Quote Originally Posted by dejanh View Post
Hmmm...just used up one out of four of my Indigo Xtreme mounts...it was a to mount in my water loop since all of my hoses are cut right down to size so there is not much movement possible anywhere and stripping the whole thing down was not a possibility. I had to mount it without removing the CPU so I cleaned as good as I could with everything still in there...there was no residue on the cloth or the wipe by the end anywhere, nor on the IHS or the waterblock.

Anyway, mixed opinions so far since my idle temperatures at 4.55GHz seem 3C - 4C higher than with the TIM I was using before. However, since I do not have an air conditioned room and the ambient temps vary all the time I am not sure if this is just related to ambient being higher since it is mid-day now. I will have to check it early in the morning when I know what the actual temps are around the comp area. How do you tell anyway if the mount is successful? I mean my temps are not in the 80s or anything at idle, around ~50C now at 4.55GHz with HT on and 4.33GHz Uncore, 1.505V idle, 1.446V load. Wouldn't it be all or nothing with this ETI...as in like if the mount is bad then transfer is plain going to suck no matter what...

Few other observations/comments...

1. Doing the re-flow with a beefy chipset block like the EK full cover on my Classified in series with the CPU block is perfectly safe. I monitored the MOSFET temps using Everest while loading all of the cores/logical cores at stock speeds using Prime95 blend and even after 3-4 minutes the temperatures of the MOSFETs did not exceed 48C even though the pumps were both off. I do not assume that the NB is any different but the Classified cannot report NB temps in an OS, at least for now so...
2. I am of a strong belief that the computer needs to be ideally horizontal on all horizontal planes if you really want to get a good mount. Use of some kind of tool to determine if the board is ideally horizontal is probably recommended.
3. I'm not sure whether the metal mass of the ETI will damage or warp the bottom of the HK block. Copper is very soft and the metal portion before re-flow is a bulge that presses into the copper quite hard once the block is tightened properly. I would not be surprised if it does deform the copper or that this would also apply for pretty much any other block or heatsink made of softer metals. I guess we will find out once the block is removed...if it does deform the copper then I guess once you go Indigo you stay Indigo
4. If the pumps stop running while the computer is vertical the ETI is done for though hopefully the actual metal cannot leak onto other components of the board. This is just a speculation so if somebody wants to verify it feel free
5. Really meant for one-time builds. People who take their systems apart often would likely not find this very practical. Cost and installation complexity (particularly with internalized water cooled systems) are kind of prohibitive.

Overall, seems a decent product but I definitely need to do more testing. Hard when each of these costs $9 per mount lol
Yeah, I have to admit I totally neglected to think about systems with other blocks in the loop when I said that this was an easy install. In a single block loop or on air, it really isn't hard at all. With multiple blocks, you do need to be careful...add in the perfectly routed tubing that a lot of folks have and it gets even more complicated

Glad to see it went well for you, will be great to hear what load temps you get when you have a known/constant ambient

AFAIK, the ETI style is an all or nothing thing...the amount and placement of TIM is perfectly consistent, there's no (noticeable) shades of gray in success it seems. Minute differences in placement and such will give minute differences in performance, but the blue lines are pretty good guides.

1) Good to hear the MOSFETs and IOH survived that well...did you use much airflow or were the blocks good enough on their own?
2) Horizontal is a must, if someone wants to use a level, that just makes it Xtreme
3) The alloy IX uses is softer than copper...way softer I think. I did three mounts on the GTZ and there were no ill effects at all, the base was perfect after them.
4) Yeah, that's a genuine concern....I'd hope that the plastic frame would be cool enough to resolidify the molten TIM before it dripped off. Though when overclocked, it's more than likely that the system will shut-off from instability at high temperatures long before the alloy can melt.
5) It's definitely for one-time builds for watercoolers and aircoolers. I'm still curious how it'll do with LN2, where a single session is $20-$50 already and a few degrees (on AMD) or better control (on Intel) is potentially worth it. (though verdict is still out if it works at extreme cold temperatures...hopefully there will be some conclusive evidence soon ).

Quote Originally Posted by phantomferrari View Post
i have a question about the whole turning the pump off to burn it in. wouldnt it be easier and a little safer just to overvolt the cpu a bit, run the pump at its lowest possible voltage then run occt? to me that seems less scary
That won't work (fortunately and unfortunately)....you need the base of the cooler and the IHS to exceed 70C. Even with a tiny amount of flow (like .1GPM), you'll be hard pressed to hit 45C. It's just easier (and less painless) to just stop flow and go to stock CPU speeds/volts

EDIT: beaten by a couple people