NF7-S 2.0 north bridge fan

[MRD]

It no longer works on my 2 NF7-S 2.0's. Anyone know how to replace this with a functioning heat sink and/or fan without having to do anything too drastic to the boards? They both still work perfectly, but I'd rather fix this before it causes me any headaches. I love these motherboards.

 

[jiggamanjb]

I like the vantec
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835110103

some people really like the zalman
http://www.nextag.com/Zalman-CHIPSET-COOLER-ZM-60065378/prices-html

both are clip on or glue on, and are very easy to install

long live the NF7!!!

 

[Bios24]

Definitly go with the passive Zalman cooler. I had one on my old Abit board and it worked great.

 

[funnyperson1]

Yea I would go with the passive Zalman heatsink as well. Those tiny fans are notorious for dying.

 

[MRD]

Are those things glued on, or just held on with the white plastic pegs?

How exactly do you remove them? I've never replaced the cooler for the north bridge.

Obviously this is a weak point for the abit nf7-s, I googled it and tons and tons of hits came up... and both my boards have dead fans.

 

[jiggamanjb]

The plastic pegs hold them on.

From the back of the board you have to squeeze the pegs together to release them.

Yes, they have all died!! lol

 

[Bios24]

The plastic pegs hold them on.

From the back of the board you have to squeeze the pegs together to release them.

Yes, they have all died!! lol

Yep. That's the only bad part about replacing a NB HSF, you have to remove the motherboard to release the pegs.

 

[MRD]

Are north bridge coolers pretty universally sized between motherboards?

 

[funnyperson1]

Are north bridge coolers pretty universally sized between motherboards?

If you are asking with regards to mounting, then the type of mounting and dimensions for the mount that most all AMD boards use is uniform, and is a chipset heatsink mounting standard that dates back Socket 370 and even earlier probably, it was even used on a lot of older graphics cards.

Many intel boards used a different size/mounting method with metal clamps that hook into loops that are on the motherboard.

As far as physical size it depends, usually its just a question of a thin active cooling solution or a tall passive cooling solution. Alot of mobos are forced to use the thin ones because of Expansion card clearance issues.

 

[MRD]

So say you want a new cooling solution for your north bridge, what do you look for to ensure compatibility on websites?

 

[Breadfan]

Some makers list compatibility but most say "All boards" or "North and Southbridges"

If it's glue on, it'll work, otherwise try to get a product image and see if it has the newer intel clips or the older pushpins.

Most likely whatever you buy will work for what you have.

If I didn't want to remove them easily later, I used to glue old 486 HSF's on northbridges, I'd lap them, put a thin layer of grease on, and four small dots of superglue on each corner of the NB.

Then I'd stack some weight on it to get it glued while clamped down for good head transfer.

More than likely whatever you get will work.

Abit used those HSF's in a number of boards in that era, they looked neat but the fans didn't last long at all and as you have seen are not simple 40mm replacements. Look at the HS itself too, not much surface area.

A replacement is a good idea.

 

[MRD]

I found that Abit actually sells the replacement fans on the website, but I'm afraid they'll just break again. (only $6, so not bad in price) At least I know it would fit though. I'm not afraid of a dremel, but I'm afraid of a dremel near my motherboard. =P

 

[funnyperson1]

I would get the Zalman NB47J, it will fit your motherboard, many others have used it on the NF7, and you don't have to worry about a crappy fan dying on you.

 

[jiggamanjb]

Some makers list compatibility but most say "All boards" or "North and Southbridges"

If it's glue on, it'll work, otherwise try to get a product image and see if it has the newer intel clips or the older pushpins.

Most likely whatever you buy will work for what you have.

If I didn't want to remove them easily later, I used to glue old 486 HSF's on northbridges, I'd lap them, put a thin layer of grease on, and four small dots of superglue on each corner of the NB.

Then I'd stack some weight on it to get it glued while clamped down for good head transfer.

More than likely whatever you get will work.

Abit used those HSF's in a number of boards in that era, they looked neat but the fans didn't last long at all and as you have seen are not simple 40mm replacements. Look at the HS itself too, not much surface area.

A replacement is a good idea.

I've used that method before, and it's worked out great. Don't be afraid of replacement.

 

[MRD]

The main reason I'm afraid of glue is that stuff might break. I guess I'm less concerned for a passive cooling solution since there's nothing really to break. If the fan goes, and it's glued on, you're kind of screwed (unless the fan is screwed on separately to the heat sink, then that's np).

I'm definitely going to stick something new onto that north bridge... I have a feeling that's what's causing my screen to artifact up randomly (with diff vid cards, diff os's, diff ram, diff cpu's...). North bridge is probably overheating. There isn't enough heat sink there to cool that chip w/o a fan running.

 

[funnyperson1]

If you want to go high end check this one out:
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/encnfoconoco.html

$20 is a bit steep, but it comes with a tube of Ceramique.