NF7 + Crystal Orb = ?

I just got my NF7 in the mail, and although I'm waiting until my new case comes along before getting my new hardware setup I was going to do a little bit of cooling modding on it. Since I know the southbridge gets hot I tore off a few of the ramsinks from my deceased Radeon card and stuck them on there side by side (they're very thin, so three side-by-side covers the SB chip).

I was going to stick my old Crystal Orb on the NB, but it turns out the pins aren't far enough apart to reach the NF7's mounting holes So, before I thermal epoxy the sucker on and make it an irreversable deal, is the Crystal Orb a great improvement on the stock ABit HSF? Also, since it's a 3-pin wire and the ABit connector is 2-pin, can I just plug it into the 3-pin chassis fan connector without any problems? I'm not planning on doing heavy overclocking (although I might do a bit of FSB cranking), I just like to have lots of leeway in terms of cooling.

These are probably pretty n00bish sounding questions, but I like to be safe about these things.

I doubt that the crystal orb would be much of an improvement over the stock HSF but go ahead and try if you already have it You can plug it into a 3 pin chassis fan connector and it will work fine. You can even monitor its RPMs through your motherboard

I've got a cooling article coming up soon on the front page here that deals specifically with this topic...keep an eye on the front page over the next few days....

B.

Epoxy your crystal orb to your north bridge.............>>>....NO..NO..NO....>>> ...just use very small cable ties............thred the cable tie through hole in the motherboard from the back, then through the hole of the orb, then back through the hole in the motherboard and into the head of the cable tie, then tighten both cable ties a small amount at a time to secure the orb evenly !

I did this on my Epox 8K5A2+ it worked like a charm!....I havn't tried it with my NF7-S but I'm sure it would work too !

Check this link out !

Bugeyes said:

Epoxy your crystal orb to your north bridge.............>>>....NO..NO..NO....>>> ...just use very small cable ties............thred the cable tie through hole in the motherboard from the back, then through the hole of the orb, then back through the hole in the motherboard and into the head of the cable tie, then tighten both cable ties a small amount at a time to secure the orb evenly !

I did this on my Epox 8K5A2+ it worked like a charm!....I havn't tried it with my NF7-S but I'm sure it would work too !

Check this link out !

Click to expand...

That's a fantastic idea! I just happen to have several spare ties lying around too.

Oh, will the NF7 give any sort of alarm or warning for not having anything plugged into the 2-pin slot? And will the COrb have more airflow with the "cap" on or off?

Not the having N/B Fan pluged into its power supply socket dose nothing, and the cap on the ORB ?......> I dont know as I tried this mod with a Blue ORB ...........Oh if you followed the link to Overclockers.com.au........... you would have to register as a member to be able to view the forum thred I originaly posted in...........I put the link there because I included a couple of Photos of the mod !...............so theres no harm in becoming a member, just to have a looksee !

Heh, I already did And I already put the zipties on.

As it turns out, even getting them as tight as I could there was still leeway for the orb to partially pop off when pulled. So, because there was a little bit of room left in the ziptie loops, I used the pins I wasn't using from the orb and put them in the space in the ziptie loops above the orb's pinholes. So now it's very snug and I don't have to worry about that anymore.

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~ubik/orbpin.jpg <-- not very clear, but it's the best I can do with my crappy webcam. ^^

Well I'm not to sure what you actually did ....but hey if it works thats good!.....................personally I dont think you will get much of an increase in FSB with just a better cooler on the N/B.......My barton 2500 seems to max out at 215 MHz...........thats prime stable !............but will post and load windows at 240MHz.......The CPU seems to be the limiting factor for running high FSB speeds NOT the Northbridge on the NF7-S version 2.0

Im thinking about getting one of those new Zalman "blue" heatsinks for my northbridge. Have any of yall tried them?

Oh, I wasn't planning on heavy FSB cranking, I just like having a bit of breathing room when it comes to cooling.