Thermalright Mosfet cooler vs Waterblocks?

[Zaskar]

Heya guys, I have 2 EK mosfet blocks for my EVGA 790i, and im having second thoughts about using them. Aside from the top one being a bit unstable (can be moved from side to side a bit when slightly pushing on the tube, due to the higher leverage) due to just 2 mount screws and the inability to tighten them much unless you like bad contact with the center mosfets, it also makes it quite impossible when combined with a NB block to route the CPU tubes (on its own loop) in a way that let you take the CPU block off and on without draining one of the loops due to there being too many tubes cris crossing, even with an optimal tube routing.

So I was thinking, how are these Thermalright HR-09 Type 4 Mosfet Cooler


Is that going to cool it efficiently enough compared to WC blocks?

[jonny_ftm]

My Q6600 burns so high with the thermalright's and adequate case airflow.
I'm never going to watercool my mosfets.

On previous 65nm, we used to feed the CPU +1.50v. On a quadcore, the mosfets will have a hard work to maintain adequate vcore. My P5B deluxe couldn't do it despite active cooling of mosfets. I had my vcore dropping slowly till it hangs up

My P5K premium handles it much better (new mosfets technology)

Now, on 45nm, you won't reach 1.50v in WC (only subzero guys would) if you care about your CPU, and usually not even above 1.45v for most people.

So definately, no need to cool those. Less than 1.50v on your quadcore won't make your mosfets sweat

Still waiting for any proof of usefullness on modern systems. This mosfets cooling was a wave related to early C2D launch on previous generation motherboards. Maybe, when octocore Nehalem comes out, it will be again needed before manufactures improve mosfets quality

Now, you can WC them, just for the fun of it

[jonny_ftm]

The more I look at the Thermalright Mosfet heatsinks, the more I like them....

They're damn effiecient. On my P5B deluxe, I could drastically improve the overclock of the Q6600 at +1.50v
The stock cooling gets too hot to touch. Thermlaright's will be just warm. Mosfets are meant to run at +100°C for the way

[slim142]

You are lucky that Type 04 are compatible with eVGA motherboard, I wish the S2E supporthem them.

I would go for the thermalright because there is absolutely NO NEED to watercool the mosfets, with good heatsinks, is more than enough. Save money on tubing, barbs and sell your EK blocks and get the Type 4 heatsinks.

[3oh6]

i have to mention this but despite what i have said to Thermalright, they refuse to acknowledge that they are not compatible. i received two HR-09 Type 4s for review for my EVGA 790i reference board. the heat sink fits perfect at the rear I/O panel. the coverage isn't quite 100% but it is more than enough and quite a good mount. the pushpins line up perfectly and installation is 10 second job.

the top bank, however, is a different story. the heat sink fits, but the pushpins don't line up with the one hole. the brackets for the pushpins offset the pushpins to either the top or the bottom. this is fine for both the rear I/O panel heat sink, and the one hole for the top bank...but the other hole towards the middle of the motherboard is located directly in front of the heat sink. it is not offset to the top or bottom like the brackets for the push pins. here is a photo...



i have looked this over a million times and there is just no way for it to work. Thermalright disagrees and said they mount fine on their sample board?!? i have requested photos from them of their heat sinks mounted on the top bank and am waiting to hear back. it is possible that they have two sets of brackets and i simply got both of the same brackets for the rear I/O bank...but their site only shows the same brackets i have and are shown in the photo above. they also do not have any photos on their site of the top back having a heat sink mounted to it on the reference 790i.

just want to save someone from wasting money and not looking to start a Thermalright bashing thread. they just obviously missed this, or, they are working with a revision of a board that had the same mounting pattern for both banks.

[Sparda]

Worried about bending mobo and moving mosfet block....get EK mosfet backplate and some M3x16 screw for hard mount.
Lazy to make backplate...get EK mosfet backplate and drill some holes to fit the mobo.
I mount tr-hr on my maximus with M3x16 and the backplate.

[jonny_ftm]

the top bank, however, is a different story. the heat sink fits, but the pushpins don't line up with the one hole. ...

I don't know if they updated their page since your comments, but on their site, the up side mosfet is clearly not supported in eVGA nforce cards. Here's the link:

http://www.thermalright.com/new_a_pa...l.htm#evga790i

_

[slim142]

Thank 3oh6 for catching that.
So I guess the best solution would be Type 4 for the I/O side and Swiftech heatsinks for the mosfet on the top part.

[3oh6]

ahh man, thanks for the link, i am pretty sure at one point that had both sides...i mean, why else would they have sent me two for a review?

