Chipset cooling on the 8RDA+

[Ilmater]

I know that the passive cooling on most motherboards isn't that important, but I'd like to switch from the cooler on the northbridge of the 8RDA+ to a Crystal Orb. Does anyone know of any issues with this fan fitting correctly? I'd like to use the push-pin holes, but if I have to I'll use AS Epoxy.

Also, has anyone taken the passive cooler off? Is it attached by thermal tape or epoxy that would be hard to get off? If so, have any of you taken it off? What method did you use?

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Ilmater
I know that the passive cooling on most motherboards isn't that important, but I'd like to switch from the cooler on the northbridge of the 8RDA+ to a Crystal Orb. Does anyone know of any issues with this fan fitting correctly? I'd like to use the push-pin holes, but if I have to I'll use AS Epoxy.

Also, has anyone taken the passive cooler off? Is it attached by thermal tape or epoxy that would be hard to get off? If so, have any of you taken it off? What method did you use?

I just did this mod over the weekend. Crystal Orb fits fine, the corners of the SPP NB fit just inside the circumference of the COrb. You should be able to use the existing hole mounts; chipset mountiing specs are standard IIRC. I had one capacitor that is slightly touching the Corb, but some adjusting allows you to align the fan mount holes. I used AS Epoxy anyways, as I don't trust those plug mounts.

The passive cooler is easy to take off, just give it a twist. The thermal pad barely touched the SPP on my board, just slight contact on the edges, so at minimum you want to scrape it off and apply a layer of AS3 or something :disgust: I used a razor blade to shave it away neatly and efficiently (you should be able to get it off in 1 piece using a razor blade). To remove the plugs though, you'll need to remove your mobo and squeeze the barbs from the back. If you don't want to reuse them you can just mutilate them, that works too

I moved the stock passive cooler to my MCP-T, with a slight bending of 2 rows of fins, it doesn't interfere with my 3ware RAID card in PCI Slot 2.

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: chizow
I moved the stock passive cooler to my MCP-T, with a slight bending of 2 rows of fins, it doesn't interfere with my 3ware RAID card in PCI Slot 2.

I thought about doing this too.

Damn Chiz, is there anything you haven't had experience with?

 

[CraigRT]

that sucks, i wanted a crystal orb on my NB too but it wont fit on the 845PE..

dammit.