Abit KT7 RAID - Is the fan necessary for the Northbridge?

[Marauder-]

Alright- this little ah heck is buzzing really annoyingly now and I can't stand it. I've tried tightening / loosening the screws as well as clean the fan and the heatsink underneath. This thing is annoying. It's buzzing just as much as it's blowing out air. If I'm not OC'ing the FSB, can I just take off the fan? I'd think that the heatsink would be enough.

 

[harbinger52]

I don't think It would be an issue. The KT7 is not a good overclocker anyways(for me)

 

[Marauder-]

Well, I've been trying it out over the past few hrs - The system locks up when booting into Win2k w/ the case closed - otherwise it runs fine. The only other issue is when it's using a lot of CPU consumption ie playing DIVX movies and then it'll hang. I think I'll go the blue orb route.

 

[labooboo]

I am using Alpha heat sink and leave the case open all the time
no heat issues here.
If the fan is making a lot of noise it is broken
call ABIT at 510-623-0500 to order replacement fans

 

[ECO]

I didn't have any problem with stability while my fan was stuck. There was a piece of adhesive tape in the fan. I only found out after a week or two when I wanted to upgrade my harddisk. I guess I was lucky that it didn't end up in my cpu cooler

I do have a case fan that causes an airflow directly over the northbridge. A good case fan will make a lot less noise than the fan in the northbridge. Give it a try if the system isn't stable you can always buy the blue orb as you suggested yourself already.

 

[Jeff7]

I know why it buzzes too; Abit for whatever reason decided to use a sleeve bearing fan on the northbridge. Quite a few people here seem to complain of this problem. I use a lasagna cooler on my chipsets - got a bunch of em cheap, and they do a fine job of cooling just about anything small like that.

 

[grrl]

I just installed a KT7A the other day and I don't have any buzzing, but I found that the HSF on the Northbridge was very loose so I shimmed it so it would press against the chip better. Could your buzzing be at least partly due to movement?

 

[mrEvil]

Marauder - all I can do is offer what I read somewhere else...and I don't remember where. They were looking at cooling the Northbridge on a KT7A (I believe) and found that they could overclock it with better cooling. Thus, my thoughts are that it runs hot and it is better to keep it cool.