a8n-sli chipset heatsink fan

[Waylay00]

Apparently ASUS is shipping out new chipset fans.

http://www.maximumpc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15693

 

[Tiorapatea]

Well, I finally got a few hours with the new system to try some overclocking. Haven't really fully tweaked things but here are my preliminary findings.

Asus A8N SLi Deluxe Rev A3
1004 Bios
Swiftech MCX159
Leadtek 6800GT
Zalman VF700Cu (fan @ 12V)
Athlon64 3200+ (CBBHD, Week 48 04)
Thermalright XP-120 with Nexus 120mm fan
1024MB RAM (2x Crucial 512MB single-sided PC3200 @ 2.6V)

So far, these figures are only 13 minutes Prime stable:
10x250=2.5GHz @ DDR333 (DDR417 real), CPU @ 1.475V, Memory 10-3-3-3, 1T
Temps: CPU @ 44 degrees Celsius after 13 minutes Prime95

With 6800GT overclocked to 370 MHz core (1000 memory):
3DMark 05: 5083 marks
GPU temp after one hour of gaming: 60 degrees

Notes:
The Bios seemed to set the memory to 2T by default.
When I changed the memory setting to DDR333, the SPD set the CAS latency to 2.5 automatically, and tRas to 7, so I changed them in the Bios.
When CPU voltage is at Auto, it seems to ramp up as needed. e.g. I was stable with Auto voltage but had to take it up to 1.475V in the Bios to achieve the same stability.

 

[imported_carl]

I replaced the fan on my A8N SLI Deluxe with Zalman NB47J passive heatsink. It seems to work fine. But I've only got a single nVidia 6600 graphics card (which is also passively cooled).

Getting the fan off was a pain, and I had a friend help me cut the plastic tabs on the bottom of the mobo off rather than try to force them through the board.

 

[vlad4]

Originally posted by: Waylay00
Apparently ASUS is shipping out new chipset fans.

http://www.maximumpc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15693

I wouldn't really call these "new", they are the same ones that are currrently on the motherboards. Mine finally last week and the RMA department shipped out a replacement, (heatsink and all), but it was the same cruddy little fan. After ASUS told me that it could take up to 10 working days to reveive my replacement, I opted for the Zalman heatsink.

Since I'm running dual 6800 ultras, I had to trim 12 of the teeth down to clear the heatsink of the ultras. And just in case of temp issues I added a 40mm fan to the NB47J. It's a close fit but it works! Here are a few picts....

http://members.cox.net/vladimir/photos/chipset/1.jpg

http://members.cox.net/vladimir/photos/chipset/2.jpg

http://members.cox.net/vladimir/photos/chipset/3.jpg

http://members.cox.net/vladimir/photos/chipset/4.jpg

http://members.cox.net/vladimir/photos/chipset/5.jpg

http://members.cox.net/vladimir/photos/chipset/6.jpg

 

[Tiorapatea]

Originally posted by: Tiorapatea
So far, these figures are only 13 minutes Prime stable:
10x250=2.5GHz @ DDR333 (DDR417 real), CPU @ 1.475V, Memory 10-3-3-3, 1T
Temps: CPU @ 44 degrees Celsius after 13 minutes Prime95

With 6800GT overclocked to 370 MHz core (1000 memory):
3DMark 05: 5083 marks
GPU temp after one hour of gaming: 60 degrees

Anyway, the point of this post was that somewhere or other A1bert had asked me to report my temps when I had the system up and running with the Swiftech MCX. However, since there doesn't seem to be a chipset thermal diode on the A8N, I'm not sure how I can meaningfully indicate how the Swiftech is performing. I suppose that if it is Prime stable over a few hours, and I can still hold a finger on the Swiftech pins, that will be as good an indication as I can give. I'm sure I read somewhere that the A8N does have a chipset probe but that you need to enable it with DFI's monitoring tool or something but I can't find the reference right now.

Right now the fan on the VF700Cu is by far the noisiest thing in the case. I still haven't refitted it to remove the Leadtek thermal paste (see above in this thread) but I think 60 Celsius, as reported by the nvidia control panel, after an hour's gaming at 370 MHz core (Rivatuner), seems about right. I may try to run the fan at 5V when I have time to assess the heat versus noise performance. I need to research how hot the GPU can be safely run.

The 3dmark score seems about right for this system. It was run with the 71.89 Forceware drivers. It's a bit disconcerting to watch the second round of game tests running at about 2 FPS but I suppose these tests are at some impossibly high level of detail. Overall, I am having doubts about the performance benefits of overclocking because I got a score of about 4840 with the CPU, GPU and memory at stock (except memory at 1T). However, real-World testing is probably called for (if I find time, this is not my system).

