IC7 northbridge fan hell!

[Oktup]

Hi

*My first post at THG*

I have an Abit IC7 mobo and in recent weeks the northbridge chipset fan has become very noisy. I was wondering whether the cooling would be good enough if I disabled the fan and just left the (reasonably sized) heatsink that it currently sits on in place. The chipset fan and heatsink are the ones that originally came with the motherboard.

I bought a zalman passive cooler to replace it but the mountings on my motherbaord werent right so it didnt fit.

I do push my comp to its limit in that I play the latest games e.g. Far Cry, UT2004 and I also do a lot of video editing. Nothing is overclocked on my system except the processor (P4 2.6c --> 3.0Ghz)

Dunno if that has any relevance

Hope someone can help me. List of my specs below if needed

Thanks

Oktup

Abit IC7 m/b
P4 2.6c @ 3.0Ghz
1024 PC3200 RAM
Radeon 9800 NP

 

[Oktup]

The ZM-NB47J. Because my Zalman CPU fan slightly overhangs the northbridge chipset I bought the 47J as it has lower sides which would have allowed just enough room for them both to fit

Unfortunately, there wasnt anywhere to attached the heatsink to. The only connectors are 4 hoops near the chipset which the current connectors hook under.

I just thought that the stock Abit heatsink (that is there atm with the fan attached) isnt much smaller than the zalman one and I wondered if I could just disable / detatch the the fan and leave the heatsink there on its own

 

[Crashman]

It might work fine without the fan, but Abit is fairly good with warranty service so you could get a replacement free.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[jammydodger]

If your processor is overclocked that means the northbridge is also overclocked, this might cause a little extra strain on the northbridge.
Are any other motherboards with the 875 chipset passivly cooled? Because if they are it is prob safe to do it on yours.

<font color=blue>P4c 2.6@3.25
512Mb PC4000
2x120Gb 7200.7 in RAID0
Waterchill KT12-L30
Abit AI7
Radeon 9800Pro
</font color=blue>

 

[blah]

All EPoX boards I built around have passive colling (the main reason I picked them😉

..this is very useful and helpful place for information...

 

[mrmonsoon]

It is on my P4C800.

 

[Oktup]

I tried that wusy but the clip was bent in such a way that it wouldnt work. Thx anyway

 

[Oktup]

Thx for that crashman - I presumed (from previous web searches) that Abit didnt have a specific UK base but after your post I searched harder and found an email address for technical support.

I explained my problem and they have agred to ship out a replacement heatsink and fan for postage costs only (<£1)

Thanks everyone for your help

 

[Crashman]

Good, now send me your old one so I can play with it!

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[HardWareBoss]

Another freebie?

 

[Crashman]

Shhh, we don't want people to think I'm molesting computer parts....

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[blah]

oh, now you have puter fetish going, what's next, heh

..this is very useful and helpful place for information...