There are always problems when you think about ripping bits off of your motherboard and putting new bits back on. You invalidate your warranty for starters, you might break it in the process and the solution you choose to install might not actually be as good as the stock heatsink for a wealth of reasons.  I weighed all this up carefully and thought that in the interests of overclocking, I must go on!

The actual main heatsink is held on by retainer clips, which were easy to push down and slip under the hooks that are mounted on the motherboard. The radiator was a little trickier, which required using some needle-nose pliers to squeeze the plastic expansion plugs so they'd pop back through. As long as you take your time, and you're careful with those pointy pliers this shouldn't be taxing.  And you'll end up with this.

Asus P5WDH Northbridge cooling

Easy does it 

Safely removed

In comparison, Thermalright HR-05

Now below the radiator that extends from the heatpipe there is your standard thermal interface padding. Unfortunately this radiator section could not be left on as it could not be seperated. Now, let's compare the stock and after market options side by side.

Now, the after market has two heat pipes leading away from the core plate, as opposed to just the one and I imagine a larger surface area around the fins.  What more, the HR-05 radiates directly upwards into the path of any lateral air-flow you have in your case whereas the stock solution sits below the ram, which means unless you have air flow coming in from a side panel, you're not going to get any air across it, which probably why it was getting so hot in the first place.

So here comes the fitting; but wait, what's this?

The required mounting click needs clip 4 and 2 (there are several configurations, but my motherboard requires the clips).  This was a big problem, there was no way of ghetto rigging it without breaking the stock heatsink and trying to its its own clip, but that wasn't going to work.  As you can see, I was a stuck for what to do.

The only thing I could think of, beneath that shaggy mop of an uncombed haircut was to contact Thermalright. Now, they didn't do anything wrong; I actually failed to check if my motherboard was on the compatability list (it wasn't). There were no parts missing, it was just that the retention clip was the wrong fitment with my motherboard.  Something I would have known if I had stopped assuming things. I politely asked them if they could send me an inverted M-clip, which would allow me to attach their heatsink!  And they replied, very quickly indeed, considering it was a weekend. 

The deal-breaker

Oh no!

Wait, let's email Thermalright

And then I got another email from Thermalright. This one was another of the technical team and they told me that there were some prototype clips for the P5W motherboard I have. Hooray!  I attached the sink and it works fine.

In conclusion, this was a very simple exercise which was only complicated by my lack of simple research.  If you decide to get a northbridge cooler, please make sure that the model you get is on the compatability list of the manufacturer you got it from.  I would also like to commend Thermalright aftersales support, on such a low cost device. They have exceeded expectations.

Expect a performance review soon!

What we look forward to