a8n-sli chipset heatsink fan

[FP]

Well my 3rd replacement fan is dying.

Are there any options in an SLI configuration? I would use the Zalman but it won't fit with my two 6800GTs I don't think.

Suggestions?

UPDATE

I installed a Vantec copper HSF today and it seems to be working.

Pros:

1. My motherboard and CPU temps are now 4 deg. C cooler. It could have also been the dust cleaning I gave my case but either way I was happy to see they didn't go up. In fact, the Vantec HSF is only slightly warm to the touch under full load.

2. Quieter. The fan is much softer than the Asus HSF.

3. Same height as the stock Asus HSF.

4. Much better construction quality.

5. Completely copper.

Cons:

1. I had to cut the ends off of the connector holes with my Dremel. The unit would not fit on my motherboard out of the box. It is just too wide.

2. The push pins that came with the Vantec HSF didn't want to go in. They were white and looked nothing like the connectors on the Vantec website. My motherboard was bending under the pressure I was placing on the pins and they would just not go in. I had to use the push pins that the original Asus HSF used.

3. The holes on the Vantec HSF were just slightly too wide and didn't line up with the mobo mounting holes. So the push pins are actually inserted at a slight angle. This didn't seem to be much of a problem though because they were completely pushed through to the other side. I did have to put considerable pressure on the push pins to get them to go through. It was difficult while trying to keep the HSF from moving and spreading the thermal grease around.

4. No chipset fan monitoring anymore.

A question for anyone who has replaced the chipset HSF...

When I removed the stock fan there was a .25" wide square black pad around the chipset. The chipset sat in the middle of this pad. Did you remove this pad or leave it there? It looked like it was almost soaked in places with thermal grease. Although it looked pretty worn I left it there.

 

[johnnqq]

i'm having serious problems with my a8n-sli, but i have a quick question first. the core was surrounded by rubber to separate the pcb from the fan i guess...i left this on after i put on my nj47j. should i take it off? (haven't checked temps but the hs does get very warm)

 

[bozar88]

Ii've got idea how to boost the cooling of this Zalman heatsink.
When you remove the original HSF from a8n-e, take the fan from it, and attach it to the side of the heatsink and reduce the voltage to make it run.. let's say.. 800rpm. It would be noiseless, but still it would be cooling the heatink!

 

[walkure]

Originally posted by: johnnqq
i'm having serious problems with my a8n-sli, but i have a quick question first. the core was surrounded by rubber to separate the pcb from the fan i guess...i left this on after i put on my nj47j. should i take it off? (haven't checked temps but the hs does get very warm)

A previous poster in this thread (one of the last 2 or 3 pages) said to remove the rubber

 

[walkure]

I received replacement fan in August. I finally replaced it tonight. Talk about procrastination! But the horrible grinding noises couldn't be tolerated any longer!!!

Here are some pics:

Old P.O.S. Chipset fan disassembled

Lens cloths used to wipe off Nforce 4 chipset -- Bought these at Walgreens, they were terrible. They felt exactly like fabric softener sheets you'd put in a dryer, but 1/3 the size. Dabbed them with 91% isopropyl alcohol and wiped off chipset. I don't think I did a great job, but I was getting impatient...

I had to take my mobo out of my Super Lanboy -- what an ordeal! I will never buy another case without a removable mobo tray. Everything is so tight in there. Observe how close my 120mm CPU fan (sitting atop Thermalright XP-120 heatsink) is to my rear 120mm case fan:

Too close for comfort

Here is an overview of the case with the new fan installed:

Case pic

And now a closeup of the new fan

=====================

I attempted to cut the pins off the old fan w/o removing mobo, but my needlenose pliars were too big to do it, especially for the pin closest to the 3 pin fan connector on the mobo. I don't even know how the pins are supposed to come out -- when I removed mobo, I had to cut the bottom of the pins off using the pliars! Then I cleaned the chipset, and then pinned on the new HSF.

This whole process was really trying my patience -- I was ready to order an Antec P180 so I'd have some room to work in the case! The Super Lanboy is nice looking (and fairly small) once it's set up, but what a nightmare for fidgeting around inside!

