Water cooling the Asus Maximus SE X38

[Exahertz]

I had a pressure washer sent to me and UPS deliverd it to the wrong address just a few house down. the driver got 6514 and 6504 confused (i think that when a "UPS" driver goes to renew his CDL they should also be tested for dyslexia ). anyways, i was at work when i saw it was delivered so durring lunch i ran home and it wasnt there. so as i was driving back to work i spotted it at someone elses house. im sure my neighbors thought that i ran up to someones house and stole their package. Lol

[Talonman]

That would suck!! Mine is not showing as delivered, but then again, I don't know if the system get's updated with that info. I think I am safe, and you do have to sign for it, and hopefully would have to show some ID at the post office, even if you had the slip?

Count on an update from me.

[ElEctric_EyE]

I had a pressure washer sent to me and UPS deliverd it to the wrong address just a few house down. the driver got 6514 and 6504 confused (i think that when a "UPS" driver goes to renew his CDL they should also be tested for dyslexia ). anyways, i was at work when i saw it was delivered so durring lunch i ran home and it wasnt there. so as i was driving back to work i spotted it at someone elses house. im sure my neighbors thought that i ran up to someones house and stole their package. Lol

To continue the UPS rant: My house is 15, dude delivered to 30!?!

That would suck!! Mine is not showing as delivered, but then again, I don't know if the system get's updated with that info. I think I am safe, and you do have to sign for it, and hopefully would have to show some ID at the post office, even if you had the slip?

Count on an update from me.

I think FedEx won't drop it off. If you're not home when they attempt, you have to go sign for it when you pick it up. UPS & USPS drop it off...

[dude_500]

I know theres been a lot of question as to what blocks to use on this board. As of right now what is the cheapest set of water blocks for the mosfets that works well? I'm using stock right now and I burned my finger on them at 3.5ghz quad 1.4v and I never like burning my finger on components lol

[Talonman]

This is what we have as far as water blocks go for the MOSFET's.

MOSFET - EK-Mosfet ASUS 3a (X38), EK-Mosfet ASUS 3a - Acetal (X38), and Sixdesign sold by MIPS.

MIPS link: http://www.mips-computer.de/

EK's link: http://www.ekwaterblocks.com/izdelki_eng.php
Recommended Authorized EK Dealer: http://www.petrastechshop.com/

Be sure to look at the origional post on page 1. I update it all the time.
It has some pictures too of how the blocks look mounted.

If the blocks turn out to be too pricy, there are some heat sinks made for our board too.

[dude_500]

Those waterblocks are a bit too expensive especially because I would need another radiator to make it all work out. Is it true that the thermalright HR-09's are the best air solution? Would they be far better than the stock air?

And I read somewhere I'd need one U and one S of the type 2 is that right?

[Talonman]

The type 2 is for sure. The U and the S (Upright and Slant) are just a preferance I think. I see no reason why 2 of the S'es or U's wouldn't fit fine. I don't have anything that they come close to hitting in my TJ09, but I think the decission is baised on your case, and any interfearence that it might create.

As to if they are better than stock, I lean toward yes! When you look around in the air cooling section, Thermalright products in general seem to have an excellant reputation. I believe this also applies to their MOSFET sinks.

If there were built in MOSFET sensors on our mobo's, we could say for sure. I am baising my opinion on ther reputation mostly. They seem to make products that perform with the best of um.

[dude_500]

OK Do I really need them though? I guess I paniced when they were burning hot but do they just get that way? It almost seems silly to upgrade the already air cooling, perhaps I'll just save up and buy two blocks and a new radiator

[Talonman]

I think the stock MOSFET sink is fine. Many are using it on the board with no issues.

