Quote Originally Posted by Mezzro View Post
I'm a fan of Swiftech products, but the MCW-NBMAX falls short by failing to address the core problem with Asus' stock HPA: the surface of the waterblock is too far removed from the surface of the chipset it's intended to cool. The NBMAX copper base rests against a copper plate that, in turn, makes contact with two copper pipes that only make indirect contact with the chip surface through a copper plate beneath the pipes. The only advantage the NBMAX might provide would be any increased volume of water it may (or may not) hold (it appears larger than the stock NB wblock) and a more finely machined base plate, providing better contact. IMHO, those differences don't offset the horribly inefficient HPA design. You can replace TIM and add as many washers as you like: it's still 'lipstick on a pig.'

To stay within budget, how about removing the HPA and cooling FETS, SB and VR with conventional heatsinks by Swifty or EnzoTech, then using an EK-NB S-Max for the NB as one alternative?

Unfortunately i have to say you're right.

Tonight i replaced my stock fusion block with the Swiftech one and also place some nylon washers onto the screws that hold the HPA.

As is it seems i gained 1ºC CPU temp and only 2-3ºC on the NB temp.

The bright side is that the delta between idle and load (load= HCI memtest) seem to have lowered some 5 ºC.

Even with the washers in place i couldn't get decent contact between the HPA and the NB chip.

After i removed the HPA, there was still a triangle of untouched copper visible on the copper plate that touches the NB.

A little warning to people who will install this block: i'm using 8mm-11mm compression fittings with the o-ring that comes with those fittings but it leaked like mad.

I had to use the o-rings that come with the swiftech barbs as well to stop the leaks.
Now it's all nice and tight.

Also, the Swiftech logo on mine was upside down.