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P4P800 Northbridge Heatsink Question

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OBLIVIONLORD

Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2003
Is there anyone here that has added a smal 40mm fan to the passive Northbridge heatsink and if so what was your procedure?

Im able to oc my pc 3.0c from 200 to 233fsb which is 3.5 when the ambient temp is in the low 70s. Im 100% prime95 stable 24hours. When it gets in the high 70s then it will shut down automatically in 5-6 hours of full prime95 stress.

My cpu at full load is 41c at room temp of 71F and my case is 26c with same room temp. When room temp is at 79F my cpu is at 48c and case is 33c. At this room temp the auto shutdown happens but, no errors in Prime95.

These aren't that very high of temps but, Im greatly thinking its the heat onto the northbridge controller since there isnt anything there to greatly keep it cool besides a cheap passive heatsink. So has anyone come up with a home style mod onto the heatsink thats already there?

I don't want to buy the swiftech northbridge HSF which is 32 buck since im not Ocing that much but, i would like to utlize what I already have and just mod it so it wil work at the high ambient temp. Unless the Swiftech Northbridge HSF is the only way to remedy the situation and no custom mod by adding a fan to the stock HS on the Northbridge then I guess ill have to get it. But if there is someone who has done this then please tell me exactly how you have.

Thanks
 
I removed my northbridge heatsink and applied AS3 and I also added a 40mm fan I had on hand. Then I added a small aluminum heatsink to the southbridge attached with thermal tape. It all seems to have helped as I can now run stably @ 2.54Ghz when I couldn't before the mods. HTH...Trapper
 
hmm i wonder y it gets that hot? i mean, mine is hot a bit but only to touch.. :)
 
I used thermal tape on the Asus logo and stuck the back of the fan to it. Zip ties also would work from the fan holes to the heatsink clips. HTH...Trapper
 
NB_fan.jpg


I used a glue gun to attach it.

You might want to read THIS THREAD for more info.

-Bobby
 
Im thinking of having ambient 90F temp in the room. Will the Thermal Tape and 40mm fan cool it enough or will i need the $32 swiftech inorder to keep the northbridge cool at this high room temp?
 
in my mobo, my nb looks small... will that 40mm fan fit? hmmm
 
If you look at his specs youll see that he is using the same board as you.
 
this is what i did.I got a thermaltake northbridge hsf and pulled the fan off of it and used the screws and just screwed it onto the asus heatsink.the screws screwed in between the blades.cant remember the right term for them lol.i think i found the northbridge thermaltake hsf on www.frozencpu.com.ill try and get a pic of it on tonight.it looks pretty cool to since my pc is all thermaltake.
 
he added only the fan, not with the heatsink as he mentioned "pulled the fan off of it and used the screws" :) anyway, yes i know we use the same mobo but im asking what size is the fan his using? 40mmX10? 40mmX20? or 40mmX28?
 
i wonder exactly how efficent it would be to add a small 40mm fan to the Heatsink compared to having hard blown air comming from the side case fan.

The benchmarks comming from the Swiftech decrease the temp of the NorthBridge chip by 20 degrees and thats only a 20 dollor diffrence then adding a fan to the heatsink.
 
Just a note on my NB cooling experiences. Different HSs & fans made little difference. And the only way to check this is with a thermal probe. My best improvement came from mounting a fan on the side door, intended to cool the AGP card, but really helped my NB temps.
 
When room temp is at 80F my cpu is at 48C and case is 33c. This is with the side fan 120mm filter attached. When I take it off the CPU goes down to 43c and case hits 30c. In both cases while the room temp is at 80F I get auto reboots when the pc is running 100% prime95 tourter for 5-6 hours.

When the room temp is at 70F with the side fan filter attached the cpu is at 41c max and case 26c. 100% stable 24hours.

After this being said then there is "something" that is hot when room temp is at 80F. Im thinking its the Northbridge Chip and as you read above when I had the side 120mm fan filter off blowing at full 105cfm right on the side of the cpu, it didnt prevent the reboot. Maybe the heatsink on the NB needs a small fan inorder to get concentrated air instead of air blowing in its direction and not directly on it.
 
Man, I didn't realize you had that much airflow! Your evidence does seem to point to temperature, I was just suggesting that a thermal probe is a good way to quantify your findings. I was quite surprised to see how little anything I tried affected NB temps once I started using a probe.

We may all be missing something, though. Have you ever seen your CPU temps skyrocket if it's HS wasn't firmly mounted? I have - talk about panic! My point is that these NB coolers mount with spring clips and apply very little pressure. To a point, HS mounting pressure has as much or more to do with how well the cooler works as the fan, at least with CPUs. This is just an observation of mine, so I'm looking into a way to increase mounting pressure.
 
What should the Temps of the North and southbridge chips be at for proper funcionability? Im looking for the max temp allowed before problems occure with it.
 
strange.. hmmm OBLIVIONLORD, whats ur rig? I never had heat problems with my current rig...
 
To clear things up a bit, the fan in the pic is a 40mm x 10 or 15mm which came off a Pentium 100mhz cpu hs. I just wanted to see if it helped at all. It did so I bought a new fan (40mm x 20mm).

When I didn't have a fan on the nb hs, it was hot to the touch. I couldn't keep my finger on the hs because it was that hot and I have a fairly high tolerance for pain. After installing the fan, the hs was cool to the touch.

I have 2 side fans blowing cool air onto my motherboard with 2 exhaust fans just above the graphics card. The graphics card has the Arctic VGA Cooling hsf that exhausts the hot air thru a PCI slot. I also have 2 front fans blowing over my hard drives (3 of them) and a top exhaust fan.

Now the main reason for adding the fan on the nb hs wasn't to get higher fsb but more for longevity. Heat is the enemy of electronics and the hs was warmer than I wanted.

Oblivionlord - if you're getting lower temps by REMOVING that 120mm side fan, you should rethink the airflow within your case. I get almost no difference when I take the side panel off my case (similar to the Xaser 3 case where the side fans have a holder within the case and not attached to the side panel). My temps do go up when I take the side fans away and the side panel is open.

-Bobby
 
my temps are ok... no problems with airflow... when idle, both cpu and mobo are at 29C-30C... my nb hs is a little bit hot to touch but its not really hot since it doesnt burn my fingers. does that mean i dont need a fan for my nb?
 
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