board is still a great board though. I just threw it into an NR200 build with my 3700x and used a Scythe Fuma 2 in that build. It's just the offset doesn't play nice with the C14s. Other coolers / AIO's won't have that issue.

Did you end up using any other itx board for the Ryzen build in Ncase with C14 that fit ?
 

smitty2k1

King of Cable Management
Dec 3, 2016
967
492
OP's issue only affects the Gigabyte and MSI boards. The X580 and B550 ITX boards from Asrock and Asus will do fine.
Good to know, was considering the Asrock B550 Phantom for my NCASE upgrade. May just stick with my cold school Noctual C12p SE14 cooler and get the mounting bracket from Noctua instead of upgrading to the C14s though.