XP-120 et al fan heights FYI

[Felger Carbon]

The XP-120's fan support is 2.5" (63mm) above its base. The XP-90 (note 1) and 90C is 3.0" above its base. The SI-120 is 3.5". The "Verax Square" (notes 2, 3) top fan support is 4" above its base. It's interesting that in a metric world, engineering is still done in inches.

A typical mATX chassis has 6" of headroom above the HSF base. For an XP-120, the bottom of the fan is 2.5" high and the top is 3.5" (for a 1" fan). Therefore, the fan is exactly in the middle of the mATX air space.

Interference problems is what has caused that 2.5" to grow in subsequent HSF designs. I predict that by the year 3000, fans will be a mile above the HSF base.

Note 1: Some on-line sites list the wrong dimensions for the XP-90; they have the XP-120 dimensions instead. These sites invariably also carry the 90C and list the correct dimensions for that part; the 90 and 90C have the same dimensions. I did a survey of 8 sites and 4 were wrong. I assume that at one time Thermalright's site listed the wrong dimensions, but this is now correct.

Note 2: The "Verax Square" is the Verax OEM name for an HSF made by Zaward in Japan. The Verax part reviewed in the EU still has the Zaward logo on its side. In the US, this same HSF is OEM'd by Raidmax as the "Glacier RC-002", which is sold by Newegg. Raidmax has it's name on the side of the HSF.

Note 3: The Zaward/Verax/Raidmax HSF provides for mounting a fan on the _bottom_ of the radiator assembly. I have one mounted that way on mine and the fan bottom is 1 5/8" above the base. Fans can be mounted both top and bottom. The total height of the HSF, measured to the top of the top fan, is listed as 126mm (5"), which assumes a 1" thick fan. Knurled fan mounting screws are provided; the knurl finger grip adds 7mm to that 126mm. Eight of these screws are provided so Raidmax assumes some users will mount 2 fans.

(I have a collection of large HSFs but not all are in use at the same time.)

[Weldingheart]

Nice,interesting trivia there , though I still cannot imagine how you people measure by 1/2,3/8,5/16,7/32,etc....instead of decimal

A lot of cheaper minimized mATX,only accomodate the height little more than 3.5" , then tower heatsink might not a choice....

Become heatsink/cooling junkie is no less harmful than drugs addiction, it happened to me , Damn,heatsink/cooling manufacturer!

[Al]

Nice,interesting trivia there , though I still cannot imagine how you people measure by 1/2,3/8,5/16,7/32,etc....instead of decimal

Such fractions are (arguably) quite sensible... what are halves, quarters, eighths, sixteenths etc. if not floating point binary? Until someone invents deci-state logic, it would make more sense for everyone to do everything in base two - lets face it, the only reason we ended up doing stuff in base ten is so we could count on our fingers, and who does that over the age of 8?

[m0002a]

Nice,interesting trivia there :D , though I still cannot imagine how you people measure by 1/2,3/8,5/16,7/32,etc....instead of decimal

The same way you do, with a tape measure or ruler.

Other trivia: a 25 mm thick fan was originally 1 inch, and 38mm thick was 1.5 inches. Some fans (like Panaflo) are still 25.5 mm thick according to their specs (1 inch is 25.4 mm).

[Tephras]

Same with Antec, their specs states 25.4mm for fan thickness, though when I've measured them it's more like 24.7mm.