Advice Mini ITX woes

[andymaxwell]

Hi All, i have an MSI Z490i Unify and have been trying to find a low profile cooler (sub 59mm height) which will fit on it.
I use Teamgroup Vulcan memory which is 33mm tall (measured). Neither the ID Cooling IS-60 nor the Thermaltake AXP-100 Copper fits, the ID cooling slightly interferes with the memory and the Thermaltake really interferes with it, both have issues with the heat pipes interfering with the I/O shroud.

I am prepared to buy a different motherboard, even a micro ATX (and my case will fit an ATX) but from the images i have seen online the distance from the socket to the memory slots is the same, so how are these things supposed to ANY motherboard. Apologies for the shout there but I am pretty frustrated (as much as I love building my own pc).

Any thoughts would be apprecaited.

VULCAN Z DDR4 GAMING MEMORY

T-FORCE VULCAN Z DDR4 gaming memory offers gamers excellent quality, optimal performance, and the finest, smoothest gaming experience.

www.teamgroupinc.com

MSI MEG Z490I UNIFY Mini-ITX Gaming Motherboard (10th Gen Intel Core, LGA 1200 Socket, Dual M.2 Slots, Thunderbolt 3 Type-C, Wi-Fi 6)

Powered by Intel 10th Gen Core processors, the MSI MEG Z490I UNIFY (mini-ITX) begins its dark conquest with a design made to accomplish any task with cruel efficiency. Connect to ultra-fast networks with 2.5G LAN and Wi-Fi AX. Move bulky files faster with

www.msi.com

Case: https://www.sfftime.com/product-page/p-atx-v2-0

 

[andymaxwell]

apologies for the unintentional double posting!! (i haven't figured out how to delete messages yet!).

 

[tinyitx]

Any thoughts would be apprecaited.

How about the Black Ridge?
It appears to fit into MSI Z490i Unify without hitting anything.
Fan is installed under the heatsink. Total height is 47mm (with fan). If 59mm is your max, you might even be able to fit a slim 2nd 12mm fan on top too.

Check out this guy's build:-

https://pcpartpicker.com/b/RYtp99

 

[andymaxwell]

That is exactly what I wanted to know, thank you. There are people out there who report it doesn't work and some who do, quite frustrating I really appreciate the photos, proof positive!

 

[andymaxwell]

And i had no idea there were 12mm fans, that's good to know.

I wonder if anyone has had any luck with the ID Cooling IS-60 by taking off the I/O shroud (just out of interest).

 

[scatterforce]

The AXP-90 would work and won't interfere with anything. This is the 53mm version; it will fit and should have plenty of space to avoid turbulence (typically, 5mm clearance is sufficient).

If you don't want to gamble with clearances on another cooler, this is the one I'd use.

 

[andymaxwell]

The AXP-90 would work and won't interfere with anything. This is the 53mm version; it will fit and should have plenty of space to avoid turbulence (typically, 5mm clearance is sufficient).

If you don't want to gamble with clearances on another cooler, this is the one I'd use.

Oh, that's an interesting little cooler. Similar to the Noctua L9i but with a taller heatsink. Looks like it would handle more TDP than the Noctua. Thanks.

 

[tinyitx]

Another photo evidence showing Black Ridge fits onto MSI Z490i Unify.

It clears the IO shroud.
It also clears the Corsair LPX memory which is 31mm tall. Yours is 33mm but, judging from the pic, 2mm extra does not look like a problem to me.

If the IO shroud is removed, you will lose that 1-heatpipe power delivery heatsink. Even if it works for the CPU cooler, I think it is not worth it.

 

[andymaxwell]

Another photo evidence showing Black Ridge fits onto MSI Z490i Unify.

It clears the IO shroud.
It also clears the Corsair LPX memory which is 31mm tall. Yours is 33mm but, judging from the pic, 2mm extra does not look like a problem to me.

If the IO shroud is removed, you will lose that 1-heatpipe power delivery heatsink. Even if it works for the CPU cooler, I think it is not worth it.

Thanks @tinyitx , I appreciate the time you took to do that. I agree with your comment about not removing the CPU cooler. I did wonder though, if the ASRock z490/h470i's don't have one then you would imagine this one should be fine too unless overclocking.