AW9D-MAX - Silent OTES question

[Barryng]

I am waiting for a new AW9D-Max, E6600, memory, power supply, and graphics card to be delivered. In anticipation of receiving these new toys, I am now thinking about the details of installing these upgrades.

The Silent OTES system uses heat pipes to transport heat to the large heat sink on the rear of the board, adjacent to the eSATA1 connector. Even though this large heat sink is adjacent to a ventilation opening, how is the heat rejected from the case effciently without a fan? The ventilation openings are horizontally located with respect to the large heat sink so natural convection will not occur between the inside and outside of the case.

I noticed from the manual that there are two fan connectors adjacent to the large heat sink labled "OTESFANx". Does this imply I am incorrect in assuming there is no factory installed OTES fan?

If there is indeed no factory fan installed, has anyone installed a small relatively silent fan on the large heat sink to at least break up the boundary layer of hot stagnant air along the heat sink surfaces?

I ordered the AW9D-MAX on the basis of some excellent long time experience with ABIT boards including two IC7-MAX2 currently in use. However, the Silent OTES concept concerns be because it appears the large heat sink is simply dumping the transferred heat inside the case. Once this area warms up, the heat pipes will simply stop working. Installing a fan to remove this heat would then negate the concept of "Silent" in Silent OTES.

 

[JLK03F150]

What are you going to be using for CPU cooling? Some of the newer heatsinks I've seen blow from right to left (instead of down on the mobo) which would blow on the otes heatsink.

I'm going to be watercooling my cpu, so I haven't figured out how I'll be moving air through my case yet. I'm thinking maybe a 40mm on the NB HS & a 40-60mm on the otes HS. I think having more intake airflow vs exhaust will be a good idea.

 

[Deanzo]

Your rear case fan should take care of that issue.

As above, what heatsink you use all so plays a part. A week ago I would have said a fan blowing down moving the hot air around/away from the n/b and otes heatsink would be best.

But I just moved up from a SI 128 to my new Ultra 120 eXtreme and Im getting better case temps with it.
I put it down to the intake, cpu and exhaust are all working as one now and giving me much better airflow.

 

[Barryng]

I am currently using an Enermax windtunnel type of case. I am planning on using a Coolit Eliminator for CPU cooling. I am anticipating that the Eliminator will mount in place of the rear 120mm exhaust fan. I still plan on using the front 120mm fan, on low speed, to provide fresh air into thr case. Also, the plastic windtunnel shield will no longer be needed so I d not intend to reinstall it. I am concerned that the bulk of the Eliminator will shield the large OTES heat sink from any real forced air flow.

One of my goals is to make a very quiet system. The windtunnel case reduced the fan noise when I installed it a year or so ago. Now I am hoping to make another very significant reduction in noise by eliminating the CPU heatsink fan and northbridge fan.

 

[batboy]

Personally, I think the Coolit Eliminator is more of a gimmick than anything. You are still going to need case ventilation fans regardless. I'm watercooled and I need case fans. In addition to the N/B and S/B, those mosfets get warm too. Luckily these can be quiet 120mm fans of course. Anyway, I have my AW9D system set up with positive pressure, meaning I have more intake fans than exhaust fans. Any heat from the OTES is blown out the back vent.

Legit Reviews had this to say about the Coolit Eliminator:

When run at full load the $150 Eliminator was unable to handle this monster overclock and was running at the same load temperature as the $40 Thermaltake Big Typhoon air cooler! The Corsair Nautilus 500 water cooler was able to beat out the pair of TEC coolers and the air cooler at load temperatures.

Just bite the bullet and go with a full watercooled system. You can build a very quiet one nowadays. That's the main reason I went with H2O.