ASUS Striker II Extreme

[Sangrak]

Hmmmm boys, the guy dropped the price to $200 now from $250, sounds like he wants to get rid of this thing.

The weather's been getting a bit warmer around here and my air cooled NB is starting to take a beating. Been thinking of going water but I was looking at some better parts than what's on that board. $200 bucks, though. That's a good friggin deal.

But what am I going to do with another board? I already have two of them.

[neo mike]

Sell your other boards, ebay, or here. I dont know anything about watercooling are those parts anygood ?

[Sangrak]

Sell your other boards, ebay, or here. I dont know anything about watercooling are those parts anygood ?

I probably know about as much as you, lol. I've been totally f'ing off today, doing research on water-cooling. So far, they seem like pretty decent parts. Need a bunch of other stuff to get it going.

Minus the water-cooling blocks, your getting the board for around $30.

[neo mike]

Really, thats a sweet deal, i will have to try to dig up the money for that thing.

To late its gone.

[slim142]

Is so frustrating that we just get no more support for this board. Im going to email a contact that I have to see what is going on with support for this board.

[Sangrak]

Really, thats a sweet deal, i will have to try to dig up the money for that thing.

To late its gone.

Ah, I wish you coulda got it, Mike.

I think I'm going to finally take the plunge on some water cooling stuff. Tired of screwing around with NB heat sinks.

This looks pretty good for the NB and SB : http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=24577

[neo mike]

I see so many asus bios updates in the bios update section here, never one for this board, its like they have totally abandoned this board. I dont know why even though its year old, still a nice board in my opinion.

[Sangrak]

Is so frustrating that we just get no more support for this board. Im going to email a contact that I have to see what is going on with support for this board.

I hear ya. Way back, I bought an ASUS 9800XT that had a proprietary pcb. It badly needed a bios update, but never came. It swore me off of Asus graphics cards forever.

Asus seems to update their products for the first few months, then discards them when the next generation of products comes out. What are ya going to do? Asus will always be Asus.

Still like the Striker II, even with all it's hiccups. I'll wait for a few more generations of i7's before I take that plunge. I still think this board has a lot of life left.

[slim142]

I see so many asus bios updates in the bios update section here, never one for this board, its like they have totally abandoned this board. I dont know why even though its year old, still a nice board in my opinion.

I hear ya. Way back, I bought an ASUS 9800XT that had a proprietary pcb. It badly needed a bios update, but never came. It swore me off of Asus graphics cards forever.

Asus seems to update their products for the first few months, then discards them when the next generation of products comes out. What are ya going to do? Asus will always be Asus.

Still like the Striker II, even with all it's hiccups. I'll wait for a few more generations of i7's before I take that plunge. I still think this board has a lot of life left.

They havent done that with the first striker. They released many more BIOSes even after the 790i one came out, but yeah, 680i was more problematic too.

Anyways, Im waiting for an answer hopefully nothing bad is going on. And yeah, I also think this board still has a lot of potential. Really like it and wont change it anytime soon.

[Sangrak]

Sorry if I'm a bit off topic here. Slim, do you know anything about this bitspower NB/SB block? http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=24577

If you do, is it any good? I really know nothing about water cooling.

[slim142]

Yeah man, I know enough about that block. Is so good and sick that I happen to own one, but Im also so out of money right now that I havent used it since I got it back in december lol.

IMO the best block you can get for this board, it will not interfere with your videocards or PCI devices and no complains heard from it.

[Sangrak]

Sweet! It looks great, too! I'm gonna get me one of them bad boys.

I need to do a boat load of research on water cooling. So much to learn.

What are you going to use for your cpu and mosfets? The EK Supreme should fit on this board, right?

[slim142]

Sweet! It looks great, too! I'm gonna get me one of them bad boys.

I need to do a boat load of research on water cooling. So much to learn.

What are you going to use for your cpu and mosfets? The EK Supreme should fit on this board, right?

