Chipset fan replacement

[Odysseus145]

I have an old DFI Nforce4 Ultra-d motherboard, and I believe that the chipset fan is dying. It's starting to make a grinding noise and sometimes it doesn't spin up at all. I can't exactly afford a new motherboard right now, so I'm looking at replacement coolers. Would something like this work?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835233021

The video card sits right over the fan so it can't be too bulky. I'm sure I could fin an exact replacement on ebay or something, but I'd like a little boost over the stock fan if possible.

 

[RallyMaster]

http://www.svc.com/vc-re.html

Boom. DFI recommended direct replacement.

 

[Odysseus145]

That looks perfect. I just wish they had one without the leds.

 

[Zepper]

I thought you were looking for a mobo chipset cooler. What RM linked is a VGA cooler... http://www.buyextras.com carries lots of small and specialty fans, maybe one there to fit.

.bh.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: Zepper
I thought you were looking for a mobo chipset cooler. What RM linked is a VGA cooler... http://www.buyextras.com carries lots of small and specialty fans, maybe one there to fit.

.bh.

What RM linked is what DFI recommends for a replacement. I've installed one on a friend's board and it worked well.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: MDE
What RM linked is what DFI recommends for a replacement.

Yup. In fact, the old DFI Street site even had an installation video.

 

[RallyMaster]

Indeed Zap and MDE. I've been on these here cooling forums for a while and I've come across a lot of DFI K8 mobos needing new fans and that was the one that fit PERFECTLY and was used by numerous.

 

[Odysseus145]

I did a little more research on it and it looks like exactly what I need. The price is a lot better than what I was prepared to pay for an HR-05 sli. I had a little scare yesterday when I saw the chipset temperature over 65 C and noticed the fan wasn't even spinning.

 

[Davegod]

I hate these tiny hsf's the manufacturers insist on using to cool the NB. a handful of tiny blades spinning at 5000rpm on rubbish bearings which all seem to last barely longer than the warranty. I mean really, 5000rpm for 7cfm in the lab?

 

[Zepper]

I agree with Davegod. Instead of paying for a noisemaker that will die in short order anyway, I'd go with a Zalman or similar passive heatsink if there is room.

.bh.

 

[RallyMaster]

Originally posted by: Zepper
I agree with Davegod. Instead of paying for a noisemaker that will die in short order anyway, I'd go with a Zalman or similar passive heatsink if there is room.

.bh.

I am going with Zalman sinks on my Abit KN8 boards because there is room but the video card goes right over the NB on the K8 DFI boards which is why it's either a small cooler or a HR-05 SLi

 

[Odysseus145]

Originally posted by: RallyMaster

Originally posted by: Zepper
I agree with Davegod. Instead of paying for a noisemaker that will die in short order anyway, I'd go with a Zalman or similar passive heatsink if there is room.

.bh.

I am going with Zalman sinks on my Abit KN8 boards because there is room but the video card goes right over the NB on the K8 DFI boards which is why it's either a small cooler or a HR-05 SLi

I'd love to go with a large passive heatsink, but my HD 3850 sits right on top of the fan. The evercool seems to an easy replacement, and from what I've seen it's a bit better than the stock cooler too.

 

[Arcanedeath]

I had the fan fail on my old DFI nF4 SLI-DR and replaced it w/ a Evercool VC-RE it did improve the temps compared to stock by aprox 8 C. But even the fan on the VC-RE failed after about a year and a half and I just replaced just the fan in the VC-RE as it used a fairly common one.

 

[RallyMaster]

Okay...scratch the passive Zalman idea. I just burned my KN8 Ultra board doing that :/ Now looking for a replacement FTL.

 

[PianoMan]

Originally posted by: Arcanedeath
I had the fan fail on my old DFI nF4 SLI-DR and replaced it w/ a Evercool VC-RE it did improve the temps compared to stock by aprox 8 C. But even the fan on the VC-RE failed after about a year and a half and I just replaced just the fan in the VC-RE as it used a fairly common one.

Same here - saw an 8-10deg C. improvement. Still going strong after a year, but now takes a bit higher temp to get the fan going - hopefully that isn't a sign.

Originally posted by: Zepper
I agree with Davegod. Instead of paying for a noisemaker that will die in short order anyway, I'd go with a Zalman or similar passive heatsink if there is room.

.bh.

I wanted to go passive at first, but this old DFI nForce boards just don't have the room to support it, unfortunately.

I'm not sure, but there are replacement fans for this HSF offered by Evercool that don't have LED's. Mebbe one will fit if you really don't want the multi-color lightshow...