Incompatibility Between Certain CPU Coolers and High-Profile Memories

Incompatibility Between Certain CPU Coolers and High-Profile Memories

It has come to our attention that certain motherboards, CPU coolers, and high-profile memories can cause an incompatibility where the CPU cooler blocks small or all of the memory slots.  Mainly this is caused because the motherboard layout puts the CPU close to the memory slots and due to high-profile memory with heatsinks on them.

According to our research, this type of incompatibility is more common on AMD processor boards than Intel processor boards.  The CPU socket on these AMD motherboards are more commonly found closer to the memory slots than the Intel boards of the same size.

According to our research, high-profile memory such as the following normally cause these issues:

• 
  

  Corsair XMS3 DHX

  
  
• 
  

  Corsair Dominator

  
  
• 
  

  OCZ Reaper

Known incompatible configurations which showcase why this happens can be seen below:

Motherboard:	XFX, MD-A72P-7509
Memory:	CORSAIR, 4GB (2 x 2GB) Dominator PC2-8500
CPU Cooler:	THERMALRIGHT, Ultra-120 eXtreme CPU Heatsink

 

Motherboard:	GIGABYTE, GA-MA790XT-UD4P
Memory:	CORSAIR, 4GB (2 x 2GB) XMS3 DHX PC3-10666 DDR3
CPU Cooler:	THERMALTAKE, TMG IA1 CPU Cooling Fan

As you can see, the CPU socket was very close to the memory slots and the memory was of the high-profile type.  Please be aware that this is not the only incompatible configuration.