I read this at evga's site about motherboards, and you can see what i have in my sig. Asus says it's an 8 phase power scheme, but it only has the 4 pin mobo power connecter instead of the usual 8 pin i see with sli 590 chipsets. Can someone set me straight on this? Thanks in advance.

The 8-phase design provides smoother power flow to the board components, particularly importantly to the cpu, than a lower-phase design. This helps especially with overclocking and in providing stability at all voltages.

Whether your board needs an 8-pin or 4-pin 12v power connector, you'll get enough power for the components in either case. Pcie cards that need more power will require a separate 6- or 8-pin special pcie power connector, or sometimes two, for each card.

I just counted the 24 pin power connector on my mobo. I have it set up on my -*test*-('") bench out of the case, in it's removable mobo tray, while I'm waiting for my new evga 8800512 via step-up plan option

And I'm also planning on replacing the tim on the heatpipes with AS ceramique. I have a tube all set to go. Anything i should be aware of, just so i don't run into any surprises?

This is my 3 pc build, and i have replaced tim on chipsets before, so i pretty much know what I'm doing...just a last minute check with the excellent support on this site. Thank you cool_case, for your very quick reply. I'm impressed!

Jaz, I amended my post above regarding the separate 4-pin or 8-pin 12v connector. Some boards require it, others don't. What I"d said earlier about 20-pin vs. 24-pin wasn't correct.

Your board's separate 12v connector is 4-pin, right?

See this page for a more full explanation. It's a long page, but there's a chart at the top the explains the various configurations, with details below.

You should be fine replacing the tim on the chipset. The main issue with heat pipe removal is doing it carefully.

Good luck with your build!

Thanks, cool_case, for the comprehensive explanation link you provided me with. most informing. again li learn a thing or 2. I try to learn at least 1 thing a day..lol.

Thank you very much for you help. I appreciate it. Happy holiday to you and yours and the team and members of this forum!

And a side note...yes my seperate 12v connector is 4 pin.

Thanks, jaz. Happy Holidays to you and your family too.

Let us know how things work out with your new build.

The things to watch for in replacing the TIM under the heatpipes or chipset fans are the following:

- be careful not to bend any heatpipes in the removal process
- be careful not to scratch any traces on the mb when removing the heatpipes/fans. If you have rubber coated needle nose pliers, they're ideal for the removal process (that said, I use a regular metal pair and just work slowly).
- work in an open and clean area, the spring loaded retention pins can take off on you and fly quite some distance. They're good at hiding in clutter.
- use a high quality cleaner to remove all old TIM from the surfaces of heatsinks and chipsets. The Arctic Silver cleaner kit is a really good investment if you do this kind of thing.
- don't overdo the new TIM. A dot will do you. If a small dot makes you uncomfortable about coverage, use a clean razor blade to spread it over the chip and ensure coverage. Too much TIM is equally as bad as too little, as it acts like an insulator.

Keep us posted on the build!

One more question...is it tim or pads under the heatpipes? By the looks of it from a couple of sites i saw, it looks like those crappy pink pads. Also, I will be using isopropyl alcohol, (91% alcohol). Will that be good enough or is it really neccesary to spring for the arctic clean stuff from AS.

I will be using a custom cut piece of plastic about the same regidity as a credit card, but cut to same size as heapipe contact points. I will spread even but thin on the heatpipes, then re-assemble.

And on a side note, I don't know if down the road i wont to do this with my new evga 8800512 I'm still waiting for. I know theirs a gap between everything but the core. Are the adhesive pads offered at danger den think enough and appropriate to use on everything else but the cpu on the gfx card?
Again, thanks in advance for excellent advice.

Jaz:

You can clean up the pipes and chipset with Isopropyl, but it takes forever. The waxy substance used by ASUS is not soluble in alcohol, so it ends up being elbow grease that gets the job done. Using Isopropyl ensures no residue, but it's far from being the easiest way to get the job done. The Arctic Silver kit contains two solutions, one that cuts through the pink goo, and a second that cleanses the surface. If your time is worth $20/hr or more, it's a worthwhile investment.

As to replacing the pads on a video card, I would not know how to advise you without seeing the factory material. The pads used by EVGA on my cards are pretty thick, perhaps 2 mm. Whether or not the heat sink will seat correctly with TIM or after market pads is going to take some trial and error. You can try cleaning it up and using AS5 on the GPU and Arctic Ceramique on the memory and vregs (use small dots on the memory and vregs, don't spread it to verify contact). Reseat the heatsink and give it several hours, then remove it and verify whether or not you have good contact everywhere. If you don't, you can try pads of various thicknesses until you find the thinnest pad that works. You'll know by looking at the pads/TIM after you remove the heatsink whether or not you had good contact from the smear patterns/indentations in the pads.

Thanks Arlie...Maybe I'll just hold off on that as my temps are good cuz of the case fans (4X120mm) blowing on the mobo keeps temps down sufficiently. (luv this case) But if i do end up replacing it, I'll get the arctic cleaner stuff. Thanks again! Very helpul advise. Glad i asked.