Am I the only one that tends to leave these out, so more air can flow over the VRMs? At least, on the boards with the tiny VRM heatsink right up against that rear I/O?
As for reference, back in the day (circa 2006) when the fastest CPU was an 800Mhz FSB 3.0 Ghz Dual Core Pentium-D, I overclocked to a "Top 5 Benchmark" record holder to 1200Mhz FSB @ 4.5 Ghz (50% overclock!) on watercooling the CPU - I did NOT watercool the Northbridge like everyone else did. I was the only one using the stock Asus-modified-board (soldering!) heatsink on the Northbridge (now at 1200 Mhz) and the VRM heatsinks.
The only way I could get anywhere close to stable was to remove the rear-I/O plate for the air to flow out the back, over the heatsinks.
The board is long gone, but I did keep those heatsinks as they are a great reminder of the serious heat back then. They were black anodized alum, that CHANGED COLORS to a very shiny mix of purple and gold. Very impressive that they got that hot - and I was able to throw up some serious gaming FPS perfectly stable, for hours of sessions (Voodoo 2 SLI, and I think upgraded to 3dfx 5500 series at the EOL). Hard to say I've had such a stable system ever since then, that thing was rock stable.
I need to dig up those heatsinks and write a story about it...
