The Asus manufacturer's warranty and custom waterblocks.

[UltraNEO*]

Hello...

I believe this would be a valid question to ask.... I would appreciated it if some of the folks from Asus would shed some light on the matter and where we (the enthusiasts crowd) stand, in regards to warranty claims, RMAs etc if such a situation arise.

Over the next couple of months I'm planning on converting my system from air-cooling to a full custom liquid cooled unit. What I'd like to know is this: Where is the line between having warranty cover from Asus and the warranty becoming voided? Does modding/removing or pulling off the stock motherboard heat-sinks & heat-pipe and replacing them with water-blocks from the likes of EK and Koolance void our main-board's manufacturers warranty??

Thanks.

[aberdeen]

In general with any modifications with any product what the manufacture does not know will not void your warranty.
In other words.. do not advertise it (like the noob posting pictures on a manufactures website of his water block board claiming Asus quality control melted his SATA ports), tell them about it, and make sure the modifications are totally reversible and undetectable just in case you need warranty work to be done.

Now if I was a manufacture of motherboards, if an end user installed an aftermarket water block on his motherboard, his/her warranty will be voided. Why? Lets say the end user forgets to use the plastic insulating washers and the mounting screws now short out or cut a trace on the backside of the board? OR another example would be if the aftermarket water block manufactures water block sprung a leak and toasted the motherboard. Or Another example would be if the water block was improperly machined to the work clearance and either it shorted out components on the board, or failed to make contact the component that was intended to cool? Is a motherboard manufacture is suppose to eat that? Only IF a manufacture for example EVGA who sells water blocks for their VGA cards for end users to install, would be different story.

A question I have for you is why would you want to water block this particular motherboard when the water block does NOT cover and cool the OTHER VRM's on the backside of the board? Is it for the cool factor or for functionality?

[mdzcpa]

A question I have for you is why would you want to water block this particular motherboard when the water block does NOT cover and cool the OTHER VRM's on the backside of the board? Is it for the cool factor or for functionality?

I can answer this one. I have the Koolance block on the RIVE and it makes a HUGE difference in VRM temp. You obviously must continue to use the passive backside heatsink, but by effectively removing the heat of the front side components the enitre area (front AND back) run cooler. When running LLC above medium (or at medium above 1.45v vcore) the board otherwise required active cooling to stay stable. Even actively cooled the VRMs were hitting 70C+ front and 60C+ on the rear (via temp probes).

Using the Koolance block my VRMs never hit above 50C...font or rear. Typically temps hover around 42-46C fully loaded with LLC on High. I no longer need a fan over the VRM area either. My rig runs at 5Ghz daily and is quiet as a church mouse now.

Bottom line, water cooling this mobo was one of the best moves I've made. Now I've been water cooling and phase change cooling for years and water doesn't scare me. Blocks and fittings seldom "spring leaks" if you know what you're doing and you properly test the loop sufficiently before firing things up. Water cooling may not be for everyone, but for those with the patience to do it right, a good waterblock on the RIVE does wonders.

[UltraNEO*]

Is it for the cool factor or for functionality?

Most definitely functionality.

A question I have for you is why would you want to water block this particular motherboard when the water block does NOT cover and cool the OTHER VRM's on the backside of the board?

Interesting... I wonder, are you speaking from first-hand experience or do you have physical evidence to support your case?


(click to enlarge)

To support my theory, the above image shows the actual component layout of our RIVE board (minus the stock heatsinks/heatpipe). This photo shows you there are no VRM's located anywhere else on the motherboard except north of the CPU socket, under the EXTX12V_1 & EXTX12V_2.

Images following provides a visual comparison of the two purposely designed water-block specially designed for our RIVE, when the stock heatsinks are replaced with custom LC blocks - I think you'll find all vital components that require cooling are 100% covered.

Coverage by the Koolance block model: MB-ASR4E (ASUS Rampage IV Extreme):


Coverage from the EK model: EK-FB KIT RE4

[mdzcpa]

UltraNeo:

I beleive what aberdeen is referring to are the components on the back side of the mobo. These components continued to be cooled by the passive heatsinks. Here's a pic of what I beleive he is referring to:




The thing to keep in mind is that even with stock OEM cooling in place these rear side items do not get as the front components, and the rear VRM area runs MUCH cooler with the waterblock in the front (by eliminating heatsoak from the area). In fact, if you water cool the front VRM's, you pull so much heat off that area that your CPU temps drop a few degrees. My max core temps dropped 3-4c when I actively cooled the VRM area with a fan, then dropped another 2-3c with the water blocks. In the end I dropped almost 10c off my max core temps by keeping the VRM area cool.

