Frys - Blue Orbs for $6.99 - Good for Gateway 6400s

[Braxus]

Thought this might be a interest for those that have Fry's stores in their areas. They are selling those Thermaltake Blue Orbs, complete with grease, tape, push pins, and power adapter w/extender for 7 bucks. Pricewatch has these for 7 bucks too, but once you consider the shipping charge, the Fry's local B&M price sounds a lot nicer. Great if you need to replace the heatsink/fan unit on your chipset or video card.

These orbs will also fit nicely on the Gateway 6400 ASUS CUR-DLS' northbridge (via push pins). Although the northbridge on the ServerSet III LE chipset doesn't get nearly as hot as VIA's or Intel's chipsets, if you plan to overclock the board, it's always good to have a little extra cooling right?

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

good price!

 

[AudioGod]

My Frys in Sacramento, CA has Pentium III CPU cooler with Ball bearing fan (3 yr warranty) #2918665 for $4.99.
Is it the same one or Blue Orb some kind small one for chipsets only?

 

[JRKIO]

yeah, here in houston they're $4.99 too

 

[Princeman]

Good deal! Do Frys have a web page for their ads or are they scanned anywhere?

 

[AudioGod]

Blue Orb for chipsets only, and its relatively big one:
http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/cooling/blue_orb/1.htm

 

[RagManX]

Almost everyone I know who has gotten a Blue Orb (myself included) has had to lap it to get good cooling from it. Just beware that they tend to be slightly to severely concave, and this means poor contact. Lapped, they are good coolers. Unlapped, they can range from good to very poor.

RagManX

 

[Braxus]

RagManX, wow you're right, I just took a razor blade to see and found mine to be slighly concave. Erm... What exactly do you use to lap? I have sandpaper here but I don't know if they're the correct grits.

 

[MISMan]

Anyone willing to go and buy some and ship if I pay for them and shipping?

 

[Phunktion]

You should realize that sometimes the Northbridge itself can also be concave.. so lapping the Blorb might not always do the trick..

 

[DoubleN]

Wow! Great deal...can't wait to visit Fry's...just hope there are some left!

 

[frizzlefry]

<< Wow! Great deal...can't wait to visit Fry's...just hope there are some left! >>


I wouldn't worry about them being out of stock. The Fry's around me (Anaheim, Fountain Valley) have had these blorbs laying around for quite a while, and if I recall they are almost always priced around $6.99 although in the store it lists it as $9.99.

 

[RDMustang1]

AnAngryMuffin, according to the gateway thread you CAN overclock the 6400...

 

[RagManX]

Braxus,

I lapped mine starting with 220 grit, then 320, 400, 800, 1000, and finally 1500. With 220-400, you can pretty easily tell when you are making progress. With 800 up, I used a sharpie to draw about a dozen lines on the bottom of the heatsink, and once all the lines were gone, I moved on. By the time I was done with the 1500, I had a pretty shiny surface. Took about 20-30 minutes of sanding on 220 grit, only 5-10 minutes per level after that. Total was not much more than an hour of work. I just worked on it while watching TV. Just make sure you have a *VERY* flat surface to work on. I used a good cutting board as my base, and took a piece of glass from a picture frame, taped my sandpaper on it, and sanded until the heatsink was smooth.

I found a multi-pack of sandpaper at WalMart for ~$3 that had 320, 400, 600, and 1000 grit. Went to a car parts store to get 800 and 1500 grit, and Lowe's for the 220 grit. I spent around $12 on sandpaper, but I've done 3 heatsinks so far, and still have sandpaper to do more.

RagManX