Does a Northbridge NEED to be cooled?

[CKDragon]

Hi everyone,

My parents' computer (built by me ~2 years ago) started making this really obnoxious noise a few days ago. Hoping that it was a simple fan problem, I unplugged each fan one-by-one and listened. The Northbridge fan was the clear culprit.

Wanting to investigate more, I opened up my case and looked at my own motherboard. My darn Northbridge fan wasn't even working! I have no idea when it died.

My question is obviously, is there any danger in running motherboards (EPoX 8KHA KT266 and EPoX 8KHA KT266A, respectively) for extended periods of time?

Thanks for any help you can provide,

CK

 

[lenjack]

Generally speaking, these fans are not absolutely needed. Some boards have them and some don't. If you oc, you may need one unless the chip has a very large heatsink. Personally, I would replace these fans if they don;t work.

 

[GonzoDaGr8]

None of my boards have a chipset cooling fan(MSI K7T266 pro2, MSI 845GE, ASUS P4B), and they all run fine with just the standard heatsink. If you can find some heatsinks to go on there instead of the fans, go for it. Much quieter.

 

[PraetorianGuards]

If you're really worried, what I would do is buy a passive northbridge heatsink. Zalman makes a good one that has a large surface area and pretty much eliminates the need for a fan. It's about $7 w/o shipping last time I checked.

 

[CKDragon]

Thanks for the input everyone.

Originally posted by: PraetorianGuards
If you're really worried, what I would do is buy a passive northbridge heatsink. Zalman makes a good one that has a large surface area and pretty much eliminates the need for a fan. It's about $7 w/o shipping last time I checked.

I'm not particularly worried about it, who knows how long my own computer has gone without a NB Fan. I guess you could say I'm as worried as everyone who comments thinks I should be. I'll probably hold off on getting new fans until I have a bigger parts order and then get everything at once.

Thanks again,

CK

 

[SaveYourself]

In my case, with the Asus A7V266, the northbridge is in a position that if it gets a passive heatsink, some of the output from the CPU fan will actually blow across the heatsink. Right now it has this stupid little fan that doesn't even have a heatsink, just a flat metal plate. Gee, I wonder how much good that does?

 

[beatle]

Bought a Zalman replacement heatsink a year ago for the Northbridge on my KT7a-raid. Been cooking (err, in a good way ) away just fine.

 

[godmare]

I have the 8KHA+ and a friend of mine has the 8KHA (the same two mobo's you're citing), and we've actually both had problems with that stupid fan. If you're not pushing the FSB, as it doesn't sound like you are, you shouldn't have a problem just unplugging that stupid fan.

 

[amcdonald]

Hey dragon, did you try lubing the bearing?
Not sure if you'll be able to with whatever fan it is, but the problem you described is usually fixed by greasing the bearing.

 

[xXgambitXx]

i vote for leaving it unplugged. if you're still paranoid though...just slap one of those Zalman passive heatsinks on it. i did that w/ my Soltek board b/c the fan was making a noise. haven't had any problems w/ it yet.

 

[CKDragon]

Thanks again for all the replies, guys.

Originally posted by: godmare
I have the 8KHA+ and a friend of mine has the 8KHA (the same two mobo's you're citing), and we've actually both had problems with that stupid fan. If you're not pushing the FSB, as it doesn't sound like you are, you shouldn't have a problem just unplugging that stupid fan.

Thanks for the sharing the experience. I'm not overclocking anything but my video card so I'll just leave it unplugged until I see SVC has some big blowout sale and maybe I'll pick up a passive heatsink like some are suggesting.

Thanks again,

CK