8RDA+ & 8RGA+ Northbridge cooler.

Following is an interesting excerpt from a review I read:

"The passive cooling supplied on the IGP (or North Bridge if you still work in old money) is a nice enough looking bolt-on but I doubt it's very efficient. Those fins machined into it will certainly increase surface area and improve heat dissipation but the fact that they go right through to the bottom also means much less of the sink is actually in contact with the IGP to begin with. You can't help but feel that active cooling would have been a wiser choice. The box does list the optional MagicLight (LED illuminated) fan but quite where you can get it from I'm not sure."
Please note the last sentence re the MagicLight fan.

If you care to read the whole review here is the link:
http://www.3dvelocity.com/reviews/8rga/ep8rga.htm

I had the 8RGA+ for three weeks and boy is it ever one honey of a MoBo. Athalon 2100 OC'd 2195MHz on air, EverCool CUD-725 with Arctic Silver.
I sent an inquiry to nexfan.com ([email protected]) asking if he knew where we could get the MagicLight fan because both boards have the same IGP cooler. Soon as I hear from him I'll report back and meantime if any of you folks have ideas on where the MagicLight fan can be had please be so kind as to post it.

Probably wouldn't be hard to jury rig a 60mm fan and attach it to the HS with tie wraps or twist ties, but that would be pretty "squirrley". I just felt the HS and it doesn't feel hot, just a bit warm. Understand, in summer I leave the side off the case with a small floor fan on low speed pointing inside. Keeps the HD and everything else cool, now see CPU 41C (107F) at idle.
BTW, come Fall I'll close it up for the Winter and like to know the Northbridge has adequate cooling. I do declare, this board is so sweet I never want to do anything to impede it's excellent performance let alone burn something up for want of a cheap little HS fan.

QUESTION: I looked close at the two nylon looking bolts/pins with springs on them that hold the heat sink in place. How do you get the heat sink off? What do you do with the pins, press them down, slide them sideways out of the slot or what?
This link has an excellent picture showing how the HS attaches:
http://www.vr-zone.com/reviews/EPoX/8RGA+/page2.htm

I made a futile attempt to get the HS off thinking I would clean the chip and HS and replace whatever compound or pad they use with Arctic Silver. Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated.

Thanx much for your time and have a super good week.
OldBird

I agree the 8RGA+ boards are Awsum....

The pins can easily be removed BUT !!!

The motherboard has to be out of the case, sorry, just squeeze on the BACK side of the pins and they simply pop out...
I used artic silver adhesive to attach my zalman passive cooler "Voids Warranty" and attached a 40mm fan to the top of the cooler for overkill

I'll send you a link to an old thread of mine in a few minutes, have to feed my little one breakfast

Good deal Hugh, sure wud appreciate it.
After having SIX ASUS's that failed I've become an expert at taking out and putting in MB's. . . .

I fixed it.

I had two old 50mm fans and had an idea.
Took a twist tie commonly used on a garbage bag and ran it under the clip on the HS where the nylon bolts go through. Sat the fan on top of the HS and ran the twist tie through the fan holes and twisted it in place, worked like a champ and no doubt will keep the HS a whole lot cooler now. OK, I admit, it's squirrley but it gets the job done and we ain't out to impress anyone.

The first one I tried made a heck of a noise because the fan didn't have room to breathe and the blades were buffeting starving for air. The second one was a slower turning fan with a bigger center hub and makes no noticeable noise at all. I held by fingers beside the HS and it sure is moving some air through it. Here are the numbers off the fan: Delta Electronics EFB 0512MA

I'm not absolutely sure it's a 50mm fan but it's the exact same size of the HS. I'm certain [email protected] could match it up using the fan numbers.
http://www.nexfan.com/50mmfans.html

Hope this will help and ya'll have a super fine coming week. OldBird

50MM, 9.2CFM:

http://www.maxcooler.com/ad50casfan.html

http://www.nexfan.com/de50x50x10fa.html
50mm 9.18 CFM dual ball bearings for $1.99

Heh, well I wasn't looking for deals just trying to identify it for you. But that is pretty damn cheap

Roger that Tekime. Nexfan always has good prices and their weekly specials are worth surfing in to check out. I've ordered from them five - six times and they always deliver a good procduct at a good price, and on time to.

I'll have to keep them in mind then. I usually use Newegg.com, SVC.com and sidewindercomputers.com. Nexfan looks nice but I'm an avid UPS hater, though

when i was still air cooled i had an slk800 on the cpu & a amd 2100+ hsf on the NB with tyraps. it worked great.