[ngdbsdmn]

Hi,

I purchased all the components and now I can confirm that AMS is indeed compatible with P5Q-E. However, it will not fit in the optimal position (with the heatpipes closest to the nortbridge). It fits in the two other accepted positions, with the heatpipes closest to the memory slots and 180 degrees rotated, with the heatpipes closest to the backpanel I/O ports. The optimal position on P5Q-E is with the heatpipes closest to the memory slots. In this position the heatpipes do not even reach the memory slots and you can use any DIMMS, no matter how tall (I happen to have Corsair XMS2 DHX which are very tall and there is no problem).

I also discovered why the LGA 775 stabilizer is actually required and not an option. If the standard push pins are used, there are two big drawbacks: 1. the PCB will bend and 2. the installation will be a horrible horrible pain to complete, especially if the motherboard already has tall heatsinks around the CPU socket. The PCB bend was not scary on my P5Q-E but it may be on motherboards with weaker PCBs and it may get worse over time. When I switched to the stabilizer, the installation was very easy. The PCB still bends but you can clearly see how the backplate takes more load than the PCB. The whole cooler/motherboard ansamble is also more stable. The only issue I noticed is that even though the manual sais to use the thick insulation washer, after fully and tightly screwing the backplate, the AMS arms from the CPU side of the motherboard do not touch the PCB. It's not a big deal though, as the whole assembly is rock solid.

I still haven't actually gotten to use the cooler (still working on the new workstation) but I think feature wise it's ok. However, anyone considering AMS should actually buy the son of AMS: Kabuto. This is because the latter has some important features that AMS is either missing (Kabuto has better airflow when placed with the heatpipes closest to the memory slots because of the split fin design) or would cost extra, making AMS much more expensive (Kabuto has out of the box support for LGA 1366 and a PWM fan). The only really good thing AMS has over Kabuto is the possibility to get this LGA 775 stabilizer kit with the backplate but even this advantage is not relevant on LGA 1366 motherboards because these MBs come with a backplate by default.