a8n-sli chipset heatsink fan

[TheNiceGuy]

So what's the final word on chipset fan thats more quiet than stock?

 

[flachschippe]

First, I bought a Papst 412/2 40x40 fan, 10,0 m³/h, 18 dB @ 6000rpm nominal speed.
At 6000rpm, it blows a *lot* of air and is much less annoying than the stock 3cm fan,
but it is still the loudest fan in the system (at least when the CPU fan is running at its
usual speed of much less than 2000rpm).

At 50% power (according to SpeedFan) it runs with a little more than 2500rpm.
At that speed it is barely audible with your ear held beside it and
it still blows enough air for my taste, at least enough to transport the heat away,
given good heat transfer.

However, with the stock heat sink still in place, the heat sink
is a little too warm for my taste, so a better heat sink has to be used.
(To be honest, the stock fan is still in place, too, but since the heat sink is flat
at that place, this should not make much of a difference.)

So I also bought a ZM NB47J (nice colour, my wife said :roll: ).
Now how do I get the stock heat sink off without taking apart the entire system?

Rainer

 

[randreas]

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

Most likely not. Asus Probe shows 34-36 degress most of the time. My case - Antec P160 - has two temp leads. I stuck one into the Zalman heat sink and it reads 48 degrees.

 

[TheNiceGuy]

So I could order one of those heatsinks, and just make sure it has good circulation? I guess I have to take the mobo out of the case to install, or could I just glue it on or something?

 

[imported_Neuro]

Unfortunately, the only way to get the stock heatsink off is to take the mobo out. First though, unscrew any screws you see on the fan-heatsink assembly and take the fan out. Then you should be able to take the mobo out of the case and use a needlenose pliers (carefully!!!!!!!! I was shaking when I did it I was so afraid I would break the mobo) to pinch the pushpins holding the stock hs on and get the thing out. You will probably have to use the same pushpins again with the NB47, the ones that come with it are too short.

 

[iscsidude]

Well, I put a DB meter next to my A8N-SLI rig and unplugged the chipset fan. It went from 54 to 53 Decibels. Not sure if the original fans are louder than the current ones, but one thing I am sure of is that for one DB reduction in noise, it is no longer worth it to me.

In my case it turned out to be the one fan I had neglected to change out from my original Cooler Master Praetorian case. It resides in the back, so I thought it would be insignificant. Wrong and very red faced I disconnected this fan and found the DB level to go from 54 to 50.

Ordered another ThermalTake Smart Fan and will be good to go in a couple of days.

I also installed the Arctic Cooling NV5 which lowered the temp. 53 and DB level 58, to 50 and 54 respectively.

All I can think of is that ASUS changed the heatsink fan somewhere along the line. Asus Probe reports it running at 8KRPM, yet it is not generating any noise to speak of.

 

[TheNiceGuy]

Thanks Neuro- I really don't look forward to taking everything out. Here in Japan it will bereally hard to buy a heatsink that will work. And there are no returns on anything.
iscsid- congrats! That sounds nice. My chipset is definatley causing the noise though. People that drop by our apartment ask if my computer is broken, it sounds that bad! I have to wear earplugs when using it.

EDIT: oneof the previous posters (sal69?) just replaced the fan, without having to remove the mobo. Any update on that setup?

 

[GodLovesPunk12345]

People using SpeedFan to control fan speeds: how do you control them? I have a Zalman 7000 al-cu plugged into the CPU fan slot and a Vantec Stealth 80mm plugged into the chassis 1 slot.. however adjusting the percentages on SpeedFan for those slots does nothing.. is there an "Apply Settings" button or something I'm missing?

 

[GodLovesPunk12345]

Nevermind, figured it out

 

[jhbodle]

When I first thought of changing the chipset heatsink on my A8N-SLI I immediately thought of the Vantec Iceberq copper cooler. I put one on an old NF7-S I have and it was great, so I ordered another one and put it on the Asus:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jhbodle/PICT0129.JPG
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jhbodle/PICT0130.JPG
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jhbodle/PICT0133.JPG

It's a nice big heatsink and fan combo that only just fits (I needed to shave a bit of the connecting lug off one side) - now I just have to see if it has improved my overclocking abilities!

 

[sxr7171]

Originally posted by: 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.

I also have a 120mm fan blowing under 1 HD and over another and it would blow through a passive HS on the NB if i get one. That's what probably giving you your good results with the Zalman. I have the Antec Super Lanboy case, which sounds kind of like what you have too.

But considering the temperature that Asus Probe reports is not NF4 chipset temp, what are we using to measure the correct temperature differences?