@slim...yup, the MC14s work good on both banks, that is what i have been running as you can see in the OC Report in my signature. they are a little bit of a PITA to get mounted solid and are pretty fragile to be honest but they do work. i found the adhesive on the MC14s to not cut it and used sekisui tape instead. after a bit of heat they held better. here is a link for the Sekisui tape for anyone interested...i have been using it on all my MC-14 installs and it works great after heating up a bit to make it really stick...

http://www.bestbyteinc.com/Cooling_f.../COTISK02.html

great place to deal with as well, they went out of their way to get me a roll up here in Canada as cheap as they could.

[slim142]

3oh6

Thanks for the link for that tape, I never had problems with the MC14s on my Striker anyways but is good to know about those little things that can help

Nice review of the 790i btw.

P.S. Before I forget, I also talked to a person from thermalright about this, not specifically about the reference board but about compatibility for other boards like the Striker II Extreme, they said they were currently thinking about it, I hope they come out with this for other boards too since Type 4 is the best looking out of all the Thermalright mosfet coolers.

[3oh6]

thanks man and yeah, i mean, all it would take is a tiny revision to the bracket to put the pushpin out straight for the 790i reference. then for the other boards, the brackets wouldn't be that difficult. i am just disappointed i guess that they would put out a heat sink for one bank but not the other. kind of defeats the purpose doesn't it? the point is to get away from having to use MC-14s at all, not just half of them.

[slim142]

Well not only that, I mean, on your picture you can clearly see that the last mosfet (next to I/O) is uncovered and thats a -1 (you also mentioned this). Besides that, I would guess that the last mosfet on the other side is uncovered too. Top mosfets seem ok, but the bracket wont fit so both sides have their disavantage. I guess Type 4 is a really bad choice. I wont recommend them from now.

Like you said, all it would take is a revision for the brackets to fit all other boards. Is really dumb to make it for one side and not for the other, and to make things worse, the side that is "compatible", doesnt cover all the mosfets, c'mon!.

[Zaskar]

Well thats out, I will probably just use the blocks I have and downgrade the tubing size in that loop, maybe make it a bit more manageable. (or check out what Bitspower is comming out with in 2 weeks)

Worried about bending mobo and moving mosfet block....get EK mosfet backplate and some M3x16 screw for hard mount.
Lazy to make backplate...get EK mosfet backplate and drill some holes to fit the mobo.

I wish, your not drilling any EK backplates without a drillpress and special drill bits meant for hardened steel. Ive tried.

[Sparda]

^ Drillpress? Slowly and patience m8. It 2mm [~.~] It can be done. One small drill bits is cheap.

[Zaskar]

^ Drillpress? Slowly and patience m8. It 2mm [~.~] It can be done. One small drill bits is cheap.

Oh only 2mm? I thought it was like their CPU backplate, that thing just gets polished by drillbits :/

[Waterlogged]

Oh only 2mm? I thought it was like their CPU backplate, that thing just gets polished by drillbits :/

Proper speed and feed is everything! Sounds like you were going waaayyy too fast RPM wise.

[Zaskar]

Proper speed and feed is everything! Sounds like you were going waaayyy too fast RPM wise.

You know, could of been. Drill bits were more all purpose ones too, prob would be easier if I picked up some that were meant for cutting harder metals.

[orclev]

Out of curiosity, how bad would it hurt performance (if at all) to spray paint those thermalright mosfet coolers? I'm trying for as close to a solid black build as I can get and having big silver flames sitting next to my CPU is less than optimal, but I could spray paint them black fairly easily I think.

[Eddie3dfx]

Out of curiosity, how bad would it hurt performance (if at all) to spray paint those thermalright mosfet coolers? I'm trying for as close to a solid black build as I can get and having big silver flames sitting next to my CPU is less than optimal, but I could spray paint them black fairly easily I think.

They would look seriously wicked anodized

[Kayin]

Radiator paint would work, but you're still compromising.

[3oh6]

that is a great idea to paint them black. and anodized would be crazy nice.

Radiator paint would work, but you're still compromising.

true, but honestly...do these heat sinks really need to be functioning at full cooling capacity? i am just a dual core guy so not sure how a quad heats up the PWM of this board but i have never felt the MC-14s get remotely warm when working with my 790i.

[Eddie3dfx]

anodizing those small things should be cheap as heck.
Maybe $20-30

[orclev]

I need to see if I can find a place around me that does anodizing... wonder where I would look for something like that. Car shop maybe?

[Zaskar]

Before you get ahead of yourselves, are Thermalright heatsinks polished Aluminum or are they Nickel Plated? (or maybe even anodized silver for corrosion protection)

They have to have some kind of coating, my old TRUE never corroded, or discolored.

[orclev]

Before you get ahead of yourselves, are Thermalright heatsinks polished Aluminum or are they Nickel Plated? (or maybe even anodized silver for corrosion protection)

They have to have some kind of coating, my old TRUE never corroded, or discolored.

According to the info on performance pc's they're nickel plated copper.