Inverting HeatPipe Motherboards... HELP!

liberatecuba

Junior Member
Nov 20, 2006
13
0
0
Ok everybody... I've got a problem.. I plan on upgrading soon.. New mobo, processor, ram, and video card... At the moment I'm having trouble with the following issue..

Most of the kick**s nForce 680i mobo's being released have these very sexy heatpipe cooling solutions for their chipset...
THE PROBLEM: I have an inverted ATX case

I've heard conflicting stories on the effectiveness of Mobo heatpipes when the board is inverted.. Some say you can get away with it.. others say "DONT DO IT"

The ASUS Striker Extreme has me SALIVATING
STRIKER EXTREMEhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131074

But as a first timer to water cooling (and for $$ reasons) I want to keep the number of waterblocks to the bare minimum. But I want to be able to overclock my Core2 6600 to rock solid 3ghz...

Will I have to dismantle that beautiful heatpipe and watercool my North & Southbrige CHipset?... If so.. What about the two sets Vreg on the MOBO? Do I have to cool those too? Can you recommend an effective Heat Sink for those? How hard is it to remove those heatpipes? Any tips on proper removal (things to keep in mind)?

Any help is appreciated..
 

virtualrain

Member
Aug 7, 2005
158
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0
Originally posted by: liberatecuba
Ok everybody... I've got a problem.. I plan on upgrading soon.. New mobo, processor, ram, and video card... At the moment I'm having trouble with the following issue..

Most of the kick**s nForce 680i mobo's being released have these very sexy heatpipe cooling solutions for their chipset...
THE PROBLEM: I have an inverted ATX case

I've heard conflicting stories on the effectiveness of Mobo heatpipes when the board is inverted.. Some say you can get away with it.. others say "DONT DO IT"

The ASUS Striker Extreme has me SALIVATING
STRIKER EXTREMEhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131074

But as a first timer to water cooling (and for $$ reasons) I want to keep the number of waterblocks to the bare minimum. But I want to be able to overclock my Core2 6600 to rock solid 3ghz...

Will I have to dismantle that beautiful heatpipe and watercool my North & Southbrige CHipset?... If so.. What about the two sets Vreg on the MOBO? Do I have to cool those too? Can you recommend an effective Heat Sink for those? How hard is it to remove those heatpipes? Any tips on proper removal (things to keep in mind)?

Any help is appreciated..

Asus heat pipes are cheap and do not include a wicking feature so they cannot be inverted... However, if you are watercooling, you will be fine... Simply get a Swiftech MCW30 for your NB and some kind of passive heat sink for the SB. For the Mosfets, first just see if they even get hot running naked (they may be fine)... if they get hot then simply get some RAM sinks for them or cut the heat pipes off the fins (if you don't mind voiding your warranty) that mount over the mosfets and use those stock heat sinks as is without the pipes coming out. You will be rocking!

BTW, the guy above is right... with water cooling shoot for 3.3-3.4GHz minimum!
 

liberatecuba

Junior Member
Nov 20, 2006
13
0
0
Excellent.. I really appreciate the thorough answer Virtualrain. I will probably end up doing exactly what you suggested since all of the nForce 680 Mobos have some sort of Heat pipes on them.

I will snip and crimp the heatpipe right before the Vregs and then just watercool the NB & SB.. better safe than sorry :)

I will also be shooting for a higher clock speed...

Thanx again
 

liberatecuba

Junior Member
Nov 20, 2006
13
0
0
UPDATE...

I returned my Asus Striker extreme and decided to go with the EVGA 680.. When I spoke to ASUS they strongly advised against inverting this MOBO... When I spoke to EVGA they told me that they already addressed the inverted heat pipe issue and they told me I should have no problem inverting the EVGA 680i....
 

Agent11

Diamond Member
Jan 22, 2006
3,535
1
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You could also always buy an aftermarket heatsink for the north and south bridges and just cut the heatpipe at the pwm's.