 

[OriginalSwedishFish]

Originally posted by: jhbodle
When I first thought of changing the chipset heatsink on my A8N-SLI I immediately thought of the Vantec Iceberq copper cooler. I put one on an old NF7-S I have and it was great, so I ordered another one and put it on the Asus:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jhbodle/PICT0129.JPG
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jhbodle/PICT0130.JPG
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jhbodle/PICT0133.JPG

It's a nice big heatsink and fan combo that only just fits (I needed to shave a bit of the connecting lug off one side) - now I just have to see if it has improved my overclocking abilities!

i actually have one laying around i was looking at it and it would just seem like you would need to trim off quite a bit to avoid interfering with the chipset fan connector or knocking into that one capacitor (im guessing could be a resistor)... as far as noise output im sure its a whole lot better than that noisy lil _ _ _.

 

[flachschippe]

Originally posted by: TheNiceGuy
So what's the final word on chipset fan thats more quiet than stock?

After laboriously and carefully mounting the NB-47J heat sink, it turned out that the Papst fan was a lot louder when mounted, possibly due to vibrations being conducted or amplified by the heat sink. In fact, at 6000rpm it was even louder than the stock fan. At 3500rpm (65%), it cooled OK, was slightly less noisy than the stock fan, but still the loudest noise source. At 2500rpm (50% pwm), it was silent, but did not cool enough for my taste (fingertip sensor TM).

Then I remembered that I had a spare heat sink fan from a Silverado CPU cooler. The point with that fan is that it emits the air tangentially, from a duct that has exactly the size of the NB heat sink. Mounting that to the floor side of the heat sink proved very effective. At just 1400rpm (50% 'speed' setting), at which it is inaudible (compared to the rest of the system), it is able to cool the heat sink to about 34°C (measured with an infrared fever thermometer), the CPU being idle. Under load, the temperature rises to about 45°C. In comparison to the chipset fans, this fan is huge, maybe 80mm across, but it is dead silent and cools excellently, which is what I wanted. The current position obstructs the second set of SATA connectors and the second 16x connector but I don't need those. This position has the advantage that the fan blows upwards along the heat sink fins (the way I mounted the heat sink) *and* along the RAM modules.

It should also be possible to mount the fan on the front side such that it blow towards the back, but I would have had to remount the heat sink such that the fins align to the back. Or the fan might go on top of the heat sink, such that it does not obstruct anything else. However, heat transfer would be less effective that way, requiring a higher fan speed.

Rainer

 

[rookie99]

Well its 2 weeks since my last post.

In this time the system has been 100% stable, temp of the chipset is 47/49 degrees unloaded/loaded. So it seems the temperature does not really vary that much. More importantly I have a quiet system which is stable, all for a couple of quid down at Maplins!

I'm happy

 

[Muhadib]

ZM-NB47J on my board gets damn hot to the touch so I know it's seated well with the AS5 I used. I have a superlanboy case XP120 on the CPU, stock intake 120mm and stock 120mm exaust.

Even though I've seen max temps of around 52c on my CPU and around 51c on my mobo (a8n 1003 bios temps seem higher?) chipset it still does not effect my overclock or stablity and isn't that what really matters?

<Looks down and smiles at his celry A@504, alive and kicking, Still>

 

[DVad3r]

I too have the rattling stock fan of doom like you guys, I am really trying to find a solution for this, and want to make sure it fits with 6800 GT cards and possibly 6800 Ultra cards. I have come across these few here and am wondering if you guys have any info on them?

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-116-010&depa=0

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=35-109-117&DEPA=0

And there is also the one from cooler master similar to the zalman,

http://www.coolermaster.com/index.php?L...PAC-P01+Northbridge%20Chipset%20Cooler

What you guys think?

 

[induveca]

Hey guys, been following this thread for a while.

Found a fan which works GREAT, and also even dug through the crates at home depot to find screws which would easily screw onto the existing heatsink through the new fan.

I hope this saves you guys a lot of time. Note however, the fan is a 4 pin fan........so if you want to plug it into the Northbridge fan slot you'll need a 4 pin to 3 pin connector. I just plugged it into a 4 prong.

This fan has an RPM of 4300, and is only 19 DBA! It's also made by a GREAT company, Papst. My northbridge temps idle at 32-34 C and it's completely quiet!