By the way, the CPU temp was as reported by Everest. I overclocked in the Bios and used the Prime95 test on the Ultimate Boot CD to pick up any problems before risking a Windows boot.

 

[Tiorapatea]

Originally posted by: olternat
So no one with a solution to the nv5 silencer unmodified huh?

olternat, as I mentioned before, a different solution to your's has already been posted in this thread. You replace the Asus HSF with either the NB47J or the Swiftech MCX, but before you do so, you remove a few pins on these heatsinks so that the NV Silencer will fit. You do not need to modify the NV5 and doing so is not advisable as you obviously already know. There is no real difficulty in removing the pins on either the NB47 or the Swiftech: they are made of aluminium and can be sawn off with a hacksaw or even snipped with wire cutters.

Since you are happy with your own solution, you won't need to bother with this but I thought I should just re-emphasise this in case anyone else wants another option.

 

[P0pinjay]

Originally posted by: vlad4

Originally posted by: Waylay00
Apparently ASUS is shipping out new chipset fans.

http://www.maximumpc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15693

I wouldn't really call these "new", they are the same ones that are currrently on the motherboards. Mine finally last week and the RMA department shipped out a replacement, (heatsink and all), but it was the same cruddy little fan. After ASUS told me that it could take up to 10 working days to reveive my replacement, I opted for the Zalman heatsink.

Since I'm running dual 6800 ultras, I had to trim 12 of the teeth down to clear the heatsink of the ultras. And just in case of temp issues I added a 40mm fan to the NB47J. It's a close fit but it works! Here are a few picts....

http://members.cox.net/vladimir/photos/chipset/1.jpg

http://members.cox.net/vladimir/photos/chipset/2.jpg

http://members.cox.net/vladimir/photos/chipset/3.jpg

http://members.cox.net/vladimir/photos/chipset/4.jpg

http://members.cox.net/vladimir/photos/chipset/5.jpg

http://members.cox.net/vladimir/photos/chipset/6.jpg

Vlad,
Do you think this solution is quieter than the stock chipset fan and heat sink? Also, what are your new chipset and top vid card temps?
Thanks,
P0pinjay

 

[A1bert]

Tiorapatea - seems like your Swiftech is doing the job nicely.

Your set up is spookily similar to mine - I've even got the same overclock though mine's stable at 1.45V. I've got the Swiftech's fan running at 5V and my temp sensor jammed in amongst the heatsinks pins - it reports temps of between 40C (idle) up to about 50C (HL2 for a hour or so). I'm fairly happy with these but I am going to invest in a fan controller (the Akasa Pro thing) so I can turn up the chipset fan a bit when gaming - and also because the back of my case is now covered in Fanmates and looking a bit messy.

I was interested to see your 3DMark05 results. I've noticed a big improvement since I moved over to the 76.50 beta drivers. With these and my 6800GT OC'd to 432/1160 I've managed to break the 6,000 barrier - just.

 

[vlad4]

Originally posted by: P0pinjay
Vlad,
Do you think this solution is quieter than the stock chipset fan and heat sink? Also, what are your new chipset and top vid card temps?
Thanks,
P0pinjay

Using the 71.84 drivers, the vid cards are running 57 Celcius #1 main and 55 Celcius #2 secondary at idle, under full load running rthdribl for 20 minutes, 87 Celcius #1 main and 86 Celcius #2 secondary. I'm trying to borrow something to accurately measure the chipset temps, but currently it's not uncomfortable to the touch.

I'm sure that you can find a quieter 40mm fan than the factory chipset fan or the one I used. I really wasn't too worried about the heatsink noise, since my 92mm CPU fan and the two 6800 ultra fans were louder than the factory chipset fan.

 

[Choco140]

Originally posted by: vlad4
I wouldn't really call these "new", they are the same ones that are currrently on the motherboards. Mine finally last week and the RMA department shipped out a replacement, (heatsink and all), but it was the same cruddy little fan. After ASUS told me that it could take up to 10 working days to reveive my replacement, I opted for the Zalman heatsink.

Awesome!!! That's exactly the solution I have been looking for.

The only question is : how did you "attach" your fan to the Zalman? Is your fan a 40*40 model or 45*45 perhaps? What brand did you buy?

Thanks in advance for your answer.

