In order to reduce the temperature as passively as possible of chipsets and the CPU, Gigabyte now installs low profile aluminum heatsinks on the backside of some motherboards, and the GA-P35-DS4. Called Crazy Cool, the rear mounted heatsinks are located behind the Northbridge & CPU socket, and Intel ICH9R Southbridge.

Much of the heat produced by the MOSFETs, Northbridge and Southbridge is conducted through the solder joints into the PCB, Gigabyte places a couple of heatsinks on the back of the motherboard. Dubbed CRAZYCOOL, these heatsinks work to keep the motherboard itself cool, which in turn lowers the temperatures of heat-producing board mounted components.

Much of the heat produced from a chipset is transferred from the contact balls of the BGA package into the motherboard PCB, itself a mixture of fiberglass and copper. The heatsinks are attached with screws, and a thermal pad smooths out the bumps between the heatsink and the motherboard PCB.

On the other side of the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 motherboard is the chipset and MOSFET thermal solution called the "SilentPipe". Why you wonder? Because it operates silently. The chipset heatsink employs copper heatpipes and copper cooling fins that stretch across the surface of the board. Cooling fins are located in areas where airflow from the CPU fan, or videocard fan are likely to pass, which in the ideal situation allows the motherboard core logic and power circuitry to remain cool without the need for additional fans.

The SilentPipe adorns this snaking copper heatpipe chipset heatsink on the GA-P35-DS4 motherboard.

Intel's P35 Express chipset contains upwards of 45 million transistors, and in terms of heat output this 65nm IC is roughly on par with the P965 Express chipset - hot. With a good motherboard level thermal solution the Intel P35 Express can be passively cooled, silently. Crazy Cool goes under the umbrella of Ultra Durable 2, which is a collection of bits used in the making of a motherboard so it lasts longer, and is more reliable. PCSTATS looks at this next, then it's on to overclocking!