Z77 chipset cooling?

[giantbucket]

so on my board (ASRock Z77 Extreme3), while I was poking around I noticed that the small heatsink that's on the Z77 chipset (behind the PCIe slots) was REALLY WARM (borderline hot). it's only a small 1.5" x 1.5" or so square heatsink.

are there any aftermarket solutions for improved cooling of that little area? I've got graphics cards kinda close to it so I can't jam in anything TOO big, but maybe there's taller heatsinks or things with fans?

heck, I'm not even overclocking this thing - but it does run 24/7.

 

[i7Baby]

Case side fan

Downdraft CPU cooler eg stock or Noctua NH D 12

 

[giantbucket]

case is a HAF XB EVO, so mobo is horizontal. i'll likely put a 200mm fan up top but that's a good 6" away from the chipset. and the chipsets are not near the CPU, they're kinda where the SATA ports are. I'm talking Z77, not VRM.

pic - the square part between the DIMM slots and the SATA ports.

 

[i7Baby]

Got every case fan slot filled?

 

[giantbucket]

picking up some new ones over the weekend (from newegg.ca, so gonna be a week before they're in my hands and getting screwed in). but I don't think they'll help that single hotspot much - most other parts are sufficiently cool anyways.

 

[i7Baby]

Looks like everything is heatsinked OK. As long as you have good airflow through the case, I think you'll be OK.

 

[giantbucket]

well it's been running seemingly OK for a year, but I never noticed how hot that little chipset area was. figured since I'm swapping cpu coolers and putting in new case fans, I might as well address every other heat issue I can find.

 

[i7Baby]

Some stuff does run hot eg VRMs. But if it's heatsinked OK it shouldn't be a problem. Especially if there's air flow over it.

 

[j0ndafr3ak]

Hi, I know this thread is more than a year old, but I got a similar problem. I could get my hands on a Asus P8Z77-V LX, but the heatsink on the z77 chipset is not there. I dare not turn it on without the heatsink, since the mobo is supposed to be working, but I don't want to kill it myself.

Is there a way I can get another (aftermarket) heatsink for it? Any working homemade solutions?