The new fan is much quieter -- so far. Asus Probe reports ~5400RPM (vs. 8000+ for the old one), and 39C mobo temperature -- that is about the same as before. It still makes a rather unpleasant buzz sound, but not nearly as sharp as the original. I fear that this too will fail. If/when that happens, I will surely buy a new larger case. Anyone wanna buy a Super Lanboy?

 

[defwhig]

Hey guys,

I have been hearing the dying cat noise for a few days, and opened up my case to see... Surprise! A dead chipset fan.
I think I'll pass on calling Asus, because I don't want to wait 3 weeks, or have to replace this thing again..
I see where some of you have gone with the Swiftech MCX159-CU Chipset Heatsink. Has anyone tried it with 2 EVGA 6800 Ultras? Are there any space concerns?

 

[coyrls]

I've only got one graphics card, but there is a picture on Swiftech's web site here that shows an A8N-SLI with the cooler fitted and two graphics cards (but it doesn't say what models they are - they look pretty long though).

 

[xmichael]

I just noticed my fan had stopped run and I do not know how long it has been dead. My temperature for the HS was 72 C according to my IR thermometer. After reading all of these posts, I remembered I had an "old" Hercules Video Card that had a nice hs with fan. I swapped it with the original and my temperature is around 35 C

 

[PacDwell06]

Hi

I've replaced a 'new style' Asus HSF (the diamond one), because it was screaming at me. I replaced it with a Zalman NB47.

My sensor probes attached to the Zalman read about 43 degrees C. However that's with a 120mm window fan blowing at 1200rpm (quiet). If I stop the window fan the Zalman increases to way over 50 degrees (I turned the fan back on at 53 degrees and climbing).

Installation would have been quite easy, however with a water-cooled SLI setup, I didn't fancy taking the motherboard out. In the end I was forced to, which meant I had to uncouple all my pipework. DOH!

Be careful when using needlenose pliers to release the old retention pins of the old ASUS hsf. There are some very close 'tracers' next to the hsf mounting holes on the back of the motherboard. It would be quite easy to 'stab' and hence damage the tracers with the pliers. When I followed the tracers they seem to lead off to the secondary IDE controller...this would explain any problems in this area after a HSF replacement.

May I just take the opportunity to reiterate that the motherboard temperature reported by many monitoring programs is just the motherboad and not the chipset. The chipset is considerably warmer than the motherboard temperature readouts.

 

[alk3997]

Just wanted to post a quick "thank you" for all who have appended to this topic. I received my replacement HSF from Asus yesterday. Everything went as smootly as I could have hoped thanks to what I had read here.

A couple of notes for those who hadn't done this before:

- If you've never removed an hsf before (I was in this category) remove the motherboard from the case. If nothing else you'll get a chance to remove some dust from the case. Removing the motherboard made it much easier to remove the posts without damaging the traces on the board.

- Clipping the posts at the back of the motherboard requires pushing the posts *slightly* into the board so that the back part of the posts are easily accessable. I just clipped the ends and the posts flew away (litterally). Be very careful to not damage a trace while clipping.

- Removing the old hsf just required a slight touch once the posts were removed. The computer had been last "on" about an hour before the old hsf was removed.

- The new hsf is very easy. Don't forget to remove the plastic tape that covers the new hsf's thermal pad. Make sure the new hsf is applied straight with the holes lining-up. Do not press on the chip area - use only the new posts to push.

- Final results were about 3C lower temperature steady-state with the new fan and the new fan is relatively quiet. No more mini-buzzsaw - which is what the old fan sounded like.

The most enjoyable part was not hearing the old fan. The second most enjoyable part was throwing-out the old fan.

Andy

 

[imported_stump]

I just purchased (November) an A8N-E Deluxe, and the fan has been whining for about 6 weeks now. Same fan as in picture a couple of posts back. 30mm. I thought it was an old disk drive and bought a replacement. Imagine my surprise and chagrin when I popped the hood and found it was this loathsome little fan crying and wailing all night long.

After reading this and other posts and looking at the alternatives, I took the ah heck out and put a drop of sewing machine oil on the bushing (under the bottom label).

Running quiet as a mouse now. I suspect it will require periodic oiling, but that's cheaper and easier than the other alternatives - including trying to squeeze a replacement fan out of Taiwan or China.