For CPU, I already have the D-Tek Fuzion V2 and for the mosfets Im not sure if I will leave the stock heatsinks or put water cooling on them. They dont produce that much heat so Im still thinking about it. EK supreme should fit with stock cooling with no problem.

I also recommend you get compression fittings, the finish looks so much better than with regular fittings, but it all depends on your budget at the end.

[Trigger5521]

For CPU, I already have the D-Tek Fuzion V2 and for the mosfets Im not sure if I will leave the stock heatsinks or put water cooling on them. They dont produce that much heat so Im still thinking about it. EK supreme should fit with stock cooling with no problem.

I also recommend you get compression fittings, the finish looks so much better than with regular fittings, but it all depends on your budget at the end.

If you go compression fittings don't make the same mistake I made, 1/2 tygon tubing compression fittings will not fit on D-Tek EK-NB or EK-SB. They MAY work on that new single block by bitspower(dbl check). I wish that was out when I was building my water setup, it's a cleaner look, less tubing to deal with. Sangrak, let me know if I can help...I owe you

[slim142]

If you go compression fittings don't make the same mistake I made, 1/2 tygon tubing compression fittings will not fit on D-Tek EK-NB or EK-SB. They MAY work on that new single block by bitspower(dbl check). I wish that was out when I was building my water setup, it's a cleaner look, less tubing to deal with. Sangrak, let me know if I can help...I owe you

1/2 Tygon tubing is ok, thats what Im going to use. I also spent hours figuring out what would work and what not.
It works with 1/2ID 3/4 OD compression fittings on all mosfet blocks and works with no problem on the Bitspower Black Freezer. The only thing that would NOT work (no space for the two comp. fittings) are the EK blocks for NB and SB (the threads are too close to each other) and also the D-Tek Fuzion V2.

Since Im not using the EK blocks that was no problem, Bitspower made sure that they were compatible with the black freezer. Now, for the D-Tek, I had no option but to use standard fittings. Then, around november I believe, Bitspower released this 45 angled fittings and that solved my problem. Only thing I have to do is point the 45 angled fitting vertically so the comp fittings dont interfere with each other.

Hope this helps

[Sangrak]

For CPU, I already have the D-Tek Fuzion V2 and for the mosfets Im not sure if I will leave the stock heatsinks or put water cooling on them. They dont produce that much heat so Im still thinking about it. EK supreme should fit with stock cooling with no problem.

I also recommend you get compression fittings, the finish looks so much better than with regular fittings, but it all depends on your budget at the end.

Right now, I have Thermalright mosfet heat sinks on them. Can't really tell if they heat up of not. Maybe I wouldn't need to water cool the mosfets?

I have no planned budget. I figure I'll get a list together of stuff that will do the job well and then figure out if it's over-kill and scale down the parts from there?

If you go compression fittings don't make the same mistake I made, 1/2 tygon tubing compression fittings will not fit on D-Tek EK-NB or EK-SB. They MAY work on that new single block by bitspower(dbl check). I wish that was out when I was building my water setup, it's a cleaner look, less tubing to deal with. Sangrak, let me know if I can help...I owe you

Thanks, Trigger. I'm definitely going to take you up that offer. I'm trying to read up on the most basic stuff before I start asking dumb questions, hehe.

1/2 Tygon tubing is ok, thats what Im going to use. I also spent hours figuring out what would work and what not.
It works with 1/2ID 3/4 OD compression fittings on all mosfet blocks and works with no problem on the Bitspower Black Freezer. The only thing that would NOT work (no space for the two comp. fittings) are the EK blocks for NB and SB (the threads are too close to each other) and also the D-Tek Fuzion V2.

Since Im not using the EK blocks that was no problem, Bitspower made sure that they were compatible with the black freezer. Now, for the D-Tek, I had no option but to use standard fittings. Then, around november I believe, Bitspower released this 45 angled fittings and that solved my problem. Only thing I have to do is point the 45 angled fitting vertically so the comp fittings dont interfere with each other.

