How important is NB cooling? hmm??

[thirdlegstump]

Right now my NF7 is running 200fsb with the NB's fan turned off (due to noise). It has been super solid in terms of stability. I'd like to know if replacing the stock HSF with a Zalman heatsink would help if I decide to overclock it a bit further. How much does northbridge cooling affect overclocks?

 

[RussianSensation]

I have Abit IS7 with northbridge fan turned off

2.6@3.2 (246 FSB) running stable without a hickup like yours

I do have an side-window air intake fan though so i guess i do have a fan blowing on it...

Well if your system works good enough without it then the heatsink alone on the NF7 is able to cool it without the fan working then why spend extra $$$?

 

[jdogg707]

I would think it would matter more on the Intel Platform where higher overclocks of the FSB are found. On the NF7-S I turned my fan off and then went to water cooling, it gave me no more of an overclock by going to water.

 

[Dman877]

Many nf2 board manufactors only have a passive heatsink on the NB, abit is a rare exception. Personally I don't think the fan is necessary. The bare heatsink on my leadtek nf2 never got more then slightly warm.