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Chipset fan. Can I do without?

D

dejansen

Banned
In one of my systems I have an Asus A7V133 that uses the KT133A chipset. The chipset fan doubles the noise and since getting a K7S5A (no chipset fan), I can really tell the difference.

Anyway, I had a look at pictures of other boards that use the KT133A and no more than 50% have a chipset fan. Also, I came across a few messages between A7V owners where one guy mentioned ditching the chipset fan and glued a bigger heatsink on it. That forum seems dead though so I can't seek more info there.

Do you think I can get away with just a heatsink. Other boards do ok without a fan. Do you think there would be any reason that this Asus board's chipset runs hotter than others. Personally, I don't. I think Asus is just a quality company and this is one aspect where they don't cut corners although they could probably get away with it.

So what do you think? Should I just sell it and get another K7S5A or alter the A7V?

Thanks for your opinions,
David
 
I think if you are not going to bump up the FSB then you should be Ok without it. Unplug it for a while and see if it gives you any troubles.
 
Know what you mean. Mine started making the noise of a pending demise so I put a heatsink from an old matrox G200 on there. Seems to work well enough for me, the noise is gone and I don't smell anything burning....yet

I've looked around and found what should be a better heatsink from here although 8 bucks seems a bit high:

http://www.siliconacoustics.com/zalmanzmnb32.html
 
I have a A7V133 too. Would be interesting to know if it can run without the fan and without changing to another (passive or active) fan. Since other manufacturers don't use a fan - I think it wouldn't be a problem to unplug it... or is it?
 
Unless someone here or at the A7V forum scares me off, I'm going to give it a try so I will let you know. I don't think it will be a problem. First, I'm going to remove the heatsink fan and apply some AS II to the current heatsink (I hear there is no thermal compound on it) and run it like that. If I run into stability issues, I'll replace the heatsink with a more substantial heatsink and that should suffice. The chipset fans on this board invariably go out (so I hear), so I suppose I have to do something eventually and I'd really like to do without that noisy thing.
 
I've been running my KT266A board without a chipset fan for over1 month now. The machine's on 24/7, works perfectly. The noise was bugging me so I just unplugged the fan from the mobo header. I just left the fan on the original heatsink, didn't fuss with anything else.
 
I've been running like this for going on 3 weeks now. I'm not overclocking but I doubt there would be any problems even if I cranked it up a little.
 
Follow-up:

I simply unplugged the chipset fan and compared before temps with after temps using Asus Probe 2 (assuming that offers a hint). There was no difference in temps.

Next I removed the fan and just left the chipset exposed. That is the current state and, if anything, the motherboard temp is 1-3 degrees C cooler. I'm not sure what the "motherboard" temp reading refers to but I'm assuming the probe is placed somewhere close to the chipset.

I will pick up a heatsink that fits in the next few days and attach it with some thermal adhesive just to be safe but I think I would be OK as is... I would recommend removing the fan altogether instead of just unplugging it since exposing the chip does seem to keep it cooler.

Thanks for the help,
david
 
The NB can run w/o fan. But I suggest some form of cooling on the NB for stability. A HS would be sufficient...but of course the active cooling would be better. The cooling is especially essential if u r on FSB O/Cing.
 
I ordered the heatsink recommended above. It should be sufficient since I don't overclock.

Thanks for the link, Copperhead!

david
 
I unplugged the one on my Epox 8KTA3 just to check it. 80F with it, 83F with-out it. and that was at 145MHz bus speed and half hour of RTCW.
 
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