Do I need a fan on my chipset?

[Doggiedog]

I've got an Epox 8KHA+. I've been trying to silence my PC and finally noticed that all of the noise is coming from the chipset fan. Do I need this fan on the chipset? I'm OCing my FSB from 133mhz to 150mhz. My system temp is about 30-34c and my CPU is 38-42c. Could I just remove the fan and leave it alone? Or are there quiet chipset fans that will keep up with my Panaflo L1As and NMB fans?

 

[BG4533]

Some people say yes and some say no. If you are overclocking, it is probably best to have one. Zalman makes passive Northbridge coolers that apparently work great. Northbridge cooler.

Brian

 

[Doggiedog]

Thanks Brian

 

[Davegod]

i have a tiny heatsink on my kt266a mobo. Fans are there for the looks, I'd be very surprised if disconnecting any northbridge fan make comp unstable, unless i guess some serious overclocking. Read several threads around here where people have swapped their active-cooled northbridge HSF for a zalman* and been great, or even simply disconnected the fan and left the hs.

*pics i saw before was a fairly tall hs painted black, dunno what that newegg one is since mentions gold-plated (gold is significantly worse at heat transfer than either copper or alu, so the gold just for looks again).

 

[Drewpy]

Originally posted by: Davegod
i have a tiny heatsink on my kt266a mobo. Fans are there for the looks, I'd be very surprised if disconnecting any northbridge fan make comp unstable, unless i guess some serious overclocking. Read several threads around here where people have swapped their active-cooled northbridge HSF for a zalman* and been great, or even simply disconnected the fan and left the hs.

My Asus A7V266-E came with a small heatsink and fan on the northbridge. After a rather spectacular HS failure, the motherboard was replaced with A7V266-E rev2.0. It came with the same HS on the northbridge as the A7V333. It is also the same HS that is on almost every Asus board. Fans aren't necessary unless you are doing some crazy OC... while in a parked car on a hot summer day at noon with the windows rolled up, and an all black interior . A large enough HS with a fan at the rear of the case, is all you need.

 

[EdipisReks]

i strongly reccomend having a northbridge heatsink. at the speeds i run at, i found that the northbridge became scorchingly hot. a 40mm fan screwed to the heatsink fixed that.

 

[Lizardman]

Originally posted by: EdipisReks
i strongly reccomend having a northbridge heatsink. at the speeds i run at, i found that the northbridge became scorchingly hot. a 40mm fan screwed to the heatsink fixed that.

why wouldnt anyone have a northbridge heatsink?

 

[cavemanmoron]

if you unhook the fan and add a side blowhole that helps cool it off,you may be ok,
save the stock fan,incase you have to warranty the board,
if you thermal epoxy a diff setup on you will void your warranty, i found out, Asus is nice,but not that nice,