 

[Tiorapatea]

Originally posted by: A1bert
[...]I've got the Swiftech's fan running at 5V and my temp sensor jammed in amongst the heatsinks pins - it reports temps of between 40C (idle) up to about 50C (HL2 for a hour or so).

I was interested to see your 3DMark05 results. I've noticed a big improvement since I moved over to the 76.50 beta drivers. With these and my 6800GT OC'd to 432/1160 I've managed to break the 6,000 barrier - just.

50C with 5V fan makes me think I should consider reinstalling that thing.

What is your GPU temp at load with 432/1160? And what is your 3DMark05 score with the 6800GT at stock? I used the "Test" facility with Rivatuner and it seemed happy at 425 but I didn't go higher or have the guts to apply even the 425 setting. Maybe when I have sorted out the heatsink. What I really want to do is quieten the VF700's fan - @ 12V it is quite noticeable. I think I will use a Fanmate to give me the option of turning it up when overclocked (if anyone remembers to do this). I was wondering about trying Q-Fan, even though I am suspicious of PWM, but I had a look in the Bios and it only has settings for the CPU fan.

 

[A1bert]

Tiorapatea - With my PC at its usual overclock and my GT at stock (350/1000) I get a 3DMark05 of 4921 so overclocking it to 432/1160 gives me over 1000 extra points - whether this actually produces a huge difference in games I don't know.

I've installed my Akasa fan controller (very simple install) which makes adjusting the fans really easy. I'll probably play games with the chipset and GPU cooler fans turned up a couple of notches - I'm fairly sure that I won't be able to hear them over the game's music/sound fx.

I've just run 15 minutes of rthdribl and GPU temps peaked at 63C with the fan on 12V (68C with fan at 5V which is still not bad) and all the other fans on 5V.

So after spending a shed load of cash on chipset coolers, case fans, GPU coolers and other assorted "quiet PC" paraphenalia I know have a rather nice system that's quiet when I want it to be (when I'm working mostly) and tears through games easily when I've actually got time to play them. I now pronouce my PC cooling project complete... unless anyone's got any other ideas for keeping it cooler/quieter/faster that is

 

[Tiorapatea]

Originally posted by: A1bert
Tiorapatea - With my PC at its usual overclock and my GT at stock (350/1000) I get a 3DMark05 of 4921 so overclocking it to 432/1160 gives me over 1000 extra points - whether this actually produces a huge difference in games I don't know.

I think Futuremark are high-end video card salesmen.

Originally posted by: A1bert
I've just run 15 minutes of rthdribl and GPU temps peaked at 63C with the fan on 12V (68C with fan at 5V which is still not bad) and all the other fans on 5V.

Is that 68C @5V with a 432/1160 overclock?! If so, I think that is pretty incredible performance and you (and I) could probably just leave the fan at 5V permanently. I was seeing 62C with rthdribl at 350/1000 so maybe I *do* need to redo the heatsink with AS5.

 

[vlad4]

Originally posted by: Choco140
Awesome!!! That's exactly the solution I have been looking for.

The only question is : how did you "attach" your fan to the Zalman? Is your fan a 40*40 model or 45*45 perhaps? What brand did you buy?

Thanks in advance for your answer.

That is a 40mm fan 10mm deep, I'm using two sheet metal screws on the bottom two holes of the fan, they seem to be good enough to hold the fan well. I had to slot the fan's holes at the bottom slightly to get the screws to align up with the gaps on the Zalman, but a drill did the job easily. As for the screw sizes, they were like 5/8" long. I just took the heatsink into Lowe's and began looking for a screw diameter that would grip to, but not expand, the teeth of the heatsink.

It is rather tricky getting the whole thing installed though, due to the closeness of the capacitors, etc. the fan needs to be attached to the heatsink first. This makes it a little difficult accessing the push pin on the fan side to push it into the motherboard.

 

[Choco140]

Thanks

 

[pilryu]

muhaha... my chipset fan hasn't failed, but I decided to upgrade my chipset fan because of the noise...

this is what I did

I bought the Zalman Mini heatsink (the gold one, forgot the model number) and bought a 40x40x10x 5000 rpm <20db fan.

