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Do outdated GPU coolers make good nF4 coolers?

S

Skyhanger

Senior member
I looking for a nF4 northbridge cooler that will fit on my mobo. Normally, I would opt for a Zalman passive heatsink, but this mobo I bought has a PCIe card obstructing the nF4 chip. (lets say the clearance of ~10mm upwards or whatever height a PCIe slot is)

I was wondering if yesteryear's third party GPU coolers will fit nicely in the holes reserved for nF4 heatsinks. If so, what suggestions do you guys have?

(I've looked at thermaltake and evercool's line of GPU coolers so far...)
 
the vantec iceberg 1 and 4(non-pro) are supposed to fit my board. i have a couple i've been meaning to put in but won't be doing so until wednesday/thursday when a new board comes.
 
The Zalman NB HS sucks. I don't know why people even bother with it. If you want a Northbridge cooler, the Cooler Master would be worth the while with a better design.

Or, as you stated, an outdated VGA HSF from an ATi Radeon 8500 or Geforce 3 Ti or 4 would be ideal.

Another option that I would elect is, taking a 1U Socket A, Xeon, or Opteron heatsink and cutting it (using a dremel or your local metal shop) to the dimension of the Chipset itself. A Copper 1U should only cost $10-$12 the most. Not to mention do a better job than the silly Zalman would do.

Aluminum Example. If it's validated for cooling a Xeon. Then a NF4 Northbridge chip should be a cake walk.
 
Originally posted by: ReMeDy{WcS}
The Zalman NB HS sucks. I don't know why people even bother with it. If you want a Northbridge cooler, the Cooler Master would be worth the while with a better design.

Or, as you stated, an outdated VGA HSF from an ATi Radeon 8500 or Geforce 3 Ti or 4 would be ideal.

Another option that I would elect is, taking a 1U Socket A, Xeon, or Opteron heatsink and cutting it (using a dremel or your local metal shop) to the dimension of the Chipset itself. A Copper 1U should only cost $10-$12 the most. Not to mention do a better job than the silly Zalman would do.

Aluminum Example. If it's validated for cooling a Xeon. Then a NF4 Northbridge chip should be a cake walk.
Click to expand...

The Zalman dose great for what it's designed to do; cool a northbridge passively.
 
Originally posted by: rise4310
the vantec iceberg 1 and 4(non-pro) are supposed to fit my board. i have a couple i've been meaning to put in but won't be doing so until wednesday/thursday when a new board comes.
Click to expand...

Mounting holes for NB heatsinks are a little farther apart than the mounting holes found on small GPU coolers. The coolers that I can think of that have small fan or fanless coolers, FX5200-5700, Radeon 9200 - 9800Pro, X800se AGP, GForce4 Ti is an exception. Thats why I've ordered a Vantec Iceberq 4 Pro and I then plan on modifying the crap out of it to make it fit on my DFI Nforce4 Ultra-D. At the same time I'm planning on modding it to a SLI too. I have an older Ultra-D that can be modded.

Edit: On DFI boards they are closer than a standard video card cooler. Athlon XP mobos were farther apart.
 
i thought the vantec pro was too tall or am i thinking the premium?

anyway, i have ca-1 and the ca-4 and both match up well, except the ca-4 i need to take a dremel to one spot.

i'll know tomorrow which one i use. but i know some people have used them on the dfi nf4s..
 
If the Pro's too tall I'll simply grind it down. 😀

Hmm maybe I should have gotten the non-Pro version. Its not like I'd waste the Pro, I have a friend whose Ti4400 needs a new cooling device.
 
Originally posted by: Operandi
Originally posted by: ReMeDy{WcS}
The Zalman NB HS sucks. I don't know why people even bother with it. If you want a Northbridge cooler, the Cooler Master would be worth the while with a better design.

Or, as you stated, an outdated VGA HSF from an ATi Radeon 8500 or Geforce 3 Ti or 4 would be ideal.

Another option that I would elect is, taking a 1U Socket A, Xeon, or Opteron heatsink and cutting it (using a dremel or your local metal shop) to the dimension of the Chipset itself. A Copper 1U should only cost $10-$12 the most. Not to mention do a better job than the silly Zalman would do.

Aluminum Example. If it's validated for cooling a Xeon. Then a NF4 Northbridge chip should be a cake walk.
Click to expand...

The Zalman dose great for what it's designed to do; cool a northbridge passively.
Click to expand...

Amen!!!
ZalmanBoy!!!!

 
If you have a case fan over the zalman nb it will never get hot, mine doesn't get to 60 ever. If we added a huge heasink/fan with a blue led to every proocessor in the computer we would end up with this... and much worse.
 
Originally posted by: Bull Dog 840
Just remember that most NF4 Motherboards have to have a low profile cooling solution. Zalman won't work.
Click to expand...

What do you mean low profile?

Anyway, Skyhanger, can you post the name of your board so we can at least have a look at the picture? Also, there should be a compatibility list on the Zalman web site.
 
Well if he has an ultra-d or any of that variety he can use the other 16x slot for a graphics card, or he could easily cut out a few of the pins and there would be almost no reduction in performance...
 
A few pins out of the zalman heatsink. If you choose other low profile heatsinks you can have about the same efiiciency without it high speed fan.
 
Originally posted by: t0kinl3lunts
A few pins out of the zalman heatsink. If you choose other low profile heatsinks you can have about the same efiiciency without it high speed fan.
Click to expand...

True you could do that, but the nForce4 chipset really needs active cooling.

I would also like to say that I have sucessfully converted a Vantec iCEBERQ 4 VGA cooler to work on my DFI nForce4 Ultra-D(SLI modded) board.
 
Originally posted by: t0kinl3lunts
Well if he has an ultra-d or any of that variety he can use the other 16x slot for a graphics card, or he could easily cut out a few of the pins and there would be almost no reduction in performance...
Click to expand...

As it is my X800 Pro just barely gets 6050 3dmark05 marks. Why would I want to lower that score? Although now that my ultra is SLI modded I could stick it down there except for the fact that I have both PCI slots populated and my ATi S4 hogs 2 slots.
 
Honestly my chipset is cooler with the zalman and a 120mm nexus case fan over the chipset/videocard area. It is at 40C idle, better than the "active cooling" DFI supplied. When you think about it though it is active cooling, with a much larger heatsink and fan. If you don't have ventilation in that area then it might not work as well for you, and if you absolutely need to use both pci-e slots or you dont care about the noise then don't use it. Just telling you what works for me.
 
What I'm saying is that I CAN'T put my viedo card in the other PCI-e x16 slot. I have both PCI populated and with my ATi Silencer I would lose one of those 2 slots.

I'm working on a "guide" about how I just made my self a new low profile chipset cooler. I'm hoping to have it finished today.
 
That's a pretty cool mod. I don't think I have the time or space to mod stuff myself though...

I have the eVGA SLI board so the the vantec iceberq (1) should do fine for me... Plus, even though the CFM doesn't seem high, it's known to be pretty quiet. (rated at 26dB). Sound is pretty important, right after size(approx 45x45x15mm). If you guys have any other suggestions, please tell me.
 
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