When you are gonan cut up the heatpipes you are voiding ya warranty for sure... as it's easy to see physical damage to the board... if I was you I would opt for aftermarket cooling for NB, SB and PWM area... many have had good succes with Thermaltake Blue orbs on the chipsets and thermalright coolers on the PWM... I would leave the heatpipe intact just in case the board needs to be RMA'd