as far as the Radeon cards are concerned, some thermal adhesive will do the trick (ive also noticed on some 3rd-party cards that they use mounting holes).
now, i can see why some ppl would be upset - the mounting holes are certainly a convenient and secure method of mounting huge HSFs and waterblocks. but there are plenty of clever ppl, some of which post here :P ,that will design new blocks and mounting methods should MoBos start showing up with no holes. you want pelts? well what about the Maze1C. sure its not the best block in the world, but it shows that it can be done. broken sockets? not if you use a good clip. what about the many huge (and heavy) copper HSFs out now? a properly designed clip that uses all 6 cleats will surely be adaquate for mounting a WB onto the socket. you might say that you wont be able to use huge WBs, but do you really need them huge? some examples of small, yet well-performing blocks would be the ones from Innovatek and Gemini (although i'll wait and see what ProCooling says about them befor i make my mind up). again, innovative and clever WB designers will overcome this obstacle. and like someone already said, if enough ppl want their holes, im sure the top-teir MoBo manufacturers will be more than happy to give them to you; more business for them.
just my 24 3/4 cents...
|