Can I run k266a without fan?

[Cronie]

Seems that most of the kt266a boards have a fan on the chipset... is this necessary? Anyone know what happens without the fan?

In the interest of a quiet PC I'd almost rather switch to the K7S6A (sis745) - or even the ECS K7VAT3 (don't tell any of your o/c'er friends).

If the fan can be disbled, or noise is low enough, I'm torn between the IWill, Soltek DRV2, and the Epox. Any thoughts?

 

[Cronie]

Sorry about the fan question... just found a couple of threads that deal with the issue. I'll go with a board that has a fan and just take it off (with some measuring and poss. a Zalman hs).

Is Iwill vs. Soltek vs. Shuttle vs. Epox just a matter of personal preference, or does anyone see a clear advantage in any of the cards. Personally I like the sound of the Soltek, but it makes me nervous that only one place (even though it is NewEgg) sells them.

 

[gaidin123]

I pulled the fan off my Epox 8kha+..The little chipset heatsink that sits on the northbridge gets pretty hot to the touch when overclocking (maybe even normally I dunno). So I ordered that Zalman northbridge heatsink and stuck it on there with the push pins from the original heatsink/fan. I haven't popped open the case again to feel that heatsink but after slapping some arctic silver 3 and that relatively huge heatsink onto the northbridge I don't think it'll have any problems.

I'd guess it's cooling even better than the default heatsink/fan...

Gaidin

 

[Migroo]

Seems that way, my Gigabyte K266A board has a passive heatsink.

Its smaller than the Zalman one, so you should definately be OK with that.

Gigabyte GA-VTXH+ and picture

 

[jcmkk]

NewEgg isn't the only one that sells the Soltek boards. If you like them, then go for it. They aren't the best for the hardcore overclocker, and aren't the fastest out there (like you would notice the realworld difference anyway), but I heard that they are very very stable. That is a big advantage in my opinion. Of course, most of the KT266A boards are stable as long as you pair them with the right components.