# Motherboards with watercooling as stock



## Archangel

Well, i've bought a new case pretty recently.  (A thermaltake Kandalf LCS )
it has a pretty big radiator (at least, I think its pretty big, its covered by 3 120mm Fan's )    either way, now that I have removed the CPU cooler, and replaced it with the watercooling block, my processor temps went down quite a bit.  (and I was using a really good air cooler already! )

my processor is on 17*C idle and 32*C full load now.  ( 2.4GHz stock, now at 3.6GHz )   so the cooling of the processor is quite good.   
however, my motherboard does become quite hot now.  (had the northbridge on 70*C the other day, now I put a 92mm Fan on top of the heatsink there, but both the NB and the SB go up to 47*C under load.

anyways, I know there was a Asus Maximus Extreme motherboard, wich was basically the same as the one I have now, except that the northbridge cooler had 2 connections for watercooling hoses.   I'm looking around a bit now for what motherboards are around at the moment who also have this.

the motherboard's gotta be:
Socket 775
Crossfire compatible (2x 16x pci-e)
must overclock well. (but since it has to have watercooling, i dont think this would be a problem)

ps:  I'm going to look for such a motherboard 2nd hand, sicne buying new wouldnt be worth it.  (the next pc I'd buy would be i7)

just post if you know a motherboard wich would fit these criteria, thanks!


----------



## yhahh

You can watercool you current motherboard.
The maximus formula is very good, I've a P5E (there are the same) and I find it perfect !
The mosfets headsink and the SB/NB headsink aren't welded. So you can watercool the chipset (x38 warm a lot) and buy a classic chipset headsink for the SB. The SB fixing looks like classical chipset fixing (2 holes).
I ordered a waterblock for my chipset and a Zalman headsink for my southbridge. (I hope my SB fixing are compatibles with the Zalman headsink ^^)

If it works for me, it works for you.
I tell you news during this week.


----------



## just a noob

going with stock watercooling on a motherboard is a bad idea, most of them use aluminum, and assuming your current system contains any copper, you'll get corrosion in about 6 months, and you'll get a decent increase in temps, anyway, here is my recommendation for blocks: http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/biblfrai.html(nb+sb is covered, need to find something for mosfets) nb+sb(most cost effective, still need to get mosfet sinks)


----------



## Archangel

obviously I wouldnt mind keeping my current motherboard, since its still quite good.   however, I currently have a 92mm fan (held in place with tie-wraps) on top of my northbridge to cool it.   still the north and southbridge go up to 47~48 degree under load.   the problem is the southbridge cooler.   the grafic's cards are right on top of it, so i cant put a regular southbridge cooler there, and a watercool block for the southbridge alone wouldnt work I think.  (dont think I could get away with the hoses. )

and yes, the CPU cooling block is copper.   didn tthink about the corrosion just yet, so yea, no alu coolng bits, only copper and acryl then.  (I like the kind of cooling blocks you can look inside.  )





this is the motherboard layout.  funny, when I look at it like this, it actually shouldnt be a problem putting a waterblock on the southbridge.. :x 





wished I had bought this one when I bought the new pc... this would have been the ultimate solution for me at the moment I think.


----------



## yhahh

My NB/SB warm extremely too, more after I watercooled my cpu because of the airflow around the cpu (and the chipset).
I've remplaced the thermic paste of the big heatsink of NB/SB and I got to heat a lot the emplacement of the chipset to take off the old (and very bad) thermic paste. When I warmed the chipset point, the SB sink was as hot as the chipset sink. So the thermic exchange is very good in this big heatsink and I think it's majority the chipset which warm. Moreover the SB chip is very small, it shouldn't warm as much as the chipset. So I think a simple heatsink should suffice for the SB.
And you buy a waterblock for the chipset. and all is ok ^^
That's exactly what I'm doing for my mobo =)


----------



## Archangel

hmmm, found someone who's trying to sell his Maximus Formula due to RAM incompartibillity.    offered him a trade, my bord vs his (+a bit of money from my side)
tough,..  thinking about it, i'd rather just trade the heatsink alone.   since I know that my board works perfect, and overclocks well.   oh well, first gonna wait for the response I get to this.


----------



## just a noob

i know i've seen that block somewhere, i wouldn't get it, but here it is: http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=241&products_id=24716 i think it is anyway


----------



## Archangel

the block you see on the 2nd pick is the stock heatsink of the Asus Maximus Formula special edition.  that board is completely stock too.   (wished I spend the extra 20 euro's back then,... oh, if I had known..


----------



## yhahh

Allright, I received all components today
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/4817/img3514l.jpg
I've already prepared the Zalman heatsink which is very hard to prepare ^^ bolts and fixings are very very small.
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/1848/img3517.jpg

I'll install it tomorrow.

I've the same opinions that Just a noob about stock waterblocks, they can't be as effective as good reputed waterblocks.
The maximus formula SE can work without watercooling, so the heatsink can't optimise the watercooling at 100% if watercooling isn't necessary...
I believe you haven't made an as bad business as you think when you bought your mobo 2 weeks before the release of the SE.

Tell me if you don't all understand, I'm french and my spelling isn't very good ^^


----------



## yhahh

All is done =)

















all work perfectly


----------



## yhahh

I've found this picture of maximus formula watercooled.





Now, I want to buy all others EK waterblocks x)


----------



## Archangel

ok.. might have found a cheap set of waterblocks for my grafic's cards.  (yes, aluminum ones,..  but since I use 100% coolant, I dont think it'll be much of an issue, will it? )

that would mean, I got space to fit a different SB cooler, so i could replace the NB cooler with a waterblock.


----------



## yhahh

Good idea !
I recommend you the EK-NB S-max (acetal or not) waterblock for your chipset. EK waterblocks look very good.
I was right about the SB, I've put my computer in load during a few minuts, the Zalman heatsink on the SB was barely warm.
My CPU gets always the same temps in load, but the watercooling heatsink is hotter than before (because of the NB heat).
All works exactly as I hoped ^^


----------



## Archangel

The GPU coolers are a universal set from Zalman.   so should be able to put them on my next grafic's card aswell.  (the CPU cooler too.   so will look into a NB cooler wich I can do the same with.  )


----------



## just a noob

you'll still get corrosion no matter what coolant you use, unless you manage to get a loop running all aluminum going


----------



## funkysnair

just a noob said:


> you'll still get corrosion no matter what coolant you use, unless you manage to get a loop running all aluminum going



yes, what this man is saying is correct...

best not to mix metals in your loop, either all alloy or copper-it cant go wrong if you stick to that theory.

i have stayed away from alloy and stuck with all copper based water cooling with no problems and im on to my second setup with a third in the making


----------

