Thermal Armor - Hi-tech or Hype!? - answers inside!

[repilce]

Thermal Armor on the firing range​

Today we look at Asus's P67 Sabertooth T.U.F edition. More importantly, a closeup review of one of it's "key" features, Thermal Armor. At first looks it definitely sets this motherboard out among the crowed visually. I think it would be safe to assume that your not going to see a lot of people "on the fence" about their appeal to it's appearance.

This is Asus's take on Thermal Armor:​

"This wrap-around frame shields your critical components from external damage and reduces internal heat. A revolutionary first-of-its-kind design, Thermal Armor incorporates the cooling effect of "ducting", ensuring longer lifespan and allowing you to push your system to the max..."​

Are you wondering how this "revolutionary" piece of plastic can actually guard against heat? So was I..
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Here we can see the shell removed, which I might say was quite an easy task save having to take the motherboard out of course. The shield is held in place by 8 screws which fasten from the back of the motherboard.​

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Now, when you flip this thing over you may be expecting to see some sort advanced ducting fins and such. Well don't get to excited yet. As you can see from the picture there is not really much going on back here.
In the center where the "assistant" fan goes there is included plate to cover when not in use, it does have a fin on the bottom if it to help direct downward airflow from the cpu cooler (if you use one that points toward the motherboard) and helps direct it in the direction of the PCH sink.​

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Let's get down to business, shall we?

Now, considering that most people who are thinking about purchasing this board (I would like to at least "assume") are running an aftermarket cooler. This review is based on that theory. I mean, come on this is OVERCLOCKERS, right?
As such, I will be conducting tests with the thermal armor with a 50x10mm fan that was kindly donated by my RipjawsX cooler.

Testbed Setup:

• 2600K @ 4.6Ghz - Noctua NH-D14
• Asus Sabertooth P67 TUF
• Gskill RipjawsX 2133 7-10-7-27
• GTX570 @ 880core - Thermalright Shaman
• Cooler Master Storm Sniper Black edition

For all tests the case was closed up and in "normal" everyday configuration. Which includes 1 200mm intake fan located front, 1 200mm exhaust fan located top, 120mm exhaust fan located rear, 200mm exhaust fan located left side panel.

For idle data temps were recorded after a fresh reboot and the system was given 30mins to "level out" in this state.

For all load data, temps were recorded after 60 minutes of the cpu running F@H -bigadv running on Ubuntu VM with VMplayer 3.0 Along with GPU3 running on the 570 with unlocked affinity and all cores environment varible set.

There were three configurations tested. Thermal armor on as "out of box", with assist fan installed. Thermal armor off completely, and thermal armor off with fan mounted to center of motherboard, the posts the fan mount on are soldered to the motherboard and are not attached to the thermal armor itself.

Ambient temperatures were measured about 1ft away from computer on desk.

Let's see some results:
Idle states

Armor ON:


Armor OFF:


Armor OFF w/fan:


At first glance it appears as if removing the armor has made some good improvements. Now let's have a look at the loaded data..

Loaded States:

Armor ON:


Armor OFF:


Armor OFF w/ Fan:

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To me at least I really wasn't sure where I stood as a whole, as I could see the impacts of removing the armor in some areas, while adding the fan by itself proved to bring back some lower temps..

Let's have a peek at what it all looks like when you put it together..
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As you can see, while the improvement might not bring the term "revolutionary" or "state of the art" to mind. It turns out that there is some value to this concept. I will have to give it to Asus on this one as they seem to have taken a step in the right direction. Sure it's not mind blowing motherboard cooling. But it does bring something to the table as the testing definitely trends in it's favor across the board.
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As far as aesthetics go, you'll most likely love it or hate it.. IMHO It looks pretty wicked in my all back sniper.


And a look at the board in all it's nakedness!
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I have to say to the naked eye the pcb itself on the board does have a more black-ish look to it, although nothing like the mat finish of the UD* series from gigabyte.
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Conclusion:
The Thermal Armor does what it intends to do, which is keep your board cooler. You also might be able to thank it one day for guarding your tiny ic's from that dropped Philips head. It get's the results with a new and fresh, yet relatively simple idea.

For those of you that may be paying a little TOO close of attention this particular feature of the board and may be up in arms about the price tag that comes with it, rest assured, you are not paying that premium for this plastic. Even though it only comes sporting 8 +2 power phases compared to others of this range which include 12-16+2, you are paying for the higher quality components that make up this board's entire layout. The board comes with a certificate of reliability listing the components that are "MIL" (military) standard. Although this is not intended be be a full on board review, I can say if the looks do it for you, and it feels right.. don't hesitate. It's been a real pleasure to work with.​

Thanks for viewing!

 

[wagex]

My ud4 comes with a black pcb

 

[repilce]

ah come on, is it THAT bad? this many views and only that comment?

 

[TheQuadFather]

You also might be able to thank it one day for guarding your tiny ic's from that dropped Philips head.

ill comment sheerly because i have done this to many times! im glad somebody actually looked to see if it was doing anything.

 

[muddocktor]

Nice job on the review, repilce!

 

[repilce]

Thanks mud, I was nearing falling asleep at the keyboard finishing it up last night. Thank god for spell check in firefox

The last stage of my testing was armor off with fan on, i'll be slapping it back in when my RX360 kit comes this week! If i can knock temps down enough i may kick'er up to 4.8 if it doesn't take TOO much more voltage to keeper there stable.

