Some questions on Asus P5Ks, 8800GTs (and cooling them) & RAM speeds

[stroberaver]

Does this help? P182 with P5K-E, 24 pin connector from a Corsair HX620 goes round the back (Just!)

Cheers for the pics, they're very useful. Far more useful in fact than many photos from various reviews, which do little to illustrate how the cables fit and route, and the size/dimensions in relation to various components!

The 8800 GT that has caught my eye the most recently is the ECS N8800GT. It comes equipped with an Arctic Cooler S1, a cooler that has received praise from SPCR (amongst others). It's not really easy to find but I've seen a few of the less known/mentioned e-tailer carrying the card while Googling around for about £170-175. By no mean a bargain, but it saves some work (and depending on the card manufacturer, the warranty) from getting a GFX card then fitting with it's own S1. If you know that you are going to be happy with the stock GTS cooler, then £175 is definitely getting too close to the cheapest GTS you can find. But considering that the S1 passively cool the 8800GT, it will definitely be quieter than a stock GTS (unless there are silent ones around - I looked but haven't seen any). If you add a third party cooler to a GTS, the price gap widens again.

The Palit/Xpertvision have are also dual slot coolers for two of their 8800GTs (one stock and one OC'ed) and I remember noting from at least one review that it is capable of balancing out the performance advantage of the GTS stock cooler. Their 8800GT also tend to be one of the cheapest. However, if you do decide at a later date to change the cooler, then you'll definitely void the warranty (can be said with most other cards too).

Thanks for the recommendation - a pre-fitted S1 sounds tempting. I hadn't considered the warranty issues, so a pre-fitted S1 (or ideally HR-03-GT) is ideal. I'll try and find a few reviews for that card.

However you mentioned "(and depending on the card manufacturer, the warranty" - are there some manufacturers for which changing the cooler doesn't void the warranty?

I noticed how cheap the Palit cards were but I'd never heard of them before and wasn't sure what their support was like should I ever need to RMA to them or suchlike. Are Palit any good?

[th0r0n]

If you want any more pictures I can pop the side of the case off when I get home tonight and take more, let me know (5 second job), I can take the other panel off and get the cable routing from the back as well, but only ask if you're really having trouble as it's difficult to get back on

T

[TooNice]

@stroberaver: I seem to remember someone made inference that there are manufacturers who would not void the warranty for changing the cooler - but I never checked the source.

I can't comment on Palit/Xpervision's RMA service, but for what it's worth, they manufacture GFX card for Gainward so I doubt that the lower cost comes from compromise in the manufacturing quality.