CPU VRM cooling, required or just "nice"?

[JeremyCT]

Doing the research on getting my video card on water and putting my CPU back on water, I realized that I'd never paid much attention to the VRM MOSFETS for my CPU.

Gigabyte GA-P45-DS3R http://teknojunkie.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/gigabyte-ga-p45-ds3r.jpg

It's "Ultra Durable 2" with 6 phase CPU power delivery, so the components are solid, but there's no cooling on the MOSFETs at all, not even little token heat sinks. Should I concern myself with finding sinks for the CPU VRM stuff or just leave it be?

On that note, does anybody know where to get "double wide" MOSFET heatsinks? I know I could put 10x10x14 sinks all next to each other, but the copper ones come out at around $1.40 per sink ($13.99 for a 10 pack). At 3 MOSFETs per phase, 10 total phases between the GPU and CPU comes out to $42 worth of little sinks needed just for the VRMs. I figure larger, rectangular sinks would be cheaper to make and acquire, but I'm not seeing any in a useful size.

 

[Conumdrum]

Hmm, try Newark, Digikey, and Mouser. Electronic supply houses. There are a billion diff sizes and shapes.

And they are easy to cut to size.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Enzotech may make something like this for your motherboard.

 

[madhatter256]

For that gigabyte motherboard, you need these to cover each little mosfet.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835708011

 

[JeremyCT]

Enzotech may make something like this for your motherboard.

Gibabyte arranged the chokes between the MOSFETS on this particular board, they're not in a neat little row unfortunately.

 

[EarthDog]

On X79, you may want it when overclocking. Otherwise, don't waste the money.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

You'd be fine, and if you have a thermal probe you can always compare the temps with the mosfets running bare versus with a fan pointing at them. If they are too warm for your liking, then you could try sinking them. It isn't the situation that you'd power on and they'd blow up instantly... They are likely to be a little warm at idle, and a little warmer under load. To be sure I was alright with the temps, I'd feel them at idle, then put a load on them and stick a finger on there to see how warm they get (or a temperature probe).

If you are dropping a quad in it, they'll run a little warmer than they would on a dual... But they'd still be fine without any cooling.

I've got a Rampage Extreme that I've ran duals with crazy clocks and voltages, at about -80C on the CPU... The mosfets had no sinks on them, but they stayed at about air temps and I just pointed a fan at them.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Just make sure your WB will fit if you decide to put any aftermarket sinks.