Quote:
Originally Posted by
avaya 
Having a hard time finding this info- has anyone been able to fit a silver arrow cpu cooler in a define mini? The specs for silver arrow make it look like it will barely fit, but I read the same height with or without the fan which, based on the silver arrow picture, doesn't appear correct. If not, anyone have a suggestion for a huge processor heat sync? I'd like to get as much overclock as possible while still keeping the fans around 1200 rpm or less.
Seems unlikely...at least without removing foam.
The Define Mini has an advertised supported cooler height of 160mm...but folks with the 158.5mm tall Hyper 212 Plus claim that even that cooler leaves an indentation in the acoustic foam.
The advertised height of the Silver Arrow is 163mm (without fans). That is the height listed on the specs page schematic. Their main page states 160mm, but there is no way that is true. The fans themselves are 160mm tall, but perhaps they do not exceed the height of the heatpipes. Even so, I don't see how it would fit without removing foam...or modding the case. You would have 5mm more to play with in an Arc Mini. This is actually one of the reasons that I went with the Arc instead of the Define. The other issue was the room behind the MB tray, which is cut down in the Define due (again) to the foam.
It also looks like the fans would overlap the memory significantly on most mATX MBs...so it's low-profile or losing at least one if not two slots.
It's a heck of a cooler, but frankly, most folks can get by with something other than top of the line. Example, my 212 EVO keeps my mildly overclocked system chilly (at 900 RPM dynamic)...and still allows me to use all four memory slots without modifying heat sinks...or needing to wrap fan clips in electrical tape to avoid shorting out my GPU.
Just sayin'

cheers,
Scuba
Edited by Scuba Steve in VA - 4/23/12 at 2:06pm