Hope this helps

What's the advantage of using compression fittings? Is it only for looks? From your knowledge, is the D-Tek better than the EK-Supreme?

[slim142]

Right now, I have Thermalright mosfet heat sinks on them. Can't really tell if they heat up of not. Maybe I wouldn't need to water cool the mosfets?

Touch them?

I have no planned budget. I figure I'll get a list together of stuff that will do the job well and then figure out if it's over-kill and scale down the parts from there?

Yeah, start from there, if comp fittings add too much to the final price, go for standard fittings.

What's the advantage of using compression fittings? From your knowledge, is the D-Tek better than the EK-Supreme?

They look better and are safer. I dont know about performance comparison between those 2, you should probably ask Skinnee, he is the one that will give you a better answer. When I bought my D-tek V2, Im pretty sure EK Supreme was not out yet (I believe) and I was recommended the V2 everywhere, water cooling gallery had tons of those so I decided that was my choice, I also like more how it looks.

[Sangrak]

Touch them?



Yeah, start from there, if comp fittings add too much to the final price, go for standard fittings.



They look better and are safer. I dont know about performance comparison between those 2, you should probably ask Skinnee, he is the one that will give you a better answer. When I bought my D-tek V2, Im pretty sure EK Supreme was not out yet (I believe) and I was recommended the V2 everywhere, water cooling gallery had tons of those so I decided that was my choice, I also like more how it looks.

Yeah, whenever I touch the Thermalright type 2's on my mosfets, they feel cold to the touch. Not sure if they're really efficient or don't work all that well, lol.

Safer is pretty important to me. I'll definitely go compression fittings then.

I read in a review that the mounting on the Supreme was somewhat tricky. It was an older review so I wonder if they fixed it or if it really was ever a problem.

[Sangrak]

Ah, so is it my understanding that if you use compression fittings, you don't have to use hose clamps or ties?

[Trigger5521]

Ah, so is it my understanding that if you use compression fittings, you don't have to use hose clamps or ties?

Correct no ties or clamps, they look nice and are easy to use. Downside is they are pricey!!

[slim142]

Thermalright mosfet type 2 should be more than enough for those mosfets. No need to change them. I thought I have read thermaltake for some reason lol!
About the EK block mounting, I cant really help there.

[Sangrak]

Correct no ties or clamps, they look nice and are easy to use. Downside is they are pricey!!

Awesome. That definitely gives me a direction to go with.

Thermalright mosfet type 2 should be more than enough for those mosfets. No need to change them. I thought I have read thermaltake for some reason lol!
About the EK block mounting, I cant really help there.

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of Thermaltake stuff.

That should shorten the loop by not having to route tubing to the mosfets. That means I'll only have to loop the cpu and the bitspower block. Shorter loop is better, right?

[neo mike]

I wouldnt waste your money on mosfets cooling, i touch mine and not even warm, cpu, nb, sb those get hot.

[Sangrak]

Yeah, I'm going to keep what I have on the mosfets and just cool the cpu and chipset. I might add my graphics cards into the loop, but I don't know how that would adversely effect the cooling of the aforementioned chips.

Thanks guys, for the input so far.

[owcraftsman]

Just a note on the cooling. I recently added a third loop to my S2E with a Corsair Nautilus. I known it's not up the the Xtreme standards around here but it was laying around unused. Native 3/8" tubing and did a fair job cooling a Q6600 @ 3.6 with 36-38c idle 60-64c load temps. In any case it seemed to be a natural fit for the task so I hooked it direct to the factory NB waterblock and it reduced my temps 4-6c overall idle/load on the north and south bridges not sure exactly how much it did for my PWM temps because I don't monitor the temps there but I assume it made a difference as well. All in all I couldn't be happier with the results and I doubt you could get much better results without a major investment plus my warranty is still in tack.