BH7 northbridge heatsink fell off

[sk-]

Yup the title says it all.

While browsing the forums I heard a little pop and i looked into my case and saw the northbridge heatsink laying on my video card.

yes WTF>... the metal round thing on the motherboard poped off. So now should I return the motherboard or epoxy the heatsink back on the motherboard? I dont have any epoxy but I can purchase some.

[maxwedge]

Your not the 1st....send it back.:(

[sk-]

damn, just placed a order for epoxy. But anyways I cant wait two weeks for a replacement.

I need something now and I hope the epoxy will do.

[Csybe]

:(

Hopefully they will learn from it and this issue will be fixed in future boards (IC7-G for example)...

[sk-]

Ya I hope so, I literally just got this motherboard aswell. Like two weeks ago heheh and I couldnt believe this happened so soon.

[Nomjr]

Did the clip break or ?

[sk-]

the round circle thing that is on the motherboard holding the metal clip popped off.

I herd this is a common problem but I lost some of my respect for Abit because of this. I mean brand new motherboard (2 weeks old ) and the northbridge heatsink fell on my video card. Luckily that is working

[Nomjr]

Wow, that does suck. Thanks for the heads up on it, now I know to keep an eye out. :)

[sk-]

lemme ask you guys.

If I put epoxy on the northbridge heatsink, will that cause any problems? Problems with overclockerbility or stock stability?.

I was going to put four little drops on the corners of the heatsink and AS3 in the middle but today I found out the northbridge chip has a little bump in the middle so I cant use the epoxy on the four edges of the heatsink.

I hope epoxy wont cause any problems.

[FIZZ3]

Originally posted by sk-
lemme ask you guys.

If I put epoxy on the northbridge heatsink, will that cause any problems? Problems with overclockerbility or stock stability?.

I was going to put four little drops on the corners of the heatsink and AS3 in the middle but today I found out the northbridge chip has a little bump in the middle so I cant use the epoxy on the four edges of the heatsink.

I hope epoxy wont cause any problems.

Epoxy should be strong enough to hold most smallish aluminium NB heatsinks in place. The bond is pretty permanent, but using it will not cause operating problems unless you spill it over live traces/pins.

[Csybe]

And it can cause even more problems if the fallen metal heatsink shortens your VGA card for example... That's annoying :(

[sk-]

Oh that small northbridge heatsink has fallen on my video card already. Thankfully nothing happened.

Right now comp is running fine with the epoxied NB heatsink :)

Thanks guys

[tuzzi]

I was thinking of getting this board. Would it be worthwhile to have a small fan cooling the northbridge chip? How do you like this board?

[Nomjr]

Great board for the money! Just keep an eye on that NB cooler :)

I have a little 40mm fan on mine because I could barely touch it @ 195fsb and after the fan I can touch it no problem so I assume it's running cooler?

[sk-]

the BH7 is awesome. Very stable and overclocks like a champ.

YOu cant beat the price either. The NB heatsink was only a minor setback, nothing a little epoxy cant fix ;)

[floben]

I'm getting my BH7 today, should I just go ahead and epoxy the heatsink on the northbridge B-4 I install it?

[tuzzi]

Can you mount a Vantec Iceberg Cooler on the Northbridge? Do you need to epoxy it on? Thanks

[Csybe]

Originally posted by tuzzi
Can you mount a Vantec Iceberg Cooler on the Northbridge? Do you need to epoxy it on? Thanks

There are no mounting holes on the mobo for chipset coolers, that's the biggest problem. You'll have to use epoxy.

[maxwedge]

Originally posted by floben
I'm getting my BH7 today, should I just go ahead and epoxy the heatsink on the northbridge B-4 I install it?
I'd leave it alone unless it fails. Lets not be too paranoid. It could void your warranty for other issues if you go and epoxy it for no reason.

[Daemonfly]

Hmm.. I just got this mobo, but haven't put it in yet - waiting for $$$ to get a 2.4B and dissassemble my WC setup.

I'll have to inspect it a bit closer. Sounds like either the solder joints holding that clip in the board are weak/not done properly, or the wire clip on the heatsink is over-tensioned. A little bending can easily fix that, if it's the solder joints, well, I can re-solder those :D

[FIZZ3]

It does put Abit in a poor light IMHO. A while ago it was reversed floppy connectors... then leaky caps... and now shoddy heatsink mounting. They could use some quality control, even if non-critical details are concerned.

[cjordan61]

Why not try Arctic Silver, the glue type, that will sort your problem I should think.:)

[SkyHook]

About 2 weeks ago(give or take a couple of days) I took delivery of a BH7 version 1.11, and installed it with a 2.4b C1 processor. All was well until early this morning(05-08-03) at which time I heard a loud noise inside the motherboard compartment of my cube server case. Opened the door, only to find my northbridge heatsink laying on top of my ATI 9500Pro video card. I was NOT impressed! I shutdown immediately and removed the motherboard from the case and examined the now empty holes for the upper metal loop as well as the legs of the loop itself under my fairly strong magnifying glass. By my somewhat limited experience the holes as well as the legs show all the telltale signs of a "cold" joint. Stands to reason that the heavier metal of that loop is going to require a bit more heat in order to solder properly to withstand the constant pressure from the northbridge retaining clip pulling on it. I like some others in this thread have mentioned, am increasingly disappointed with the recent rash of low quality incidents surrounding Abit products. I used to swear by Abit but here of late I have been doing more swearing at. I sure wish they would make an effort to return to the quality standards that made them an industry leader. Anyway I whipped out the trusty Weller and soldered them back up more to my liking, and apparently didn't go too far overboard with the heat cause it's back up and running at least for this message.

Just thought I'd add my incident in case someone was keeping count.

SkyHook

[Csybe]

This issue is very disappointing from Abit :(