PCB Design and Functionality

As you may have already understood from the description of the accessories bundle, ASUS Striker II NSE features a very original cooling system. It can work in three different modes: simple (passive) mode, with an additional fan and as part of a liquid-cooling system. Moreover, it also looks very impressive, though a little overboard, because it consists of four pretty big heatsinks connected with copper heatpipes.

The size of this system is quite justified, considering that nForce 790i SLI is one of the “hottest” chipsets available in the market today. As a result, even impressively large ASUS chipset cooling system becomes scorching hot during work. It is not only internal complexity of nForce 790i SLI chipset, but also 90nm production technology they use for it that determines these high temperatures.

The largest heatsink is installed on the nForce 790i SLI SPP North Bridge and it is not just a ribbed chunk of aluminum. There is a water block on top of this heatsink, so that you could include it into your liquid-cooling contour using the bundled connecting pipes. This water block makes ASUS Striker II NSE mainboard a great choice for those overclockers who prefer liquid-cooling systems. This mainboard can be connected to a liquid-cooling system in practically no time without any extra effort on the user’s part. The central heatsink is topped with a small intriguing parallelepiped with “Republic of Gamers” logo connected to a power out on the mainboard PCB. However, despite our expectations, it has nothing to do with cooling: it is not a Peltier module, but a glowing decoration.

There are three heatpipes originating from a massive central heatsink. Each of them ends in its own heatsink. The lower flattened heatpipe goes to a low-profile South Bridge heatsink. Two other heatpipes go up and lead to MOSFET heatsinks of the processor voltage regulator circuitry. These two heatsinks around LGA775 can accommodate a bundled rotor fan of very efficient design, small size and quiet operation. Note that the heatsink behind the processor socket has been extended up to the case rear panel and the I/O Shield has special vent holes made exactly for it.

You can also notice small heatsinks on the reverse side of the mainboard PCB. They are located right under the hottest mainboard spots:

However, they serve merely as decoration, because there is no contact between them and the mainboard surface. Very strange solution.

Finishing with the ASUS Striker II NSE cooling system, I have to warn you that the processor socket is surrounded by relatively tall components on three sides out of four. As a result, you may have problems trying to install certain large processor coolers.

However, it seems to be the only serious drawback of ASUS Striker II NSE design.