[Xilikon]

Cheapest option to cool the mosfets would be with Enzotech ramsinks

[dude_500]

How much heat does a pair of mosfet blocks throw into the loop? Right now I have my q6600 @3.5 on it and the x38 chipset and my 220 swiftech radiator gets warm on the edges so I know I'm near its capacity. Would two more mosfet blocks make my temps go up a bit? I'm already running 58* load so I think I need another radiator anyway if it'll go up at all

[Talonman]

RAD USED________________________________ Approximated Thermal Dissipation.
Swiftech MCR120-QP Single 120mm fan ----------------------- 170w
Swiftech MCR120-QP-K Single 120mm fan --------------------- 170w
Swiftech MCR220-QP Dual 120mm fans ------------------------ 320w
Swiftech MCR220-QP-K Dual 120mm fans ---------------------- 320w
Swiftech MCR320-QP Triple 120mm fans ----------------------- 430w
Swiftech MCR320-QP-K Triple 120mm fans --------------------- 430w

Your OC'ed Q6600 puts out around 200 to 250 watts of heat.

The NB on the Maximus can generate quite a bit of heat too. I really have not heard how many watts of heat it does generate. You may be closer to the RAD's max rateing than you think? Hard to say...

MOSFET blocks are one of the most restricive things you can add into your loop due to their small size. They can hurt your flow.

I personally wouldn't run CPU, NB, and 2 MOSFET blocks using 1 MCR220 if you don't want to move your CPU temps any higher.

Tough call... My . Not sure what the more experienced members would say?

[dude_500]

Oh wow I guess I am pretty close then.

So if I got a 320 radiator... would cpu, nb, two mosfet's, 220 and 320 be too much for my MCR350 to handle pumping? I really can't afford a second loop right now I guess if I can get $200 I'll buy another pump and put my cpu/nb on a 320 and the fets on a 220

[Talonman]

I can't advise you on that. I am too new into the water cooling world, and don't know how strong MCR350's are.

FYI - It's 7:00 AM in Ohio. I am awake and waiting for my trek up to my local post office. The doors open at 8:30AM and I will see if my EK package is still in town!

[Xilikon]

Have fun with your trek

Pick when you get back

[dude_500]

I can't advise you on that. I am too new into the water cooling world, and don't know how strong MCR350's are.

FYI - It's 7:00 AM in Ohio. I am awake and waiting for my trek up to my local post office. The doors open at 8:30AM and I will see if my EK package is still in town!

OK No problem

Hope they have it - sounds like you've got a fun day ahead

[Scooby]

@dude_500, the MCP350 you have can handle it but let me break some specs down for you. The MCP350 has a discharge of ~92.4 GPH (350 LPH) and the MCP355 has ~ 120 GPH (454 LPH) so for your loop the MCP355 would give you more flow power. I would also add one of those custom tops like the Petra Tech DDCT-01s custom delrin DDC tops which will increase the discharge rate to 4.11 GPM (246.6 GPH) with that pump. I have that pump setup right now and I'm very happy with its preformance on my CPU/GPU loop.

GL m8

[Talonman]

It was there!! It was there!!

I have installed Eddy's revised top and ring on it, and can confirm it is an exact fit for the Maximus. I took some pictures, but imageshack is giving me a hard time logging in. As soon as I get the issue resolved, I will have some pictures to show exactly how perfect it lines up with the stock NB backplate.

It came with one if the acrylic 'wee to big' tops on it. The D-Tek's allen wrench which came with my nozzle kit fits the EK NB block too. If you lay the old top, overtop the new improved one, you can see the difference in size. It is smaller for sure.

This little sucker is heavey for it's size. I can tell it's up for the job of cooling the NB. The base of the block is larger than the IHS, and lines up exactly with the size of the green perf board that surronds it.

Getting ready to leak test before I put it on the board...

I can also confirm that it makes no difference as to the IN and OUT barb on this block. Users choice! The EK supplied instructions have that info contained in them.

[Exahertz]

Good News. i guess its crunch time for you

[Jedda]

Congrats buddy! We're happy for you.