 

[wesleys_dad]

very nice looking system...you did a great job...cable management looks beautiful..whole system is a work of art...you attention to detail is very evident...good job...

 

[Audioaficionado]

Nice job on the review, repilce!

+1

 

[dfonda]

Nice job Rep, I had to read through and look at the pics a number of times to grasp what I was looking at...so the whole top of the mobo is covered with that thermal panel? The parts that cover the slots and cpu are removed to use them then?

 

[repilce]

Nah, the only part that has a removable panel is where the "optional" 50mm fan goes..

Here's another look

 

[dfonda]

Ahh... so in the first pic those are throw a way pieces that are covering the vitals. Or is that part of the shell that uncovers them?

 

[repilce]

.. The very first picture in the post is just the Armor itself , removed from the board, and laying on a piece of black cardboard.

 

[dfonda]

.. The very first picture in the post is just the Armor itself , removed from the board, and laying on a piece of black cardboard.

Oh that's funny! I though the cardboard showing through was part of it! Yikes! It has a 3D look in the pic like those spots of cardboard are sticking up.

 

[repilce]

lol

sorry if you caught any of it while i was editing it.. I made the original post some time in the wee hours of the night, tired as hell. Just went through today to try and straighten some of the text up.

 

[bobad]

Nice review,,, well done!

If I'm thinking right, the armor (sort of) circulates air under the motherboard. I think that's a cooling opportunity that has been long neglected, especially right under the CPU socket. Because the clearance is so small, you would need push-pull, with the push coming from a biscuit fan blowing directly on the bottom of the CPU socket.

 

[johan851]

Nice!

The board comes with a certificate of reliability listing the components that are "MIL" (military) standard. Although this is not intended be be a full on board review, I can say if the looks do it for you, and it feels right.. don't hesitate. It's been a real pleasure to work with.

FYI, mil-spec generally means that components are rated for less drift at the extremes of their temperature ranges. They usually stay within their tolerance up to, say, 185F instead of 165F. It's not a real big deal - when I build amps I usually end up with a fair amount of "mil-spec" components - but there are a lot of other criteria I look for first. My amplifiers, and our computers, don't stand to benefit much from "mil-spec".

 

[CompuTamer]

Nice!


FYI, mil-spec generally means that components are rated for less drift at the extremes of their temperature ranges. They usually stay within their tolerance up to, say, 185F instead of 165F. It's not a real big deal - when I build amps I usually end up with a fair amount of "mil-spec" components - but there are a lot of other criteria I look for first. My amplifiers, and our computers, don't stand to benefit much from "mil-spec".

You talking about a power amp here? Like for a speaker? Those things (Crowns mostly) have a tendency to run really really cool right up until you get to music that has a ton of bass followed by no bass. Constant fan speed changes seems to throw everything out of whack a bit. That being said, i've never had a power amp actually get hot on me (Even a Crown CTs 1200 at ~100% load for a good two hours running some insanely loud jazz band doesn't get warm to the touch at all. Gets loud as crap though. Keep in mind that 1200 watts in a 1000ish sq/ft room is FREAKING LOUD.)

Back to the topic. This seems like a really cool idea. I just think that it would depend on the static pressure of the fan you choose though. A fan that can't hold pressure wouldn't be able to force air over the board well, but a screaming fast Delta would probably lead to a better impact.

 

[repilce]

Nice!


FYI, mil-spec generally means that components are rated for less drift at the extremes of their temperature ranges. They usually stay within their tolerance up to, say, 185F instead of 165F. It's not a real big deal - when I build amps I usually end up with a fair amount of "mil-spec" components - but there are a lot of other criteria I look for first. My amplifiers, and our computers, don't stand to benefit much from "mil-spec".

I see your point, and on an average basis this is mostly true. But when your extreme clocking and your vrm's are running around 70cish.. probably good they can take the heat. The boards literature on box states a operating range of up to 85c

Back to the topic. This seems like a really cool idea. I just think that it would depend on the static pressure of the fan you choose though. A fan that can't hold pressure wouldn't be able to force air over the board well, but a screaming fast Delta would probably lead to a better impact.

Agreed, The fan I used for this was most likely of "average" caliber. But I dont really think there's to much in the way of "performance" 50x10mm fans.

And to a totally of topic point.. why are everyone's names in pink today 4-1-11??

 

[TheQuadFather]

And to a totally of topic point.. why are everyone's names in pink today 4-1-11??

its believed to be an Aprils fools joke, aslong as swapping the words AMD and INTEL in many of the subforums this morning!

 

[johan851]

I see your point, and on an average basis this is mostly true. But when your extreme clocking and your vrm's are running around 70cish.. probably good they can take the heat. The boards literature on box states a operating range of up to 85c

Sure, it can't hurt. But it depends more on the component manufacturer. There are plenty of companies out there that will claim "mil-spec" even if the component sucks.

Agreed, The fan I used for this was most likely of "average" caliber. But I dont really think there's to much in the way of "performance" 50x10mm fans.

You might be able to find a 50mm to 60mm adapter - there are plenty of high pressure 60mm fans. They sound like vacuum cleaners, of course, and you probably wouldn't have clearance for it...