a8n-sli chipset heatsink fan

[evilmrroboto]

Oh, come to think of that I guess you are right. Except you DON'T want the heatsink "crushing" the chip cause then it breaks and it don't work and u get screwed. But like you said, you want pressure with the heatsink pressing against the chip, but not to the point it breaks.

 

[orlenfrost]

Here are my updated temps:

Northbridge Chip:

With stock 8500 RPM Fan
33 c/91.7f Idle with case closed
43.2c / 109.7f under gaming load with case closed

Zalman ZM-NB47J w/ Case Closed (Only PSU FANS ON)
48.1c/118.5 Idle with case closed
53.c / 127.4f Under load with case closed

With the side of the case open the temperatures were dramatically different:

Case open with Zalman ZM-NB47J:
33.4C/92.12F Idle
37.6c/99.6F Light load surfing the web
44.5c/112.1F Under Gaming Load

I will take the 44.5 as an acceptable temp for the Northbridge under gaming conditions, the heatsink is pretty warm but I can easly touch it with out discomfort. It just needs that bit of air flow to stay ahead.

I am going to have to figure out who can cut my case side without wrecking it, or the finish on it? Its a coolermaster case and I kind of like it and dont want to hack the sides up trying to install a panflow.

 

[sal69]

if you go passive you should definitly have a good case cooling. in your case you should use case-fans if the temp difference between open and closed is that great. but anyway i think that even 53° should be no problem.

 

[rookie99]

Hey folks

First time posting here but I have been reading the thread with interest. I was also annoyed and frustrated with the noise and high speed of the chipset cooler, even though the manual states that the chipset fan speed mirrors the CPU fan speed this is absolute rubbish!!!!!!! Asus tech heads I expect this sorted in futire bios releases

Anyway rather than spending more money on different fans and screwing about with what appears to be a stable rig at the moment, I opted to make a loom to wire up the chipset fan using the fan 1 supply which is controlled by the Q fan technology. So I could monitor the fan speed of the chipset I made a single connection to the original connecting pins.

With the rig mildly OC'd and a thermal probe attached to the underside of the chipset heatsink the following temps were recorded (in centigrade)
No load - 40
Full Load - 46
Fan speed ~9000rpm

With the new loom in place
No load - 46
Fan speed - ~2000rpm

Full load after playing games for 2 hours - 57
Fan speed - ~4500rpm

The noise from the chipset fan is far far far more acceptable and although the temperatures are considerably higher the system seems stable. I think with some decent HSC under the heatsink temperatures will drop further and I can also change the bios settings to what temperature the max fan speed for the CPU should be achieved also affecting the chipset fan.

To test how stable the new fan settings are I left the PC on burn-in over night, when I woke up the PC hadn't melted into an ugly heap though the chipset temperature was up at 61 decgrees C! The system was still operating and bench marked with 100 points of my best score, I have no idea what the max temp is for the chipset but even at this high temperature stability didn't seem to be effected, thats not to say the life of the product won't be though!? My next aim is to reduce the temperatures further with a little tweaking and see how things progress. In the short term I don't have to do anything to combat the original noise of the 9000rpm chipset fan.

I am now far happier with the overall amount of noise created from all the fans and most importantly it doesn't sound like a helicopter has landed outside the house and the PC can go back to running 24/7 without affecting the neighbours!!!

 

[spearsd]

I'm going to try using a PCI slot fan just above the second GPU, and have the following in mind:

Zalman ZM-NB47J
3DCool Super Duper Slot Fan

Anyone know of a thinner slot fan? The reviews all over the place suggest this thing moves a fair amount of air quietly, and it seems this would help lower ambient temps (which is always good) around both GPU's and the NF4 chipset. Anyone got figures on a NB47J/Slot Fan combo yet?

-spearsd

Originally posted by: orlenfrost
Here are my updated temps:

Northbridge Chip:

With stock 8500 RPM Fan
33 c/91.7f Idle with case closed
43.2c / 109.7f under gaming load with case closed

Zalman ZM-NB47J w/ Case Closed (Only PSU FANS ON)
48.1c/118.5 Idle with case closed
53.c / 127.4f Under load with case closed

With the side of the case open the temperatures were dramatically different:

Case open with Zalman ZM-NB47J:
33.4C/92.12F Idle
37.6c/99.6F Light load surfing the web
44.5c/112.1F Under Gaming Load

I will take the 44.5 as an acceptable temp for the Northbridge under gaming conditions, the heatsink is pretty warm but I can easly touch it with out discomfort. It just needs that bit of air flow to stay ahead.