And I used the heat adhesive that came with the Zalman heatsink to glue the bloody fan on top of the zalman mini...

zalman cost me 3+2ship and the fan 3+3ship... hehe 11 bucks...

now my bloody computer is quiet (for extra measures I turned on the fan management setting in the bios--wow a huge difference in noise)

I wish I can provide photos, but alas!!! my canon is not with me!!!

btw, I feel giddy because I didn't just "glue" the damn fan on top of the heatsink, but created a little metal platform on top of it using junk...

for those of you wondering the temp performance... not so great, pretty much the same as far as I can tell from before. But!!! half the sound!

well, I babbled enuf for one day.

p.s. using pliers squeeze the pin from the bottom of the mobo and push it up slowly.. you'll hear a little pop! and voila! (for people who are having problems getting rid of the old heatsink)

 

[afilis]

I have the same problem...fan very loud...and all the things that other owners of A8N are experiencing....
I didn't really wanted to take the mobo out of the case...and put another heatsink...so this is what i've done...

Unplugged the chipset fan plug from the chipset socket..and i put it to the front right one socket..the only one controlled by Q-fan...

Plugged a case fan at the chipset socket...this way I "fool" the pc that chipset fan is there..and it is not alarming...

I enable the q-fan from the bios..and this way..i cannot hear chipset at all...I'm getting 38-40C mobo temperatures...which was exactly the same as when the little ah heck was screaming..

I will monitor during gaming...but first indication..is that temperatures are not rising above normal...

A few more alternatives...

I got myself two 3 pin cable splitters and connect them on the front fan plug...i have 3 case fans...so now..2 fans and the chipset fan is running of the front socket..and one case fan is running from the chipset plug...

Another option if you don't want to connect a case fan in the chipset plug...get yourselves..a small fan..that is quite..and just connect it in the plug...in order to fool the Bios..that there is a fan there..then u can leave it taped up..somewhere..in the case...

Hope that helps...for the ones..that are not up to taking mobo out, taking fan out, triming heatsinks..etc...

 

[steamnputer]

Originally posted by: afilis
I have the same problem...fan very loud...and all the things that other owners of A8N are experiencing....

I enable the q-fan from the bios..and this way..i cannot hear chipset at all...I'm getting 38-40C mobo temperatures...which was exactly the same as when the little ah heck was screaming..

I will monitor during gaming...but first indication..is that temperatures are not rising above normal...

Warning!!!!
Your motherboard temp sensor is not part of the chispset or is anywhere near it, that is on your winbond chip below it I believe. I have an external thermal couple on the top of the chipset heatsink with the sock asus fan and it runs in 44C-60C depending application.
Using the mobo sensor gives you almost no common reading(it might read 40 on warm day).


Otherwise I have thought about your approch but I did not have enough wire splitters laying around to piece one together atleast the noise has gone away..

 

[solofly]

My solution...

http://img54.echo.cx/my.php?image=soloflya8nnb8wt.jpg

http://img54.echo.cx/my.php?image=soloflya8nnb27gy.jpg

 

[Rustler]

I am using a similar setup to vald4 and solofly, the only diffrence is that I am using a Zalman CPU fan bracket attached to the HD cage of my Lian Li PC 70 and I am directing the air flow from it over the Zalman NB47J heatsink, no problems.

 

[RallyKid]

Anybody put, or know of, a water block that will fit this board?

 

[afilis]

I'm confused about the reported temperatures on everest and speedfan...

anyone else know what these two programs report...?

I have:

Ntune:

CPU: 37
System: 36
GPU: 53

Everest

Motherboard: 36
CPU: 25
Aux: 37
WD-740GD: 37

Speedfan
Temp1: 37
Temp2: 36
Temp3: 25
HD1: 37
Temp1: ACPI: 40 (looks pretty much same)

Anyone knows what is what...?

 

[Aquila76]

Originally posted by: solofly
My solution...

http://img54.echo.cx/my.php?image=soloflya8nnb8wt.jpg

http://img54.echo.cx/my.php?image=soloflya8nnb27gy.jpg

What heatsink is that? What are your temps like? I have 2x6600GT and VF700 (similar to yours) and that looks pretty well clear of the 2nd card and also would be cooled by the VF700.

 

[Bones192nd]

If you are having a problem with your chipset fan call this number 510-739-3777 ASUS is sending out new chipset fans. I call today and mine will be ship out tomorrow. just tell the the model number and they will send you out one.

 

[Scheme138]

so anyone wondering, the papst fan with the home depot screws worked perfect. i will post my temp changes after i monitor it for awhile....but the fan came out easy and the papst fan went on problem free....

however, my fan came with the smaller 2 pin fan plug VS the standard 3 pin fan plug. i even bought the 4pin to 3pin adapter which i didnt need. so i dont know if some fans come with 4 pin plugs, and some come with the tiny 2 pin ones, but just check first....which sucks because i was hoping to monitor my rpms.....especially since i dont think the motherboard temp is really from the chipset temperature........