fan on the kt333 dragon ultra plat

Is there a way to make the small fan in the middle to become alot quieter? That's the only fan that's making my computer as loud as a vacuum cleaner *a little exaggerated but so what?!*. This sound is just killing me whenever i use my computer at night. Thanks.

I've been having the same problem. I'm guessing your talking about the little soyo fan on the northbridge. The one on my KT400 is noisy too. I've tried loosening the screws that hold it down and tightening them. This seemed to help, but now and then it gets noisy again.

I think the only real way to fix this problem is to get a whole new heatsink/fan combo (which would be a good idea for better cooling anyways, as that thing is a piece of crap.) A nice copper heatsink and fan would work. Check some of the links of chip coolers I found below. They may not all work on the northbridge, as I've never done this mod (but I have had the heatsink off to put some Arctic Silver between the chip and the crap heatsink Soyo stuck on there.) If anyone knows that certain coolers wont work, please speak up.

Swiftech's new cooler - overkill yes...but cool looking none the less.

Thermaltake Crystal Orb Cooler

Vantec Iceberq Copper Chipset Bundle

Like I said, I haven't changed out my heatsink/fan combo on the chipset, so I don't know what will work and what won't. But, let us know how it goes. I'd be interested in how it works out for you.


Brian

Wow i never even thought about switching that heatsink from the mobo. I think i might have a spare 40-50 aluminum heatsink from my old celly. Maybe that'll work since i'm a cheap person. But what can i use to stick the heatsink onto the chip? Should i use superglue or Arctic Alumina? Which one do you think will hold on longer and will last longer? Thanks.

Thats the nice thing about the aftermarket heatsinks. They have push pins for easy connection to your mobo. However, if your running on the cheap side (don't worry, I'm a college student myself) then you could use an old heatsink from something else.

I wouldn't recommend using super glue for keeping the HS attached to the northbridge though. I don't know what it's thermal properties are for one. But another thing is you'll never get the HS back off. If anything, I would use the arctic alumina compound that will hold the two together. It has good adhesive properties, while also being a good thermal compound.

Brian

Cool. Thanks for the tip Brian> I'll put the alumina on if i have time after school and report back to tell about the noise levels.

P.S. should i still leave a fan on top of the heatsink? Thanks.

Personally, I would use the fan as well. I think active cooling is a better way to go than passive cooling. The fan shouldn't make much noise, and you should have a 3 pin power connector right next to the northbridge. So unless you really need that connector for something else, I would use the fan. Thats just my theory though.

Brian