Board Deconstruction and Block Installation
Deconstructing the ASUS Rampage V Extreme
In its default configuration, the ASUS Rampage V Extreme motherboard has four heat sinks – one covering the Intel X99 chipset, one to the right of the primary PCIe x16 slot containing the LED-lit ROG logo, the VRM cooler, and a heat sink over the rear panel assembly.
After removing the board's coolers, you can easily see why Bitspower includes blocks for covering only two of the four areas covered with heat sinks by default. The sink to the right of the primary PCIe x16 slot has a single function – to house the LED-lit ROG logo. It does not provide cooling for any on board components. The cooler located over the rear panel assembly acts as an additional heat radiator for the VRM sink, wicking heat from the VRM sink via the attached heat pipe. The VRM and X99 chipset coolers are the only two blocks responsible for direct-cooling board components.
From the under side of the board, you can better see how the various chipsets are held in place and protected. ASUS included a heat sink / guard underneath the VRMs for an alternate heat dissipation path and a guard plate underneath the chipset area as well. The LED and rear panel sinks are held to the surface with screws only (no back plates).
Once the coolers are stripped from the board, it is easier to gage what parts to integrate into the new build with the Bitspower blocks. There is nothing needed to be cooled under the rear panel sink, while the areas under the chipset and VRMs do contain some sensitive circuitry. Because of this fact, it is advisable to use the board included chipset and VRM guards. The added bonus is that the VRM guard does help with cooling.
Installing the Bitspower AIX99R5E Kit to the ASUS Rampage V Extreme
The Bitspower blocks integrate perfectly in the Rampage V Extreme board with the chipset block acting as a sheild for the PCIe and lower left quadrant of the board and the VRM block fitting securely to the right of the CPU. I also decoupled the rear panel sink from the heat pipe and mounted it for added aesthetic purposes. The upper right section of the board looked incomplete without it.
Chipset Block
The acrylic top of the VRM block has eight holes acting as pass-thrus for the screws fixing the top to the base plate. The screw holes sit below the surface of the top so that the hex screw heads sit flush to the top plane. The hole in the center in between the two ports does does not go all the way through the block. It is used for mounting with the CPU block interface plate.
Going to the underside of the board, you can see the stock ASUS guard mounted to the board. The Bitspower chipset is held to the board with hex screws and plastic washers to protect the board's surface. The ASUS board guard has pre-cut holes allowing for mounting the chipset block with the guard in place.
VRM Block
The VRM sink fits the allocated area like a glove. It allows for plenty of room between block and the CPU as well as for using the two ATX12V power connectors. It is about the same size as the stock VRM heat sink, so it also does not conflict with the upper or lower DDR4 DIMM slots that are in close proximity to the top and bottom sides of the block.
The Bitpower block mounts to the board using two hex screws through the bottom of the board. You are able to use the stock under-VRM guard if you use the larger hex screws included with the kit. If you choose not to use the VRM guard, you need to use the smaller hex screws in tandem with the included plastic washers for mounting. It is recommended to use the stock VRM guard to provide secondary cooling for the VRMs though.
Fixing the Rear Panel Heat Sink
If you choose to use the rear panel cover / heat sink with the build, it requires either cutting the heat pipe or removing the heat pipe from the rear panel cover. The heat pipe is pressed in place with very sturdy adhesive, requiring the use of a heavy duty heat gun or other heat source to remove. However, removing the heat pipe requires alot of heat, it took me using a 1500 watt heat gun at full power for 10 minutes on the sink before the adhesive started to break down. Once the adhesive breaks down though, it is just a matter of twisting the heat pipe out of the rear panel sink. The rear panel heat sink is a solid block of aluminum so it takes quite a while for it to cool back down. In my testing, the block got so hot that it started to melt the duct tape covering the test surface – it takes a lot of heat to melt duct tape.
Great write up Morry! Getting
Great write up Morry! Getting ready for Quakecon?
Yes sir I am. Already there
Yes sir I am. Already there in fact…
More stuff like this, please!
More stuff like this, please! Great review!
Hello Sir Morry.
Thanks, Cool
Hello Sir Morry.
