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Cooling the NorthBridge.

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Viperjohn NB block with ramsinks and an evercool VC-RE on the SB, or if you can't handle any noise in your system, an EK NF4 block on the SB. http://imageevent.com/marginjohn/viperjohn VC-RE http://www.petrastechshop.com/evvcvgcodnf4.html NF4 block http://www.petrastechshop.com/ekre11wanbo.html

ants.jpg
 
It should be okay, I'd just get a TR HR-05

That won't cut it, the stock chipset cooler covers The SPP(NB), NF200, MCP, and one row of FETs, if you take the stock cooler off there is a lot to be taken care of.


780ichipset.jpg



The 790i will integrate the SPP and NF200, but until then if you yank off the frankencooler, you will need to replace quite a few things.

Here's Pre NB, SB, and GPU blocks, and with the nightmare of fluidXP.
intelinside.jpg



and the same rig when I tried a VC-RE, cooled great but had just enough noise to bug me.
dtek.jpg
 
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I have the XFX 780i Motherboard. I just bought all the liquid cooling parts the other day (waiting for it to arrive :D) and it dawned on me I may need one for the NB as well.

for those who never see nthe xfx 780i
http://www.legitreviews.com/images/reviews/616/nvidia_780i_motherboard.jpg

it already has a decent heatsink setup and a fan etc, but it still feels hot at stock settings. Should it be alright?

I have the eVGA version of the 780i.

Basically identicial to yours, the only change I made was in the fan used on the large angular heatsink

http://picasaweb.google.com/Notarat/Quaddy/photo

As you can see from the pics, the fan I used is larger, yet fits perfectly.

I suppose it could be improved even more by removing all the heatsinks and tubing and applying some AS, then reinstalling all the heatsinks.

That would be a major PITA for me because it's my "main" and I hate to use my backup (though it's moderately badass on its own)
 
The EVGA and XFX boards are absolutely identical, in fact both made by the same company Foxconn. I really would suggest taking off the frankencooler and reapplying the TIM as they have had horrid quality control. The NF200 had about 1/2 coverage of TIM, the SPP had about 2/3, and my poor MCP was behing insulted by rubber.

badmcp.jpg


If you can handle the noise putting on some new TIM and a bigger fan will help the temps, but a 60mm fan drives me crazy. I like water cooling not only because of the performance, but because of the silence.
 
The EVGA and XFX boards are absolutely identical, in fact both made by the same company Foxconn. I really would suggest taking off the frankencooler and reapplying the TIM as they have had horrid quality control. The NF200 had about 1/2 coverage of TIM, the SPP had about 2/3, and my poor MCP was behing insulted by rubber.

badmcp.jpg


If you can handle the noise putting on some new TIM and a bigger fan will help the temps, but a 60mm fan drives me crazy. I like water cooling not only because of the performance, but because of the silence.

I see the following fans in your pictures if I'm not mistaken:

(1) PSU (120mm)
(1) 120mm top of case
(1) 120mm Back of case behind CPU
(1) 70-ish(?) back of case above lower SLI Card
(3) on your radiator
(1) in front of your power supply
(1) in the front of the case

If your system is quiet, I recommend you seek out the nearest otologist ASAP.

I have Antec 3 fans in another system using a P180 case and know for a fact that, even on low settings, they are anything BUT silent...
 
I see the following fans in your pictures if I'm not mistaken:

(1) PSU (120mm)
(1) 120mm top of case
(1) 120mm Back of case behind CPU
(1) 70-ish(?) back of case above lower SLI Card
(3) on your radiator
(1) in front of your power supply
(1) in the front of the case

If your system is quiet, I recommend you seek out the nearest otologist ASAP.

I have Antec 3 fans in another system using a P180 case and know for a fact that, even on low settings, they are anything BUT silent...

you need to invest in better fans and a fan controller

As of today
PSU - 140MM Yate Loon medium speed
1 SilenX 120 x 38mm top of case
1 Silenx 120 x 38mm back of case
60x38 is no longer there, was just trying something
3 SilenX 120 x 38mm on rad
1 SilenX 120 x 38mm in front of power supply
1 SilenX 120 x 38mm in front of case
1 Rheobus usually only feeding 7V to 120mm fans and about 10v to 140mm fan.

SilenX fans are 18dB 90cfm, but at 6v are inaudible

I run 4ghz on the E8400 and 725/2000/1850 on the 8800GTs with the fans on 1/3 turn up and it's fine playing crysis for hours on end. If you listen really close when the fans are turned down you can barely hear the pump even though its on a petra's gel mat. My system is near silent unless I'm benching or crunching and have the fans turned up then you can hear a little wind noise through the rad, but no fan blade or mechanical noise. I have an insulated P180, this insulation http://www.svc.com/apapd.html, but the pump noise comes through the front fan as the pump is right behind it, even though the door is insulated as well. The pump will be moved in the near future though. With the fans on high its completely stable at 4.5gz and meaner clocks on the 8800s and it is a litte noisy, but nothing is like a antec 3s.

Pardon my ghetto masking tape, as you can see where the 60mm fan was is now blocked off, I'm experimenting trying to get the flow just right then I'll cut some lexan.
front.jpg

side.jpg

silentfan1.jpg


The antec 3 fans SUCK. How do I know?
morefans.jpg

evenmorefans.jpg


Here took them out of the box for you (all 120mm fans: antec 3 38mm, antec 3 25mm, evercool 25mm, few different flavors of yate loon 25mm, silverstone 25mm, aerocool 25mm, thermaltake 25mm, and sflex 25mm)
fans.jpg
 
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