680i SLI is too expensive? Asus as the solution : P5N32-E SLI PLUS

[Leeghoofd]

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

[panfist]

many have had good succes with Thermaltake Blue orbs on the chipsets and thermalright coolers on the PWM

You make a good point about the RMA. I'll leave the original system intact unless I plan on doing any other warranty voiding mods first.

More questions now, isn't the TT Blue Orb a CPU cooler? Is it easy to mount on the NB? Is it worth cooling the SB?

And back to my original question with about reseating the stock system, can I do the whole job with hand tools, thermal interface cleaner and AS5? I don't need that thick "thermal paste" or "thermal adhesive" do I?