Thanks, Cool review (no pun intended…maybe just a little bit), but as far as I know, the chipset will benefit from watercooling only of you’re running 4-way sli/xfire.
Speaking of multi card config (it is the best segway I can come up with) I would like to ask if there’s any news on the review of the Asus X99-E WS motherboard, I hope I’m not being annoying or anything like.
thnx again
Hopefully that review will be
Hopefully that review will be forth coming, just waiting on review sample. As for the heat, you may not even need a full cover mb block with 4-way SLI / XFire b/c the air cooled solution with the Rampage V Extreme is that good. However, it comes down more to the "cool factor". In tandem with the hardline tubing, you really can't beat the look…
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Hi Morry! what about the heat
Hi Morry! what about the heat from The M.2 I imagine a Samsung 951 could get pretty hot it too bad that this cooler did not tak this into consideration. Some boards stack M.2’s so you could put the Samsung 951 on the bottom ad the Intel SAS or Mini SAS on top I think that would cause Lovely fire someone is going todo it for sure and watch their money burn! As alwats J.S.
An interesting piece of
An interesting piece of cooling hardware!
From your graphs, it appears that the GPU is fine at being cooled by air. The CPU needs a little more help and the VRM are the hot potatoes!
My question is; by cooling the VRM, has there been any noticeable performance improvements? I would think it helps with better stabilized OC ratings.
I’ve been told to cool the VRM, but I’m not ready to build a system with a water cooling system (also due to size). I plan to have the CPU cooled in liquid closed-loop. And the VRM cooled by air.
Generally, you get better
Generally, you get better stability and cooler temps by directly water cooling the VRMs. However, ASUS overengineered the Rampage's VRM cooler so heat is not too much of an issue with it.
You will get some added benefits with stability and overclocking, but not as mucch as you'd think. The one shortcoming of the VRM cooler included in the kit was with its smooth design. If there would have been pins or channels in the VRM cooler base, it would have cooled more effectively because of the added surface area and turbulence caused by such channels…
Morry,
If I understand your
Morry,
If I understand your response, generally speaking, having the VRM at a lower temp doesn’t provide any noticeable PC performance?
For my scenario, I will still proceed with attempting to lower the heat of the VRM for ease of mind that the circuits are receiving a cleaner signal.
I agree with your observation of VRM cooler base design. If it would have fins like those for the chipset, it would theoretically provide better cooling benefits. Did you use thermal paste or thermal pad for the VRM? I couldn’t find that detail in your review. I would think that the pad generates less thermal transfer than the paste.
VRM cooling helps with
VRM cooling helps with overclocking, my comment was more a testament of how well ASUS designed their stock VRM cooler. When you start pumping alot of power (current and voltage) through the CPU is when the VRMs become taxed and the more efficient cooling designs make a difference.
As for the paste vs pad, I use a pad b/c thats what the kit came with, but paste would work just as well or better. However, the temp diff for VRM cooling would be much less than you would see on a cpu for example…
From my experience, it is the
From my experience, it is the it is the cheap motherboards that need aftermarket VRM cooling the most. The problem is that if you have the money for aftermarket cooling for the motherboard, then you have the money to get a higher end board.
Many cheaper motherboards will have VRM temperatures in the 100C range, and the really cheap ones (non heatsinked 4 phase power delivery, will have temperatures hitting 120C with a core i7.
When you jump to higher end boards, you get VRM’s which are more efficient, and have a higher current capacity, along with 8+ phases. the end result is a low duty cycle on each VRM, and they end up running significantly cooler.
Most of the lowest end boards tend to rely on the VRM protection to keep them from overheating, instead of putting the 5-10 extra cents that it would take to add a heatsink. The down side is that you will end up with CPU throttling. This is why some lower end boards will benchmark lower, depending on the load and length of the test (e.g., if you do a prime 95 style load) there will be moments when the clock speed will jump around for a few milliseconds at a time.
Sadly the only boards that really benefit will be those $50-60 boards with 4 phase power and no VRM heatsink, but for some reason will have an auto overclocking function that will attempt to pump 1.3V into a core i5, when the VRM protection kicks in at stock speeds.
Thank you! Very informative
Thank you! Very informative 🙂
You pretty much answered my question in regards to VRM and overall system performance 🙂