Northbridge Fan needed?

[incorrigible]

I have a Gigabyte 8INXP MB with an active HSF on the northbridge. The fan seems to be having a bit of trouble (noise and noticabley varied speed) and I removed it. As other Granite Bays boards use passive cooling on the NB, I don't think there is any issue in removing the fan. I've read reviews that also state that active colling of the NB is not necessary. I know I should probably address the issue with Gigabyte but after all the waiting for the bard, I just want to use it and stop building. Opinions?

Thanks for any feedback offered.

 

[Zepper]

You can get just a replacement fan or entire chipset HSF from www.svc.com or any of the other cooling and mod sites.
.bh.

 

[bgeh]

try taking out the fan's sticker and putting a drop of oil in its bearings
works like magic

 

[incorrigible]

Bgeh - Took your advise and oiled the fan. It's quite (for now).

Any opinions on leaving it off?

 

[Wind]

Originally posted by: incorrigible
Bgeh - Took your advise and oiled the fan. It's quite (for now).

Any opinions on leaving it off?

If u don't want the active cooling, replace it w/ a passive cooling (heatsink only w/o fan). Under normal usage...fan is not a must in the NB.

 

[LiLxJohnny]

Heatsinks are not really needed on the Northbridge unless you are overclocking. You can use a passive heatsink like alot of the ppl here are saying but make sure you have good air circulation going around inside your case.

 

[SuperSix]

Originally posted by: incorrigible
Bgeh - Took your advise and oiled the fan. It's quite (for now).

Any opinions on leaving it off?

If you don't replace the fan/HS unit, (I would call Gigabyte and have them send just a new fan/HS unit) and want to use passive cooling, you will need to purchase a good passive heasink, I wouldn't recommend simply unplugging the fan and expecting the smaller HS to be sufficient.