Rosewill RSV-L4(5/0)00 maximum heatsink clearance advice

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.

Dxun

New Member
Oct 10, 2015
3
0
1
I am considering to buy either RSV-L4500 or RSV-L4000 for a silent, rackable workstation build. I am looking for maximum height cleareance inside the case but find anectodal and contradictory information only - can anyone point me in the right direction? I intend to put a 158.7 mm heatsink (Megahalems Rev C) inside it and I just don't know if it would fit.

I've written to their sales dept, sifted through their manual and went through various video and owner reviews and I just can't get a definitive, non-conflicting answer. For example, some people claim the max clearance is 142 mm, there are people who have been able to fit a cooler (at least) 151 mm tall and I've found instances where people were seemingly able to fit a 159 mm cooler (Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus). For example, a review here claims the heatsink hits the top of the case but it doesn't say if the contact prevented him from actually closing the case or not (just search for "Hyper 212" string).

Personally, I would be ok with (a slight) contact, as long as there is no *excessive* force pressuring the motherboard (as it is easy to isolate the contact surface). For example, I now use a $40 Fractal Design Core 1000 with a 159 mm heatsink and it fits just barely, with a benign contact. The case is 175 mm, whereas the Rosewills are 177 mm, so it would seem that, ceteris paribus, the heatsink should fit, so I really don't understand how people claim 142 mm or 151 mm heatsinks "barely fit". Am I missing something obvious here?

Lastly, if you are positive the heatsink would not fit in this case - what alternatives exist in 4U size?
 

DavidRa

Infrastructure Architect
Aug 3, 2015
329
152
43
Central Coast of NSW
www.pdconsec.net
I can't offer an alternative, but it's quite possible for the two cases to have wildly differing internal clearances. For example, some rack cases have a 4mm clearance for the bottom plate - enough for their motherboard support studs to screw in. Others have much more. Also, the material thickness and intended external clearances vary.

So one 4U case might have 170mm internal space and be 175mm externally, another might be made of thicker steel, 176mm high with a 10mm support plate under the mainboard - leaving only 160mm total internal space (take off another 16mm for standoffs, board and CPU, and voila - 145mm heatsinks don't fit).
 

Dxun

New Member
Oct 10, 2015
3
0
1
I see. So, essentially, there is no way to know a priori, except to either ask the manufacturer or buy blindly? I don't know what else to do except to search for a desktop case that's less than 443 mm (19 inches) but accepts the tower heatsink and put that in the (lack)rack....though I would hate having to do that.

Either that, or buy a fitting heatsink....but how to know which one fits when the manufacturer doesn't supply the information? What a nightmare.