Paraleyes

UPDATE: For interior CPU duct info, see posts #12, 16 & 17,

Utilizing a pair of Thermaltake CL-C0034 Extreme Spirit II North Bridge (northbridge) and South Bridge (southbridge) heatsink and fan (HSF) chipset coolers, I attached them to the stock cooling blocks of the copper heat pipe system on my ASUS P5N32-E SLI PLUS or Striker Extreme motherboard by removing the copper cooling fins(See Image 1) from the north bridge and the Ai Lifestyle shield over the south bridge so the stock heat pipe system can work in tandem with the Extreme Spirit II creating an entirely custom and impressively efficient upgraded cooling system.

After removing the stock copper heat pipe cooling system with a pair of small needle nosed pliers pushing the plastic retainer pins back through and out, I cleaned off the old and dried up thermal compound(See Image 2) found on the underside of the stock cooling blocks, cleaned the surfaces and applied Arctic Silver 5(See Image 3) on the necessary surfaces. Starting with the South Bridge, I removed the “Ai Lifestyle” shield(See Image 4) from the stock heat pipe block. Then using some longer bolts I purchased to match the thread pattern of the hardware supplied with the Extreme Spirit II coolers, I reattached the stock south bridge heatpipe cooler. Notice the clearance available over the stock block here(See Image 5 – Image 6).

I did not want the new fan to blow directly on where will soon be a 2nd GTX 260 below the south bridge, so in hopes of evacuating the heat generated from the south bridge chip as quickly as possible and while I considered the cooling system of the graphics cards as well, I decided an angled position would be the most efficient way of doing so. And so before installing the Extreme Spirit II I went ahead and trimmed the fins on one side using a small carbide tipped circular saw blade(See Image 7). Here is a close up of the trimmed fins(See Image 8). With the corner edges of those fins shaved off, I was able to mount the Extreme Spirit II at a slight angle allowing for airflow in the direction I desired. These next two pictures show how the Extreme Spirit II fits along side a GTX 260 above(See Image 9) and below(See Image 10). I also fancied a small heat shield out of an aluminum can(See Image 11) that I will use to protect the 2nd GTX 260 I intend to purchase in the next weeks. I don’t know if it will help protect that bottom GTX 260 from the heat generated by the south bridge chip or not, but I know it won’t hurt. That is the whole reason I trimmed the corners and mounted at an angle in the 1st place, because I didn’t want it to blast hot air directly on the back of the bottom GTX 260 core. Mounting the Extreme Spirit II on the south bridge was challenging, but with a stubborn diligence to make it work, I was able to make a custom bracket out of an old expansion slot shield(See Image 12) with a pair of 8 Inch needle nosed pliers, a vice grip, some tin snips, a cordless drill and a black Sharpie. The upper end of the bracket needed to be bent down so the securing nut would still clearance the back of the upper GTX 260. Have another look here(See Image 13). And of course here’s an up close look at how the south bridge Extreme Spirit II upgrade turned out(See Image 14).

Okay with the south bridge upgrade complete, I’ll move on to the easy part being that the north bridge doesn’t have any clearance issued to worry about. My plan was to have the fan blow the air through the heatsink in the same direction as my Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro all to be sucked out the rear of my case with my rear exhaust fan. I removed the stock north bridge copper heat pipe cooling system the same way I did with the south bridge saving the black plastic clips for who knows what. Then I secured it with screws to the side of my project countertop flush to the top allowing me to make a single clean cut removing the stock fins from the block(See Image 17). After sticking some super fine grit sand paper to a long sanding block, I cleaned up any imperfections the saw made making sure to create a very flat surface for mounting the Extreme Spirit II cooler to(See Image 18). Here is a close up of how the north bridge Extreme Spirit II upgrade turned out(See Image 19).

I thought I should point out that if desired, one could easily upgrade the 40mm X 40mm X 10mm fan included with the Extreme Spirit II with any 40mm X 40mm X 20mm fan, either by mounting it on the opposite side of the heatsink(See Image 15), or by predrilling a new hole to relocate the screw and allowing the wider fan to fit directly over the chip.(See Image 16). This fan upgrade may not be compatible in all circumstances if clearance is an option and hardly necessary as the stock unit is a very efficient design to begin with.

I’m super happy with how everything turned out. Here, you can see how I was able to retain the stock mosfet cooling(See Image 20). After upgrading my CPU cooler, I was unable to use the top ASUS cooling fan, so I ordered a couple of 30mm case fans that screwed perfectly into the top mosfet cooling heatsink.

