^^ may I ask why stock NB cooler seems better to you - don't mean to offend, just curiousity - did I miss anything?? I always thought active cooling works better, in addition I don't think the pipe that I cut was copper.

I used vc-re in several dfi's (socket 939) and they worked great compared to stock chipset cooling. Hopefully, after I fire my rig, NB won't get too hot (it, indeed, was getting so hot under load with stock cooling but didn't try to put a fan on top of it (even tough I tought about it))

thanks...