Gigabyte K8NXP-9 and Zalman 7000B-Cu

[GS]

I'll be building a new computer in a couple of weeks and I want to use this motherboard and CPU fan but I read on somewhere (I'll try to hunt down the link but I doubt I'll find it) that there are no actual holes for me to put the nipples into (to attach the backplate to the mobo) and that there are some small clearish circles that I have to drill out. Does anyone know if this is true or has anyone had expirience with this motherboard?

For those of you that are interested or can spot flaws in my components, here are all of the parts I'm getting:

Gigabyte K8NXP-9
AMD64 3500+ (Not sure if the Venice core is available in Aus yet, but I've got a couple of weeks to get it)
Zalman CNPS7000B-Cu CPU Cooler
Corsair 1024MB TWINX-3200C2
Antec True Power 2.0 480W Power Supply
Leadtek GeForce 6600GT Extreme Edition

This is the first PC I'm building too, so be gentle.

 

[Andreos]

Did you ever figure out the answer to this question? I am wondering about this myself. There's a page on the Thermalright website, showing how to remove the Gigabyte plastic backplate and replace it with a Thermalright metal backplate... but it's one of those web pages you have to navigate to... look for the "K8 motherboard backplate" under accessories at the Thermalright Website

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Read the Newegg reviews for the gigabyte nF4 boards - the users tell you the same thing.
-TPG

 

[Andreos]

If anyone is still curious, with no prior build experience, I installed the Zalman CNPS7000B on a Gigabyte GA-K8N Ultra-9 (socket 939) and found it was absolutely no sweat to remove the heatsink mount that came on the board; furthermore, mounting the Zalman heatsink was a cinch!