northbridge cooling

alright, i built my own computer and thought it was way cool. then i moved into my dormroom and discovered that my computer was so freaking loud that i couldn't sleep with it on. that problem led me to these very forums in a search for a quiter computer. while here, i stumbled upon overclocking. and then watercooling. now im hooked....
i tried to quite my computer with new temp controlled fans. those didn't seem to help, so i got some nice quite ones from svc. those didn't help either, so i jsut 7-volt modded them. i started up and still the noise. i thought it was my stock intel heatsink, so i decided to go to water cooling, because its quite, gives excellent oportunities to overclock, and sounds like a neat hobby. i am getting all my watercooling parts for christmas, and can't wait to put it together.
in the meantime however, after 7-volt moding my fans i was listening very closely to my system and noticed that most of the noise was coming from my damn northbridge heatsink/fan!!!!!
i have the gigabyte 8IK1100 which has a large noisy heatsink fan on it. my question is, what should i get to upgrade it? i could probably fanangle a way to get the new cooling solution as a present so price doesn't matter too much. i am looking at either the d-tek customs northbridge cooler or the Zalman ZM-NB47J Northbridge Heatsink. will the zalman be more than adequete cooling? cause i know the d-tek waterblock will be.

well thats my whole story. any suggestions?

if your going with a WC system...might as well water cool the NB also...so I would say go with the D-Teck...

Not sure how hot your NB is getting but what about a quieter fan for it or combined with a bigger heatsink like the zalman one? A NB waterblock would be beneficial if you were pushing that overclock but otherwise it'll probably just restrict your flow and thin out your wallet

thats what i was thinking too, but its still like $5<$40 even though i wouldn't even be paying for it. but it would be so much cooler looking ......... and more fun to play with ........ and more fun to brag about ......... and it would match my new whitewater ........


eh.......so many choices



i don't really know how hot its getting, but i know its really really loud. i just want to be able to not hear my computer.

you can get a Z-chip pretty cheap criticool had great prices on the parts when i built mine.

eh, i think its between the d-tek and the zalman. if i decide to go water all the way, it'll be more of a style preference decision than a performance decision, since (from reading the debates) neither is going to offer much of an edge over the other.

i figured with shipping the d-tek would be ~$48 and the zalman ~$12 (cause if im ordering from svc id also get another fan). so basically is the coolness worth 4X the price?????

take my word on this...if you plan on OCing, especially high OC's...you would rather have your NB watercooled then passive cooled like the zalman...or even air cooled for that matter...

alright, i think i will go for the d-tek. now, to convine my parents to get it......

convince them like this...mom, dad...its cheaper to get this 40.00+ product then to get me a new MB when the NB fires

Go with the D-tek NB cooler. I am using that NB waterblock and have no complaints.

haha good call. hopefully it won't be too hard. i might be able to get my brother and sister to pay for it as a christmas gift, cause i don't think they got me anything yet.

I would not add needless components to my cooling system. In other words, if your temp and/or NB operation seems fine (get aprobe if you are unsure about the former) then I would not go and add another waterblock. This is a similar issue as HD watercooling in my eyes; it's fancy and all but hardly required nor terribly effective.
I have a passive alu sink on my NB and it runs just fine at the OC in my sig. The Zalman -if sufficient- seems like a good choice to me. Again, IF there is IS a need, most likely due to OCing demands, then upgrade to the waterblock instead.

alright, i gave in to my conscience and went with the $5 zalman sorry glock, i figure if the $5 passize cooler doesn't work for me, i can always decide to get the d-tek. i guess going straight to the d-tek seems like it could be overkill since im not planning on going for massive overclocks right away. thanks for all the help though.

from my experince with NF2 MB's...passive cooling on the NB does not help since the NB gets so hot...when running past 180FSB on the older boards and past 210 on the newer MB...the HS's get almost too hot too touch...and then if you add voltage to the VDD (northbridge) past 1.7...they do get too hot too touch...even using a crystal orb...after a few hours of some good gaming and a high FSB...the crystal orb is so hot, I have to let the system rest...surf the net for a while or something non load barring...and I use AS3 and the CROB is mounted flush with the NB...and I have more then enough air flow through my case...6x80mm Tornados and a 92mm tornado...replaced the Tt2 fans becasue I kept breaking the blades when cleaning them...lousy cheap plastic on such a nice fan is a killer...

but if you think you system will do fine with the zalman...go for it...hope yours doesn't get as hot as my 8RDA+'s and A7N8X Deluxes and my NF7-S rev 2.0...good luck on the Zalman man