[tgR]

ugh. Been toiling over my build since late November, and now I think I'm moving on to my 5th mobo. I've been running into problems with the Maximus ever since I got it 'stable' experiencing periodic reboots. Couldn't quite nail it down, as my temps seemed fine (cpu/gpu) started out thinking it was OS corruption with the RAID/OC combo (No OC during install), then ran a whole battery of tests on the mem, same with the CPU, nothing there. After looking around I found out about the issue with the NB temp. and realized that is more than likely the culprit. Cold boot idle on the NB will creep up from 31 to 47-51, after load it would hit 57, i didn't push it into a reboot while logging the temp under everest because I ran out of time and had an early morning meeting. So i have no other logs. Went to work, ordered some Thermalright coolers so I could rip out the ROG heat pipe. Came home and the box is stuck in a continuous reboot. Powers on for about 5-7 seconds then turns itself off, then tries again 5 seconds later (rinse / repeat). (LCD stuck at CPU INIT) This is non-stop as long as the PSU has power. All of my OC's were turned off when I left it, because I had them off during my troubleshooting. Tried: resetting CMOS, removing battery, removing RAM, GPU, HD/CD, etc. Can anyone give me a reason why this board isn't dead? Anyone have anything similar? I'm about two days away from calling Maingear and saying 'feck it' and parting it out on ebay. I've been building my own systems since 1991 and this is *FAR* and away my most problematic build evar. Specs below. TIA.

Asus Maximus Formula 0907
Q6600 - GO
2GB Corsair Dominator 8500
2 - ATi 3870s
2 - Raptor 150 RAID0 (Vista)
1 - Raptor 74 (Linux)
1 - Segate 1TB (Filestore)
2 - LiteOn DVD-R
Coolermaster Cosmos
Thermaltake Toughpower 1200

Cooling:
Swiftech Apogee GTX (Copper Top)
Swiftech MCW60 GPU Blocks
Thermochill PA120.2
Thermochill PA120.1
Alphacool Laing DDC-Pump 12V Pro Water Tank
Tygon 1/2" Tubing
Swiftech Microres
(Loop: DDC > 120.2 > 120.1 > CPU > GPU > GPU)

[Talonman]

Good News. i guess its crunch time for you

Congrats buddy! We're happy for you.

Thanks guy's!!

Leak test is under way. No issues so far.
I have both the D-Tek and the EK NB hooked up to the Keg.

My Pro mount kit should arrive soon from Petras. I do realize that I will have to leak test again, after taking the D-Tek apart, and installing the Pro mount kit.

NB backplate modification stage is engageing now to accommodate for the larger mounting hardware.

One thing I find interesting. As some micro bubbles leave the D-Tek block, they are evenly dispersed in the water. They enter the EK block, and apon exiting, you notice a very distinct spatial pattern that extended about 2 to 3 feet in my tubing.

I don't know if or what that says about the EK block, but it may suggest that the EK excels at creating turbulence?

[Creek Tha Gray]

Thanks guy's!!

Leak test is under way. No issues so far.
I have both the D-Tek and the EK NB hooked up to the Keg.

My Pro mount kit should arrive soon from Petras. I do realize that I will have to leak test again, after taking the D-Tek apart, and installing the Pro mount kit.

NB backplate modification stage is engageing now to accommodate for the larger mounting hardware.

One thing I find interesting. As some micro bubbles leave the D-Tek block, they are evenly dispersed in the water. They enter the EK block, and apon exiting, a neet tornato shaped swirling is very apparent. The pattern extended about 2 to 3 feet in my tubing with a very distint spirial pattern.

I don't know if or what that says about the EK block, but it may suggest that the EK excels at creating turbulence?

i have the same thing in my setup and it will go away but yes there is a turbulence effect in the tubes.

[Scooby]

Way to go Talonman, looks like the ball is starting to roll.

Now we demand pics!!! We Want Pics! We Want Pics! We Want Pics!



@tgR, have you tried setting it up with out raid? Also have you tried posting at the Asus Maximus Formula *Part 2* *Help / Overclocking / Guide* or ASUS Maximus Formula SE threads, their more system trouble shooters on those threads.

Oh and welcome to the forum.

[Pete]

Yay partys @ Talonman's tonight then, get on!