I am going to have to figure out who can cut my case side without wrecking it, or the finish on it? Its a coolermaster case and I kind of like it and dont want to hack the sides up trying to install a panflow.

 

[Tiscan]

Has anyone thought of possibly using one of these:

IceBerq 4

I am thinking I will try it, then if it doesn't work fall back to a ZM-NB47J as I do want to OC a bit.

- Tiscan

 

[imported_Neuro]

You do realize that that's a GPU cooler right?

Oh and BTW, I have a 120mm intake fan blowing over 1 hard drive (under the other, it's pointed at an empty HD slot) and straight to the NB-47.

 

[Tiscan]

Yea I know it is a GPU cooler... but I can't see a reason why it wouldn't work regardless. Are you OCing your 3500+ at all? I ask because that is the setup I have.

 

[imported_Neuro]

No, but I probably will once the warranty expires by itself. Unless of course it's a lifetime warranty, in that case I probably will OC it right before I buy a new proc.

 

[SupraNormal]

whats up with sal and no pictures of the mounted 40mm?

 

[SOTY]

Tommorow I am ripping this thing outta my MB and going watercooling on it's punk A$$!!! hehe
Wish me luck. Going water all the way, CPU and Vid cards also.

 

[imported_Neuro]

Hmm... I didn't know they made water blocks for chipsets. Anyway the NB-47 has been running smoothly (and quiet!!! holy *#@&$!!!) for a couple days now, no stability problems to speak of after long periods of use and idling. Also, I used the thermal grease that came with it, not AS 5, I didn't have any lying around. The people who used Arctic Silver seem to be getting higher temps than me.

 

[SOTY]

Yeah, Koolance has one.

So I went WC today. Seems ok so far. Getting around 32c on the cpu temp at idle.
I'm not sure I trust that, but could be possible.

From what I heard, in order for AS 5 to really take effect, requires like 200 hours for good thermal bond.

*keeping fingers crossed I installed all these blocks right.

 

[mrscintilla]

My A8N-SLI MB temp (chipset temp) rises and drops rather slowly. Once it slowly levels off, it won't change much regardless of load. To the contrary, CPU temps rises/drops quickly according to load, suggesting that the heatsink really works.

Hmmmm. I got a fan blowing directly above a passive heatsink (zalman nb-47j) on the chipset. Could it be that I did not install the heatsink and thermal paste right? But The temp is pretty good though, around 36-38 for the chipset..

Anyone else notices that the chipset temp does not drop or rise much or fast?? And what would be a good benchmark test that puts load on the chipset??

 

[SOTY]

So far so good. This is heaven compared to that little zipper on the northbridge.
System is really quiet, not the hard drives can be heard and man I never knew how loud they could be! haha.

Just some more info for the chipset cooling.
This is what I'm using right now.
http://www.koolance.com/shop/p...=29_46&products_id=104

Fits nicely.

These on the 6800 Ultras:
http://www.koolance.com/shop/p...=29_46&products_id=165
I had to get an aluminum cutter to take out the botther right corner cause of a transister in the way, and the top left aluminum also needed to be trimmed to allow for the Asus SLI connector.

This on the CPU:
http://www.koolance.com/shop/p...=29_44&products_id=114

 

[ryoanji]

Anyone else notices that the chipset temp does not drop or rise much or fast?? And what would be a good benchmark test that puts load on the chipset??

I am used the Silverstone fan controller probe to measure the temperature of the chipset. I varies from 39-41, load or idle. Interesting enough, the BIOS and Probe report only 30-34. I still use stock cooler, partly because I will be switching to AS 5 for 6800 GT

 

[Sleepyghost]

Hey Sal

I'm still curious, waiting for a picture of your solution. To those that don't know it is changing a bigger fan to chipset cooler: 4x4. Thanks.

