[matttheniceguy]

I have a friend that has an A-bit mobo with an intel 465 chipset. The crazy thing about it is that he has been running the thing at a 200fsb for about a year, with absolutly no heatsink on the northbridge!!

Aparently about a year ago he was playing a game, and heard a big thump. The heatsink had shot right of the side of his board and was in the bottom of his case. I guess the retention springs were bad or something. Anyway, he was in the middle of a game, and the computer didn't crash or anything, and not knowing much about computers, he just kept on gaming. He has been using the computer since then with no heatsink on the northbridge. I felt the bare northbridge with my fingertip, and I can say that I deffinatly won't be doing that again. It didn't burn me, but it was hot enough to cause my hand to jump back from reflex action.

How is his computer still working? Is there any kind of themal throttling that could be keeping his northbridge from roasting?

[SewerBeing]

well if its not hot enough to fry and there is no thermal shut down feature for the nb. Just look at the dell cooling thread, is it possible yes, do people here recommend it (insert word of choice) no. Besides just look at our crappy nb hs's do they help yes, are they all that great no.

[batboy]

I bet a N/B heatsink retention loop or loops pulled out of the mobo. This is not the first time I've heard of the N/B heatsink falling off and the computer still worked. Fortunately he was not overclocked. High FSB heats up those N/B chips a lot.

[matttheniceguy]

I think you are right about the retention loop pulling out of the mobo.

The thing that has me worried is that he is becoming interested in overclocking and has upped his FSB to 210 now. I offered to fix the cooler for him, but he seems to like it without it. Something tells me that if he continues to push his FSB, I'm going to have a motheboard to replace in the near future.

[batboy]

The mobo companies mount a heatsink on the N/B chip for a reason.

[Jognt]

Originally Posted by matttheniceguy

I think you are right about the retention loop pulling out of the mobo.

The thing that has me worried is that he is becoming interested in overclocking and has upped his FSB to 210 now. I offered to fix the cooler for him, but he seems to like it without it. Something tells me that if he continues to push his FSB, I'm going to have a motheboard to replace in the near future.

tell him to hold his finger on his NB for a full minute at 210fsb while priming...