I bought the fan for about 16 bucks here:
(NOTE: Remove the current fan, it's simple and temps are lower without leaving it in there.)

http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/40mmpapst.html

If you want to purchase the same screws I used to mount it to the existing heatsink, here's all the info off the HomeDepot Screw Bag:

#4 x 5/8" Metal

Pan Head
Phillips
13 Pcs 24791
ZINC/CINC

Crown Bolt Inc

The Bar Code number on the back of the little bag is 30699 24791

Hope this helps everyone! Note, I'm using this fan with 2 eVGA 6800 Ultra cards. It's a very tight fit, but it pops right in. It baaaaarely bends a single fin on my EVGA heatsink, but it's not a problem at all. For those of you without hte gargantuan eVGA Ultra heatsinks even less of a worry.

Also, anyone out there who has a PC Power and Cooling 510 SLI PSU.......please note.........the fan in that thing is LOUD as well. I was super excited to remove the stock northbridge fan, only to be driven crazy by the PSU fan.

I was lucky enough to have an old PC with a PC Power and Cooling 510 ATX PSU which I found to be very quiet. I just swapped out the fan in that one and threw it in the SLI version.

For anyone who is driven batty by this same problem, just give PC Power and Cooling a call and ask to buy the same fan (NOT THE DELTA FAN!) in the "standard" 510 ATX PSU.

Good luck, and quiet SLI computing. :-D

 

[jmas]

I'd like to do what you have done. Replace the chipset fan and attach a 4cm one. But I think that I won't fit under the Leadtek 6800GT PCIE. It has such a big heatsink that I doubt It'll fit under. Does anybody with this video card know if this is the case?

Thanks

 

[induveca]

Oh it will fit, I have pretty much the largest stock heatsink on my eVGA 6800 Ultra. The 40cm fan I purchased is only 10mm high..........it's very small.

No worries it will fit just fine! Go for it.

 

[AlexBmur]

I just thought I would post a pic of my setup that has worked out great for me. I went ahead and got the Zalman NB-47J. And then to help cool the NB-47J, I installed the Zalman FB123 fan bracket assembly. Below is a pic of the setup, I think it looks very clean, it makes no noise, and has dropped the temps.

Fan setup

 

[guac]

Hello all...
This is only my second post, and my first one was just to whine about my Asus/maxtor combo in the motherboard section. I too am plagued with the rattly fan that fades in and out of imminent failure...whether due to its own course, or from me smashing it due to the constant reminder of its presence. I started reading this thread a few weeks ago, after searching for a replacement fan for the A8N, after the third day of operation went it morphed into failure mode. So, it looks like that the link about 6-7 posts back is the "simplest" solution...the $17 fan/ Home Depot screws? I saw some of the other mods, and that's a bit more than I would like to hack. anyway..thanx for reading.
mike

 

[Techno Pride]

can you install a zalman heatpipe (zm80-a or zm80-d)?

will the passive northbridge sink be in the way?

 

[induveca]

Nice setup, I would have liked to go with the NB-47J, but it just won't work with dual eVGA ultras, not enough space.

For those of you who want a SIGNIFICANTLY quieter system check out the info I posted above. The Papst fan I purchased is only 19dba, and only 10mm high. It fits under the largest GPU heatsinks out there.

And very cool setup Alex!

 

[induveca]

Originally posted by: guac
Hello all...
This is only my second post, and my first one was just to whine about my Asus/maxtor combo in the motherboard section. I too am plagued with the rattly fan that fades in and out of imminent failure...whether due to its own course, or from me smashing it due to the constant reminder of its presence. I started reading this thread a few weeks ago, after searching for a replacement fan for the A8N, after the third day of operation went it morphed into failure mode. So, it looks like that the link about 6-7 posts back is the "simplest" solution...the $17 fan/ Home Depot screws? I saw some of the other mods, and that's a bit more than I would like to hack. anyway..thanx for reading.
mike

Mike, the fan I posted is the simplest and in my opinion the easiest route to go. At only 19 DBA, it's silent....and also 4200 RPM. That's pretty darn amazing, and Papst are NOT going to fail on you EVER.

The heatsink posted here is very nice, but will completely prevent you from upgrading to dual Ultras in the future if you so desire......which means you'll be taking out/reinstalling your motherboard multiple times.

Personally, if Asus found the need to put an active cooling solution on the NB chipset........I'm going to stick with active cooling........but silent high CFM active cooling.

 

[jmas]

Originally posted by: induveca
Oh it will fit, I have pretty much the largest stock heatsink on my eVGA 6800 Ultra. The 40cm fan I purchased is only 10mm high..........it's very small.

No worries it will fit just fine! Go for it.

Thanks, I'll try this weekend. The other option would be a Vantec iceberg. Perhaps it'll lower the temps on the chipset. I am now at 44 idle with a thermal probe. Is it too much??

see you