I'm not in a big hurry though.. Still waiting for my A8N-SLI, now considering changing to DFI Lanparty Ultra-D. Apparently Asus is delayed so much in my country that I might get DFI sooner

 

[InBloom]

My MB temp with NB47J (using AS5) is 38C under idle and 49C under heavy load (Half-life2 a couple of hours). I haven't had any crashes, but would like lower temps. I've ordered this ADDA 40x40mm fan, I'm gonna try to see if I can somehow place on the NB47J. I'm running stock speeds.

 

[mrscintilla]

Duck tape does wonderful job on modding. I am sure you will find all sorts of creative taping configurations to mount any fan on top of the NB47J. I modded a plastic jar for apple juice into a tubing that connects to the front intake fan and opens directly onto the NB47J. The MB temp is not affected much, but the heatsink surely feels a lot cooler to much touch. Perhaps the MB temp is not really the chipset temp after all.

 

[flachschippe]

Perhaps the MB temp is not really the chipset temp after all.

So do I think. When I simply unplug the fan (while the system is idle),
the heatsink (and the fan itself) become almost too hot to touch,
which should be 50 degrees C or slightly higher.
(Is this what they call "hot plugging"? Just kidding.)
But ASUS Probe says the the 'MB' temperature is 32 deg. C.
And the temperature readout does not change noticeably when
the fan is plugged back in.

It would be nice if the fan could be controlled, but it appears that
there is no built-in temperature sensor for the chipset.
SpeedFan tells me that there are five temperature sensors that
read out a sensible temperature (between 0 and 100 deg. Celsius).
One is the HD, one is the CPU, and one matches the 'MB temperature'
value that ASUSprobe displays.
Then there is another one that looks like a case (mobo surface)
temperature. The last one, advertised as 'ACPI', is suspicious.
It is constant at 40 deg. C.
None of these temperatures reacts to cutting the fan power.

Also, steering the chipset fan power seems to not work.
Again, SpeedFan tells me that there three fan speed control variables
(or whatever they are called), pwm1, pwm2 and pwm3.
It also tells me about three fan speed sensor variables,
fan1, fan2 and fan3.
(SpeedFan detects several more control and sensor variables
on the nForce SMBus, but none of those seem to work)

Fan 1 monitors the CPU fan and works fine.
Pwm1 controls the CPU fan and works fine.

Fan 2 monitors the Chassis1 fan and works fine.
Pwm2 controls the Chassis1 fan and works fine as well.
This is the one that can be used to drive the chipset fan
because the connector is pretty close (the stock cable is too short, though).
In a post above, someone already said he did this.

Fan 3 monitors the Chipset fan and works fine.
Pwm3 does not seem to have an effect at all. Bummer.
The mainboard manual states that
"The ASUS Q-Fan function is supported using the CPU Fan
and Chassis Fan 1 connectors only." (p. 2-23).
This may mean anything from
"it works but if you use it you are on your own" to
"we have implemented neither a sensor nor a pwn driver for the other fans".
(The manual's credibility here is a little low anyway,
as, as someone alread mentioned, the manual also states
"The chipset fan is synchronized with the CPU fan.",
which is entirely not so, and rightly so.)

Does anyone know what a temperature sensor on the board looks like?

 

[angelogiannosa]

the zalman ZM-NB32J is much shorter than the ZM-NB47J, 32 mm as opposed to 47 mm hence the model #'s. do you think that would work better with video cards with nv 5's installed?

 

[davem0rgan]

Some links that maybe of interest:

http://www.swiftnets.com/produ...x159.asp#compatibility

http://www.ocia.net/reviews/mcxv/swiftec%201.shtml

http://www.overclock.co.uk/cus...ct.php?productid=17198

 

[ryoanji]

I will try to install ZM-NB32J with silencer and use its fan to cool the chipset heatsink. Will get back with results

 

[Solema]

Thanks ryoanji! I have a silencer, too, and can't stand the chipset noise.

 

[brt]

I have a Zalman NB47j on my A8N as well and that sucker sure did run hot. But I installed a Zalman VF700 on the 6800GT and that ended up blowing lots of air across the chipset sink. Now I can touch it without any problem after heavy load.

The chipset monitor reads 34deg at idle, not much different, but like other posters I just don't think it's measuring the NV4 - who knows what that temp really is.

Plus I got VF700 powered from CHA1 fan plug and use speedfan to adjust fan speed based on cpu temp as proxy for 6800GT temp. Works great - silence at idle and lots of overclocking cooling at load. Idles at 52 deg and maxes at 65.