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Completed Noctua bracket for LGA 2011 Narrow ILM
- Thread starter jeshikat
- Start date
Manufacturing
Unfortunately even though they were made at a local shop, I wasn't allowed to come and take pictures because apparently some of the stuff they work on is under NDA.
But they did give me the piece of sheet metal the parts were cut from, so that's neat
An interesting manufacturing detail we can see is the laser cutter's pierce point. When laser cutting, the beam doesn't instantly punch through the metal, it requires a bit of time to "drill" through the sheet. Once the laser pierces the sheet, it can then start moving and cutting the metal.
But as can be seen here, where the laser pierces leaves a bit of bit of melted aluminum on the bottom of the sheet. So it starts the pierce a little bit away from where the part starts, and then starts moving to cut the part out.
Unfortunately even though they were made at a local shop, I wasn't allowed to come and take pictures because apparently some of the stuff they work on is under NDA.
But they did give me the piece of sheet metal the parts were cut from, so that's neat
An interesting manufacturing detail we can see is the laser cutter's pierce point. When laser cutting, the beam doesn't instantly punch through the metal, it requires a bit of time to "drill" through the sheet. Once the laser pierces the sheet, it can then start moving and cutting the metal.
But as can be seen here, where the laser pierces leaves a bit of bit of melted aluminum on the bottom of the sheet. So it starts the pierce a little bit away from where the part starts, and then starts moving to cut the part out.
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So I guess I have a bunch of extra mounting bars, whatever shall I do with them?
I'm very impressed. The sky is the limit !
My wallet is being pulled from my pants by some strange gravitational force ! It wants me to buy the ASRock motherboard, my NH-L12 is already chanting "Join us, JOIN US". But I shouldn't. Or should I ?
Have you contacted Noctua before building this mount?^^
To me it looks like that their Workstation cooler for the Narrow ILM just attaches a little differently, but uses the same baseplate that sits on the IHS.
What I mean:
Do you know that the points I marked with a red triangle use a different spacing? To me it looks like they just replaced the mounting bar( with a total for 2 springs) for the direct attached X with 4 springs?
The NH-U12S (consumer) and NG-U12DXi4 (workstation) for example have the same baseplate, yet the consumer cooler uses the 2 spring setup while the workstation uses the 4 springs.
To me it looks like that their Workstation cooler for the Narrow ILM just attaches a little differently, but uses the same baseplate that sits on the IHS.
What I mean:
Do you know that the points I marked with a red triangle use a different spacing? To me it looks like they just replaced the mounting bar( with a total for 2 springs) for the direct attached X with 4 springs?
The NH-U12S (consumer) and NG-U12DXi4 (workstation) for example have the same baseplate, yet the consumer cooler uses the 2 spring setup while the workstation uses the 4 springs.
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The problem is screwing down the mounting screws. The top-down coolers like the L12 have cutouts in the fin array for a screwdriver to access the two mounting screws.
So the workstation mounting brackets wouldn't line up to those cutouts, so it'd be very difficult to screw down the heatsink.
I've had to do that on other poorly designed heatsinks, using pliers and turning the screw 10-20 degrees at a time because there's barely room to move the pliers without running into VRM heatsinks, rear IO, the heatsink itself, etc. So it's doable, but I wanted something I could easily remove the heatsink.
So the workstation mounting brackets wouldn't line up to those cutouts, so it'd be very difficult to screw down the heatsink.
I've had to do that on other poorly designed heatsinks, using pliers and turning the screw 10-20 degrees at a time because there's barely room to move the pliers without running into VRM heatsinks, rear IO, the heatsink itself, etc. So it's doable, but I wanted something I could easily remove the heatsink.
True, I did not think about mounting it.
But still it would make sense for them to use all the same baseplate design right? I am curious why the consumer and workstation version of the NH-U12 use different mounting?
But still it would make sense for them to use all the same baseplate design right? I am curious why the consumer and workstation version of the NH-U12 use different mounting?
Because you need a backplate for the consumer motherboards, which is where the mounting bars come in handy.
Rather than juggling the heatsink and the backplate at the same time, you only have to deal with the backplate and the mounting bars in the first step, then the heatsink screws onto the mounting bars in the second step. Makes things so much easier.
Server platforms don't need a backplate though since the cooler directly attaches to the ILM, so it's quicker and requires fewer parts to just have the screws attached to the heatsink go directly into the ILM rather than having the mounting bar middleman.
In a server environment, time is money, so server heatsinks are typically designed to be easy to install and remove.
Rather than juggling the heatsink and the backplate at the same time, you only have to deal with the backplate and the mounting bars in the first step, then the heatsink screws onto the mounting bars in the second step. Makes things so much easier.
Server platforms don't need a backplate though since the cooler directly attaches to the ILM, so it's quicker and requires fewer parts to just have the screws attached to the heatsink go directly into the ILM rather than having the mounting bar middleman.
In a server environment, time is money, so server heatsinks are typically designed to be easy to install and remove.
Cryorig's website provide paper model of this cooler. You can use a normal printer to print it and test the compatiability. If it's doable, I can buy one and send it to you for free
(First post) Had to sign up to say this is awesome! I too run a good amount of Narrow ILM hardware at home on my UnRaid systems (Some AsRock MiniITX and some full ATX AsRock boards).
I have been stuck using 1 or the 2 Noctua coolers that support Narrow ILM naively, or using the Asetek Narrow ILM adapter kit, which I am using now. Thing about using that is that most of my boxes will run for weeks on end..... I really don't think these little Astek AIO's are rated for continual use like that, and I am always nervous of the pump going out and I will be none the wiser until a thermal shutdown.
@Aibohphobia ,
How can one got about snagging a couple sets of those Noctua adapter brackets you made?
I have been stuck using 1 or the 2 Noctua coolers that support Narrow ILM naively, or using the Asetek Narrow ILM adapter kit, which I am using now. Thing about using that is that most of my boxes will run for weeks on end..... I really don't think these little Astek AIO's are rated for continual use like that, and I am always nervous of the pump going out and I will be none the wiser until a thermal shutdown.
@Aibohphobia ,
How can one got about snagging a couple sets of those Noctua adapter brackets you made?
https://smallformfactor.net/forum/t...ad-ncase-m1-bag-pcie-extenders-and-more.1445/
Flick him a private message
Flick him a private message
Annnnd TIME! (What a timed reply :-) )https://smallformfactor.net/forum/t...ad-ncase-m1-bag-pcie-extenders-and-more.1445/
Flick him a private message
$18 a set, huh.... Yeah, I will send him a pm anyway. Maybe (just maybe) I can get a break if I need a couple sets....
Thanks a bunch! Nice little forum here that I had 0 idea existed. Poking around at the moment since I am a SFF buff as well.
Happens one of these narrow ilm boxes I am targeting for a small (uber powerful) pfsense box.
Did you ever get a hold of him? Do you have a set and are you still using it?
Sucks that he is gone for a bit. Did he leave the cad drawings behind so that we can have a pair of these milled out?
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