North Bridge Heatcap

Has anyone decided to remove the heatcap on the NB. Im sure that would resolve any issues with an uneven heatcap. Plz respond ASAP, as my NF7 will be arriving tommorow.

Yesterday my dad replaced his on an older ABit board, KV7-S I think. In any case, it was difficult to remove, and had a mess of thermal compound beneath it. Now his new Iceburq has a mess of Arctic Silver 5 on it, because he doesn't know how to apply the stuff.

But, in any case, there isn't much need to. Some people do to reapply thermal compound, but you don't need to. The only reason I'd see to remove it is if its starting to grind, and it needs to be replaced.

Has anyone decided to remove the heatcap on the NB.

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Do you mean the hs/fan that sits on it? If so, yes I have. I replaced it with a Vantec Iceberg. It isn't necessary unless you are really pushing your oc. With a high oc, the Northbridge does tend to heat up a bit. If you do replace the Northbridge hs/fan, take the time to lap the Northbridge. Its surface is somewhat concaved, so it's far from being flat.

No not the fan, but the heatcap, you know like the cap on intel chips. I just wanted to know if it is possilbe without ruining the NB core or scratching the traces.

Are you referring to the heatspreader that's on all Intel cpus and the newer Athlon 64's? If so then, are you suggesting on removing the, physical "top layer" of the northbridge? AFAIK, that isn't a heatspreader, but is physically the top of the northbridge. errr, I don't think it's a good idea to take it off. Even if it was a heatspreader, it's generally not a good idea to take those off either... *yikes*

crap, oh well it was a nice thought anyway.

if nothing else, remount the NB cooler with a real TIM. you'll LOL when you see how Abit uses thermal compound. they have MAYBE 25% of the chip with compound on it.

if you want to go crazy, lap it. tape off the are around the chip and use a small FLAT surface (not real easy to find) that you can hold with 2-3 fingers. my HSF would rock side to side on the unlapped NB. i lap till the printing on it is gone, and then that much again. now my HSF sits flat and has a real TIM.

there is a guide somewhere with pics for all the above...

PS. if your going to put a HS on the Southbridge, cant hurt to lap that too while you have all the stuff handy.

NB lap link: http://www.motherboardfaqs.com/content.php?content.10

I got my NF7 a little less than a month ago, and when I removed the NB hs/f there was plenty of thermal compound and judging from the way the compound was spread on the heatsink, the northbridge seemed to be flat. Also I think I remember reading somewhere that with the 2.0 vs. they fixed the problems with the NB being uneven.

Both my Rev 2.0 NBs had a dip in them about 1/64". Lap 'em.

Both my Rev 2.0 NBs had a dip in them about 1/64". Lap 'em.

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Same here, only I have 4....lap 'em, it's worth it!