Shift.

I've owned Asus, Gigabyte, DFI, MSI, and Soyo motherboards in the past, and I'm seriously contemplating going back to Asus.

The M2N32 SLI Deluxe has been the best $220 I have ever spent on a motherboard. Running just as strong as the day I got it, whilst I've had to RMA multiple Gigabytes, and my DFI is giving me an extremely hard time.

Although Gigabyte is still my go-to brand for awesome budget boards.

And no, I don't think their baby blue motherboards are in any way "girly." I'd still go with the black pcb, but that's just me.

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X3 710 | 3705.MHz CPUz Validation

Brutuz

Why does my location take my right to compare prices? It'd be like me saying "You have a Core i7, you're not allowed to say which motherboard is better!"

Superior RMA policy? Then why did my friends Striker Extreme die and ASUS just stop replying to his RMA requests when he was on his 4th one?

Better cooling my left buttcheek, the Gigabyte has that huge heatsink that would at least match the ASUS's one, Gigabyte gets frequent BIOS updates too and a better bundle than the ASUS board.

Phase count and layout are better in the ASUS, but is that worth AU$170?

Also, if I'm biased, then why am I probably getting a ASUS P6T when I go Core i7? It's the best in my price range, I go for what is best for my usage and price, so what if I think Gigabyte is better, I'll try the ASUS and if they screw up yet again, I'll just sell the board and go back to Gigabyte or someone else.

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ChielScape

better cooling yeah. ASUS board allows for the installation of a waterblock that ISNT made of aluminum, and unlike gigabyte's coolers doesnt rest on an array of fins.

heat first has to pass trough an array of fins before it can go anywhere... a thick piece of copper is already an insulator, but fins are even worse. the air between them doesnt transfer any heat at all, and tehre is virtually no surface area in the copper to do so either. so no, its cooling doesnt even come close to that of the ASUS boards. this GB crap just looks really nice. that's all.

they actually pull that stunt twice in this pic, the heatsink that goes out the PCI slot is also connected only to an array of fins, and is therefore more of a waste of space than it helps cooling. which it doesnt. FAIL.
and take a look at that heatsink itself... the heatpipes touch only half of the fins... even if heat would miraculously reach that heatink, half the fins arent doing anythin...

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Brutuz

Technically, any board does if you remove the original heatsinks, etc, so that first point is moot.

Second, what about highly successful coolers like the Accelero S1? The heatpipes don't hit much of the fins, but I know on mine if its doing a 511 point WU, I can feel the heat spread evenly minus where the fans are.

While it might not remove all of the heat, the heat that doesn't get removed from that heatsink or from the copper block will probably go to warm up other spots, which means those heatpipes and heatsink, but I don't know if that will work, still... What happened to 45nms "You only need a small heatsink?"

Still, the Gigabyte one doesn't have a heat source (Light) on their thing designed to remove heat from the NB/MOSFETs...

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ChielScape

no, the point is not moot. its the difference between a single block that can cool the entire motherboard trough the already present heatpipe system, which is decent in ASUS's case, versus having to buy seperate blocks for all individual chips and FET-banks.

the difference between that and the accellero, as that all the fins on your cooler have a heatpipe touching them. while on the GB cooler, some fins are just sitting there. whether or not the heatpipe is completely covered isnt nearly as important as whether or not all the fins have a pipe touching them.

and you still do need only a small heatsink.. thing is, GB's thing is possibly even worse. a heatsink isnt about the most fins or heatpipes alone... they can help to achieve it, but whats really important is a low C/W value... thermal resistance. a thin sheeth of metal has a tremendous resistance when transferring heat from one edge to another, but its very low when you go trough normal to the large surface. GB does it just the wrong way, the heat has a large barrier to pass in the form of the fin array below the actual heatsink. which results in a large difference in temperature between the chip and the actual heatsink... a high resistance to heat, a high C/W and therefore a failure as a cooler as a result.

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Brutuz

Yes, it is, if you want good cooling, you'd be better off getting blocks for the MOSFETs and SB as well instead of mounting on what is essentially a extra thick IHS.

True, but wouldn't they be soldered on? How can you tell if they are or aren't?

If its a failure of a cooler, then why can't I see anyone complaining about it/the motherboard? Granted, I can't find any complaints about the Rampage II Extreme either, obviously both cool well enough, granted, anything that isn't flagship from ASUS usually has a tiny heatsink that cools like a hotdog would.

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jamracing

or 12OZ!!! That amount of copper will make the board run at 20 degrees AND compliment you on your complexion

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Duesco
I went from 7057 to 7077...

7057: Like a dream, fast and responsive, smooth and trouble-free.
7077: Crashes at the drop of a hat, freezes, throws up, pees on itself, throws things, chases my cat.

I don't get it.

Twin Turbo V8

i say follow the leader??? jk. ive had gigabyte ga-ma78gm-us2h board, it was no cooler than asus or even an intel board. and it died after only 6mths of use.

Twin Turbo V8

hope it isnt true of asrock. (being crap) just bought one to replace the gigabyte. darn,I better do more research next time.

ChielScape

and that "hotdog" would still cool enough... never heard anyone complaining of those either.

anyway, watercooling a chipset is already a bit like watercooling RAM, overkill... a single waterblock on that heatpipe system will get you great temps already, the seperate blocks arent much of an improvement... chipsets just dont put out that much heat. which is why even GB's coolers suffice... theyre just a huge waste of metal and space.

and i dont follow you on the soldering... if a heatpipe doesnt come anywhere near a particular fin as seen in the picture, it just isnt doing anything, no amount of solder will change that.

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