Here are some pictures of the finished product. (Image 21 – Image 22 – Image 23 – Image 24) And here is a final look at my P5N32-E SLI PLUS or Striker Extreme with the dual Thermaltake Extreme Spirit II coolers installed and working flawlessly with the original cooling system. (Image 25 – Image 26 – Image 27 – Image 28)

Please don’t make fun of my thermal paste mess under these two Extreme Spirit II coolers. I ran out of Arctic Silver 5 of which I had enough to reinstall the stock heatpipe system. I was forced to use the included ceramic thermal paste between the Extreme Spirit II blocks and the stock blocks and did not expect it to act the way it did. Lesson learned. However, at the end of this post, you will be able to see the outstanding results I’ve had using this cooling system. I am thoroughly impressed with the included ceramic thermal paste.

After studying many of the new motherboard products available now primarilly by ASUS, I can see how this very same approach I’ve taken can be implemented by upgrading the stock heatpipe cooling systems on nearly all of their products; including the P5Q, P5K, P5E and even the P5N series motherboards. Come to think of it, that was the one feature I wasn't very excited about with the ASUS Striker II Extreme; I don't lke dealing with water cooling. In fact, now that the X58 chips are out, the Striker Extreme made a HUGE price drop. Good thing I'm loyal to nVidia, because now that I've got it figured out, I can easilly mount two of these Thermaltake Extreme Spirit II HSFs just over the stock northbridge system by simply removing the waterblock and stock fan(Minor trimming may be necessary here). Furthermore, I will remove the blue sheild from over the southbridge revealing the 1/4 tall copper fins and install one or a pair of 7mm thick fan(s) all the while allowing enough clearance for 3-Way SLI.

I haven’t been lucky enough to see up close and personal many of the very high end motherboards by ASUS's competitors, but from the pictures I’ve seen at newegg, it looks as though even those nVidia referenced 790i motherboards by EVGA, XFX, etc can be upgraded the vare same way; by adding a few pairs of 30mm fans to the the heatsinks surrounding the CPU, by upgrading the stock northbridge fan with a much more efficient one and by carefully removing the aluminum fins on the southbridge cooling block and adding a Thermaltake Extreme Spirit II. Take in consideration the fact that you would lose the ability for 3-way SLI unless you opted to instead mount a low profile heatsink or a HSF to the top of the existing southbridge cooling block. I would recommend usingArctic Silver Premium Thermal Adhesive to mount something like that. Tons of options are out there. You just have to find the one you need. From the looks of it, even a 10mm HSF should fit after removing those aluminum fins. You'll need to measure to be sure.

Have a friend help hold a circular saw steady for you if you don’t feel comfortable doing it on your own. You’ll need all your fingers to get those frags. A good carbide tip blade is all you need and the more teeth, the better. I used to install Sun Rooms/Solariums made out of aluminum, so I am quite accustomed to working with metal. I knew Copper was very similar to Aluminum as far as cutting goes, so I went for it. You may want to stop by your local recycling compound and pick up a few pieces of aluminum so you can get a feel for it and know what to expect when cutting it. These soft metals cut super easilly so don't be discouraged; just practice on a piece of extruded aluminum if you aren't sure what to expect.

Here are my overclocking and cooling results with my E6600 under load(See Image 29). As you can see, I like to keep my other monitor on so I can keep an eye on the system. I remember with my previous 7950s that SLI mode disabled the other monitor while gaming though. I’ll have to use those annoying alarms then; not that I need them anymore, at least not for my motherboard. Thanks to Robilar and his thread on the P5N32-E for pointing out just what I needed to do in order to get my FSB to 410(1640). I did lower my multiplier to 8 until I get my E8500 next week I picked up from mwave.com for $186 + Free Shipping. Otherwise, at a 9 multiplier with my E6600, I maxed out the FSB at 378(1512) and the CPU at 3402MHz. I can’t wait to play with my new CPU!

Here are my overclocking and cooling results with my E8500 under load(See Image 30). I have only just begun to play with this new CPU, so I’m confident I will be able to get a bit more out of it, but I am at a loss as to why this 45nm CPU runs at such higher temperatures than my previous 65nm E6600. –Something to look into, I guess. I'd appreciate any tips or help there!

As far as my motherboard cooling project results goes, it really only depends on what the ambient room temperature is as whatever temperature the motherboard idles, which is usually 28C to 31C, is right where it will stay. Whether I’m sitting on the internet, or playing Crysis for 10 hours straight, it does not budge more than a single degree. Now those are some impressive results!

Here are images 1-5:

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UHAF 932 Prototype Concept Rig Build Log
Ultimate Aggressive Cooling Mod - How I Lowered my MB temps by 25C!
How to Modify, Cut Down & Upgrade Your Stock Heat Pipe System
Old Heat Pipes Moddded on a New P5N7A-VM Old Heat Pipes Modded on a New P5Q3

Paraleyes

I felt that I should add a few more things here, like please hit the Rep+ button if you liked what you read here.