[UltraNEO*]

*faccepalm* missed that one...

[aberdeen]

What you think and noted in your picture that are the VRM's,.. those are actually INDUCTORS.

The Inductors are part of the filtering network that is used with the polymer capacitors next to the Inductors. This filtering network Filters the high frequency switching noise that is generated from the computers power supply and the high frequency switching noise from the VRM's. The VRM's are just right above the Inductors. On the backside of the motherboard is another group of VRM's. The backside VRM's are just cooled by a aluminum plate.

One the topside of the mother board are 11 VRM's. 8 is for CPU and 3 is for VCCSA.
On the backside of the motherboard are 8 VRM's for the Memory channels.
This is why the backside VRM's run cooler than the front-side VRM's.

Now the problem with chasing newest and greatest is dealing with the manufactures first run of the mill motherboards.

Asus engineer's assumed that they can use the same 8-phase (8 VRM's) used on 1155 CPU's motherboards to overclock a 2011 CPU's effectively. And finally they figured out that they need to improve the voltage and current regulation design to support the 2011 CPU under demanding overclocking situations.

So with the P9X79 Deluxe they decided to increased the CPU current regulation by 100% and the VCCSA current regulation by 50%.

Here are the specs of the above boards I mentioned for comparison.


Maximus IV Extreme-Z
Extreme Engine Digi+ :
- 8 -phase CPU power design + 4 -phase iGPU power design
- 3 -phase Memory power design


Rampage IV Extreme
Extreme Engine Digi+ II :
- 8 -phase CPU power design
- 3 -phase VCCSA power design
- 2 + 2 phase DRAM power design


P9X79 DELUXE
Dual Intelligent Processors III with New DIGI+ Power Control
ASUS Digital Power Design :
- Industry leading Digital 16 + 4 Phase CPU Power Design
- Industry leading Digital 2 + 2 Phase DRAM Power Design


Now from what you see from the above, what would you rather use as a motherboard for extreme STABLE CPU overclocking with having the same Bios of the MIVE?

I would go with the Deluxe.

Is anybody looking for a MIVE BF3 board cheap?

[UltraNEO*]

What you think and noted in your picture that are the VRM's,.. those are actually INDUCTORS.

Oops. Yeah you're right. The voltage regulator module's are the grey flat surface mounted components directly above the ceramic chokes - I can only guess it was really late that morning when I searched google images for suitable photo.

Now from what you see from the above, what would you rather use as a motherboard for extreme STABLE CPU overclocking with having the same Bios of the MIVE?

I would go with the Deluxe.

Thanks for the hardware run down...

If, like yourself I had waited three months to upgrade I wouldn't have made all the savings I did back in mid November 2011. Nor would I been given the opportunity to buy the state-of-the-arts hexa-core processor, motherboard, memory, ssd's, gpu's and PSU for a total not exceeding £1000 - Can you still get this deal now???

Yeah it's true, looking at the motherboards available today, I would have gotten more choices (last year, my choices then were limited to the surprising good Intel DX79SI, Gigabyte's fugly GA-X79-UD3 and the mysterious Asus Rampage IV Extreme)... plus now, late integrator have a different stepping of Intel's cutting edge processor. Unfortunately I'd would of been even more hesitant when it came to buying new-ish GPU's because now I'd be paying prices near retail... and like, who wants to pay retail prices?!!


Seriously, unlike all those people coming to the site for system support, stability issues, hardware problems etc, I don't have any buyers remorse nor do I have any major complaints with this motherboard!! For me, my system works, it's capable of rendering media through the entire night without so much as a glitch. Infact, it's almost as stable, as the workstation it's replaced!! Most importantly; I haven't lost any work!!! Then again having UPS backed up arrays sure does help.


Good luck shopping for your board aberdeen.

[Necrosan]

Wow, after reading about P9X79 Deluxe I feel like buying the R4E was a waste of money. Oh well.
The P9X79 Deluxe seems like the logical upgrade from the R3BE, wish it would have been for sale.
</buyers_remorse>

[UltraNEO*]

Wow, after reading about P9X79 Deluxe I feel like buying the R4E was a waste of money. Oh well.
The P9X79 Deluxe seems like the logical upgrade from the R3BE, wish it would have been for sale.
</buyers_remorse>

</sarcasm_detection_alarted>