CPU Cooler Fit and Included Accessories

CPU Cooler Fit

To test the amount of space surrounding the CPU socket, we mounted the Noctua NH-D14 cooler to the CPU socket. This behemoth CPU air cooler sports a dual fan construction and two huge vertical cooling towers.

When running the unit oriented to blow air towards the rear panel, there is ample room along the front, back, and left sides of the board to accommodate the cooler's real estate as well as any installed peripherals.

The two-sided VRM heat sink does not conflict with the ability to mount the cooler, nor do any of the coolers heat pipes come into contact with the on-board heat sinks. There is plenty of room in the direct vacinity of the CPU socket to accomodate the cooler. Further, all four memory slots remain usable with the cooler in place.

The Noctua hold down mechanism is large enough to quickly determine exactly how much space is available around the CPU socket. Neither the heat sinks nor the chokes surrounding the CPU socket pose any constraint issues with the Noctua mounting mechanism.

The is no risk of board damage using a backplate with this board because of the lack of circuitry or chips directly around the socket.

Included Accessories

GIGABYTE bundled in only the absolute minimum components necessary to get the board up and running.

GIGABYTE includes a nicely detailed manual with information on all board setup and functionality. Additionally, a setup disc was included for installing all drivers and utilities necessary for board setup. GIGABYTE also includes an Ultra Durable branded case badge.

The rear panel shield is well marked with a flat black base and white lettering and icons, for clear identification of port function under most lighting conditions.

GIGABYTE included a total of four 6Gb/s rated SATA cables for use with the integrated port. The cables and sleeved with black plastic sleeving and have integrated port locks and a mix of straight and 90 degree connectors. Note that no SATA Express cables are included with the board.

For multi-GPU use, GIGABYTE includes a two-way NVIDIA SLI cable.

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