Keep in mind that this type of modification will most certainly void the warranty, but to me it is more than worth it.

Tools used: Screw Drivers – Two sizes of Needle Nosed Pliers – Vice Grip Pliers – Razor Blade/Utility Knife – Palm Sander – Fine Sand Paper – Large Sanding Block – Circular Saw with Carbide Tipped Blade – Cordless Drill – 1/8” Drill Bit – Tin Snips – Steady Hands – Safety Goggles

*Am I seriously writing a disclaimer?! This project worked for me exceptionally well, however any damage or loss to anything or anyone will be done at your own risk.

Here are images 6-10

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__________________

UHAF 932 Prototype Concept Rig Build Log
Ultimate Aggressive Cooling Mod - How I Lowered my MB temps by 25C!
How to Modify, Cut Down & Upgrade Your Stock Heat Pipe System
Old Heat Pipes Moddded on a New P5N7A-VM Old Heat Pipes Modded on a New P5Q3

Paraleyes

I took around about 100+ pictures while working on this project, so if anyone would like to see them, just let me know and I'll send you a link to see them.

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__________________

UHAF 932 Prototype Concept Rig Build Log
Ultimate Aggressive Cooling Mod - How I Lowered my MB temps by 25C!
How to Modify, Cut Down & Upgrade Your Stock Heat Pipe System
Old Heat Pipes Moddded on a New P5N7A-VM Old Heat Pipes Modded on a New P5Q3

Paraleyes

I see that I forgot to mention; those pictures above are images 11-15.

Here are images 16-20.

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__________________

UHAF 932 Prototype Concept Rig Build Log
Ultimate Aggressive Cooling Mod - How I Lowered my MB temps by 25C!
How to Modify, Cut Down & Upgrade Your Stock Heat Pipe System
Old Heat Pipes Moddded on a New P5N7A-VM Old Heat Pipes Modded on a New P5Q3

Paraleyes

Am I having a conversation with myself? Nonetheless; here are images 21-25.

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__________________

UHAF 932 Prototype Concept Rig Build Log
Ultimate Aggressive Cooling Mod - How I Lowered my MB temps by 25C!
How to Modify, Cut Down & Upgrade Your Stock Heat Pipe System
Old Heat Pipes Moddded on a New P5N7A-VM Old Heat Pipes Modded on a New P5Q3

Paraleyes

I thoroughly enjoyed modifying this board. I hope the time I took documenting it all in some way does inspire a few of you out there.

To view the results, you may possibly get a better quality image by clicking the actual links to Image 29 and Image 30. I'm not sure, but either way, here are the final images; 26-30.

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UHAF 932 Prototype Concept Rig Build Log
Ultimate Aggressive Cooling Mod - How I Lowered my MB temps by 25C!
How to Modify, Cut Down & Upgrade Your Stock Heat Pipe System
Old Heat Pipes Moddded on a New P5N7A-VM Old Heat Pipes Modded on a New P5Q3

j_syk

umm, did you really cut that with the circular saw sitting upside down on your lap?
Picture 7, post #2
Find a friend with a table or band saw!

i'd like to find some better options for my mobo, but the graphics card covers the whole SB (or NB? idk, only have 1 on this mobo)
maybe next summer i'll care more, for now temps are low enough that cooling isn't a high priority.

looks good though, and extremely detailed
rep well earned

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Paraleyes

Yes, I trimmed/nibbled the heatsink on the Extreme Spirit II with a small 19v cordless circular saw with a carbide tip blade. For removing the thick fins from the northbridge, I temporarilly screwed the heatsink to the edge of a table and ran the very same saw through it in one clean sweep.

Thanks for the rep up!

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UHAF 932 Prototype Concept Rig Build Log
Ultimate Aggressive Cooling Mod - How I Lowered my MB temps by 25C!
How to Modify, Cut Down & Upgrade Your Stock Heat Pipe System
Old Heat Pipes Moddded on a New P5N7A-VM Old Heat Pipes Modded on a New P5Q3

Paraleyes

Hey J_Syk, check out this Review on the Thermalright HR-05-SLI. It may be more of what you are looking for. Best of luck!

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UHAF 932 Prototype Concept Rig Build Log
Ultimate Aggressive Cooling Mod - How I Lowered my MB temps by 25C!
How to Modify, Cut Down & Upgrade Your Stock Heat Pipe System
Old Heat Pipes Moddded on a New P5N7A-VM Old Heat Pipes Modded on a New P5Q3

MCBrown.CA

Holy posting way too much Batman!!

EDIT: so as not to interpret my post as un-welcoming: the Edit option will allow you to modify a single post to add new information.

oh, and asking for rep will not get you any...

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