First off, I would like to say I originally posted this in the Motherboard's forum, but I thought it might interest people here as well. Mods, I hope this is ok. 
I just completed a chipset cooling project on one of my 8RDA+ boards, and I thought I would do a little mini review in case someone else is looking into doing something similar.
My goal was to have excellent NB and SB cooling since I run 200 MHz FSB, but I also didn't want the noise. I settled on a passive cooling project. I noticed a couple of things on the 8RDA+ that looked promising. First of all, the NB area was very clean of large components, and there was a good deal of room for a much larger HSF. I am running an Alpha 8045 HSF on my 2400+, so I wanted to see how large of a HS I could put on, while still having room for my large Alpha. The other pleasant surprise I noticed was the presence of mounting holes in the board's PCB around the SB. Since Epox was kind enough to include this little detail, I was able to locate a good chipset passive cooler.
I will get the Southbridge mod out of the way since it is the most straight forward and easiest part of the project. I settled on this passive heatsink from NB Maxx. I liked the blue color since I have a dual blue cold cathode setup in my case, but there is a similar gold one from Zalman. The positive of this design was the adjustable "feet" of the HS that allows for mounting flexibility. I checked the SB for a good contact using white thermal grease, and it was flat. I cleaned everything up with alcohol, applied a thin layer of AS3 to the MCP-T, and applied the HS with the supplied push pins. Total cost of SB cooling mod (since I already had AS3) was ~$12 with shipping.
For the Northbridge, I wanted to use a 60mm x 60mm CPU HS unit. I decided to rule out copper since it doesn't perform well in a passive application. I also figured the weight of an all copper CPU cooler would be too much to put on the PCB in that area since it already bore the load of my Alpha. I wanted something that was all aluminum in construction, was fairly light, and if possible, was a pin style of heatsink since they tend to work better in a passive application than a fin style. I settled on this Swiftech MCX-370 clone. Not only did it fit my conditions, the price was very reasonable @ only $8 and a flat $5 shipping fee. I actually ordered a couple of other items that day, so the $5 was very reasonable. I decided on AS3 Thermal Adhesive to attach the cooler to the NB.
As some of you may be aware, the Nforce 2 SPP tends to be concave. All three of my 8RDA+'s have a concave NB. The center metal circle seems to be inset from the surrounding chipset material. I snagged some fine 800 grit waterproof sandpaper from the local store, and used it to wet sand the NB so it was flat. I used some rubbing alcohol as my liquid. I folded the sandpaper into a 2" x 2" square and used my two fingers to lightly sand down the NB. I used very little pressure, and an overlapping circular motion while making sure to avoid sanding in one area too long. After I was finished, I cleaned up the NB with some more alcohol.
After checking the HS to NB contact area with some more white thermal grease, I cleaned everything up once again. I mixed up some AS Adhesive, and applied it in a thin layer to the NB. I applied the HS to the NB, and shifted it around a bit to ensure a good contact area. I put a heavy can of tomato paste on it for some weight, and let it sit for a couple hours under a warm light to aid in curing. Once it was fairly secure, I took the weight off and let it cure overnight.
The next day, I put everything back together, fired her up, and started some Prime 95 to load up things. I checked both the NB and SB HS to make sure they were getting warm and doing their job. Everything looked good so I buttoned everything up and was good to go. Here are a few images of the completed project...
NB and SB Mod Closeup
NB Mod Closeup (Flash)
NB Mod Closeup (No Flash)
Window Shot
I just completed a chipset cooling project on one of my 8RDA+ boards, and I thought I would do a little mini review in case someone else is looking into doing something similar.
My goal was to have excellent NB and SB cooling since I run 200 MHz FSB, but I also didn't want the noise. I settled on a passive cooling project. I noticed a couple of things on the 8RDA+ that looked promising. First of all, the NB area was very clean of large components, and there was a good deal of room for a much larger HSF. I am running an Alpha 8045 HSF on my 2400+, so I wanted to see how large of a HS I could put on, while still having room for my large Alpha. The other pleasant surprise I noticed was the presence of mounting holes in the board's PCB around the SB. Since Epox was kind enough to include this little detail, I was able to locate a good chipset passive cooler.
I will get the Southbridge mod out of the way since it is the most straight forward and easiest part of the project. I settled on this passive heatsink from NB Maxx. I liked the blue color since I have a dual blue cold cathode setup in my case, but there is a similar gold one from Zalman. The positive of this design was the adjustable "feet" of the HS that allows for mounting flexibility. I checked the SB for a good contact using white thermal grease, and it was flat. I cleaned everything up with alcohol, applied a thin layer of AS3 to the MCP-T, and applied the HS with the supplied push pins. Total cost of SB cooling mod (since I already had AS3) was ~$12 with shipping.
For the Northbridge, I wanted to use a 60mm x 60mm CPU HS unit. I decided to rule out copper since it doesn't perform well in a passive application. I also figured the weight of an all copper CPU cooler would be too much to put on the PCB in that area since it already bore the load of my Alpha. I wanted something that was all aluminum in construction, was fairly light, and if possible, was a pin style of heatsink since they tend to work better in a passive application than a fin style. I settled on this Swiftech MCX-370 clone. Not only did it fit my conditions, the price was very reasonable @ only $8 and a flat $5 shipping fee. I actually ordered a couple of other items that day, so the $5 was very reasonable. I decided on AS3 Thermal Adhesive to attach the cooler to the NB.
As some of you may be aware, the Nforce 2 SPP tends to be concave. All three of my 8RDA+'s have a concave NB. The center metal circle seems to be inset from the surrounding chipset material. I snagged some fine 800 grit waterproof sandpaper from the local store, and used it to wet sand the NB so it was flat. I used some rubbing alcohol as my liquid. I folded the sandpaper into a 2" x 2" square and used my two fingers to lightly sand down the NB. I used very little pressure, and an overlapping circular motion while making sure to avoid sanding in one area too long. After I was finished, I cleaned up the NB with some more alcohol.
After checking the HS to NB contact area with some more white thermal grease, I cleaned everything up once again. I mixed up some AS Adhesive, and applied it in a thin layer to the NB. I applied the HS to the NB, and shifted it around a bit to ensure a good contact area. I put a heavy can of tomato paste on it for some weight, and let it sit for a couple hours under a warm light to aid in curing. Once it was fairly secure, I took the weight off and let it cure overnight.
The next day, I put everything back together, fired her up, and started some Prime 95 to load up things. I checked both the NB and SB HS to make sure they were getting warm and doing their job. Everything looked good so I buttoned everything up and was good to go. Here are a few images of the completed project...
NB and SB Mod Closeup
NB Mod Closeup (Flash)
NB Mod Closeup (No Flash)
Window Shot
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