 

[avalance]

ok im confused now after reading 7 pages of posts. Can i or can i NOT change the heatsink fan on the A8N-SLI? it started getting crazy on me now and i dont know what to do. please tell me what can i do to save my chipset from frying up. i searched a couple websites and found a couple of heatsinks from zalman but if im correct that requires removing the m/b from the case and in my case that is impossible.

 

[xmichael]

:roll: As I stated in my post I was able to replace mine, WITHOUT taking out the MB and replaced the fan/hs with an old video fan h/s that fit the holes in the motherboard. I had to snip the pins holding the original but the replacement had its own pins. From what I saw while doing this however, if you have to use the motherboards pins, it is nearly impossible to do it without taking the motherboard out. Having said that if you have a pair of very thin needle nose and a great amount of patience, (which is why I clipped mine) :laugh: it can be done w/o removing the mb. I am curious however on why you feel you cannot remove your mb?

 

[avalance]

after working on the pc for more than 4 hours i managed to remove the frickin chipset fan but not the silver housing the fan was in. i found however a small thermaltake fan from a memory cooler and i screw the new fan on top of the housing. i hope this will do the job.

pic 1

pic 2

pic 3

in case the pics seem too messed up to understand what going on here's the list:

4 HHDs (total 960 gb)
8 120mm fans (1 on the cpu)
3 60mm fans
2 pci slot fans
2 dvd-rws
amd 64 athlon 3800+
2 gb ram
xfx nvidia 6800 gt
a load of cables...

 

[walkure]

Well, looking back at my above post, I guess it was right after Christmas that I replaced the fan. Not even 3 months later, the replacement fan is starting to get louder! Awful buzzing sound! Not nearly as bad as the old one at its worst, but like I said, it has just started to get noisy.

Looks like I'll be doing another replacement very soon... I said it wouldn't happen to me -- damn hubris!

 

[dawza]

In my search to decide between the new Thermalright HR-05 chipset cooler, the Swiftech, or the Jing Ting to replace my A8N-SLI chipset fan, I came across this post on SPCR.

Here is a direct link to the ASUS website where the heatpipe can be purchased. I just ordered one (FedEx S&H was $5.00), and from comparisons between the Premium and regular SLI mobos, it seems that installation should be easy after removal of the old chipset fan and the voltage regulator heatsink.

The copper version that comes with the A8N32-Deluxe is available as well, but I do not know if that model is compatible with the X16 SLI boards.

 

[FlasHBurN]

That picture of the heatpipe is a bit confusing. Why exactly is the pipe so long? Do you have to bend it into place?

 

[dawza]

The steel heatpipe is oriented as you see here.

Should drop right in, assuming that the physical layout of the SLI vs. the SLI-premium is the same with respect to the voltage regulator and NB pushpin-hole locations.

I am not sure if the copper heatpipe that comes with the A8N32-SLI Deluxe will fit the A8N-SLI, though.

 

[FlasHBurN]

Ah cool. That makes sense. Now I wonder if it would be worth spending $10 more to get the Asus Heatpipe versus the Zalman.

 

[stebog]

Thanks for the info dawza.

I don't know what I was doing on page 4 of the motherboards section but I managed to find your post.

I was having trouble finding info on what chipset solution peeps with 7900GTX's are using. Although I'm running a 7900GT right now, I might wind up using Evga's step-up in the future and didn't think the Swiftech would work.

 

[FlasHBurN]

Went ahead and ordered the Asus heatpipe. I will let you guys know how it works with my a8n-sli premium board.

 

[stebog]

Is that a typo or do you already have the SLI-Premium? If so, you already have the heatpipe.

 

[jasonja]

Pretty cheap price on the SLI bridge there too... would that fit the DFI modded boards?

 

[FlasHBurN]

Originally posted by: stebog
Is that a typo or do you already have the SLI-Premium? If so, you already have the heatpipe.

Yeah sorry, I meant the Deluxe.

 

[dawza]

Originally posted by: jasonja
Pretty cheap price on the SLI bridge there too... would that fit the DFI modded boards?

I don't know how the DFI boards are set up, but I imagine the flex SLI bridge ASUS sells would work.

I just received the heatpipe as well. It came with push pins and pre-applied thermal tape. Hopefully I will get around to taking my system apart and installing it this weekend- will report back with results at that time.