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Is it a good idea to resit the Northbridge on your mobo with AS5?

Only if you plan to replace the existing NorthBridge cooler with a more effective heatsink or heatsink and fan. If you plan on continuing the deployment of the original heatsink shipped with the motherboard, I see no reason to re-seat it just so you can use Arctic Silver thermal paste.

This is my opinion, based on my own judgment of preferences, costs and benefits. If you want to go to the trouble of getting some AS5 between the Northbridge chip and the factory heatsink, it wouldn't hurt, provided you don't damage anything or otherwise fail to re-install it properly. It just seems like too much trouble unless you want to replace the factory heatsink with another cooler, like a ThermalRight, MicroCool or Swiftech.
 
It certainly can't hurt anything if you are careful. I did it with my passive stock cooler on my Asus P4P800. The arctic silver will definitely transfer more heat than the pink goo from Asus. The pink goo is a PITA to remove but it was worth it for me.....

m 🙂
 
That is not a good idea!

The Northbridge heat sink has a pad around the center area that makes contact with the chip. The pad is meant to not allow the sink to get too close to the board and damage surface-mount components on the Northbridge board during installation of the sink using the clip.

Because of the pad, there is a distance between the sink and the chip. This distance is filled by a thermal tape.

To use Arctic Silver, you need to remove the thermal ape and clean the sink and chip before applying the paste. The problem is that Arctic Silver may not be able to fill the large gap as well as the thermal tape can. The force of the clip may not be enough to completely compress the pad and close the gap.
Unless you remove the pad as well. That is not a good idea either. That pad is there for a reason!

Overall, I don't think it is worth it.
 
Originally posted by: Navid
That is not a good idea!

The Northbridge heat sink has a pad around the center area that makes contact with the chip. The pad is meant to not allow the sink to get too close to the board and damage surface-mount components on the Northbridge board during installation of the sink using the clip.

Because of the pad, there is a distance between the sink and the chip. This distance is filled by a thermal tape.

To use Arctic Silver, you need to remove the thermal ape and clean the sink and chip before applying the paste. The problem is that Arctic Silver may not be able to fill the large gap as well as the thermal tape can. The force of the clip may not be enough to completely compress the pad and close the gap.
Unless you remove the pad as well. That is not a good idea either. That pad is there for a reason!

Overall, I don't think it is worth it.
Click to expand...

What are you smoking? Seriously i want some, it must be strong. They use a thermal pad because it is easy, cheap and fast. Some of hte better manufactureres don't even use a pad, or atleast they didn't. The northbridge heatsink is designed to be just the right size as to touch the northbridge without interfering with other components. I ahve never seen a company use two separate pads on the heatsink, just the thermal tape that holds it on and trys to transfer some of the heat.
 
I am not interested in troll wars!
Whatever you say is correct! I have no objection.


To the original poster:

There is a thermal pad in the center of the heat sink. That is for heat transfer.

There is another pad that is a square but has an opening in the center. This, you can see as a white area on the bottom of the sink in this picture http://www.digital-daily.com/documents/3182/chipset.jpg.
This one is not for heat transfer. This one is there to protect the components that are on the Northbridge board.

I am not a motherboard manufacturer.
What I post in these forums are my personal opinion. I come here to share know-how and learn. I learn everyday. That is why I keep coming back. I may post opinions that are incorrect. Please don't do anything just because of what I post.
 
Originally posted by: Navid
That is not a good idea!

The Northbridge heat sink has a pad around the center area that makes contact with the chip. The pad is meant to not allow the sink to get too close to the board and damage surface-mount components on the Northbridge board during installation of the sink using the clip.

Because of the pad, there is a distance between the sink and the chip. This distance is filled by a thermal tape.

To use Arctic Silver, you need to remove the thermal ape and clean the sink and chip before applying the paste. The problem is that Arctic Silver may not be able to fill the large gap as well as the thermal tape can. The force of the clip may not be enough to completely compress the pad and close the gap.
Unless you remove the pad as well. That is not a good idea either. That pad is there for a reason!

Overall, I don't think it is worth it.
Click to expand...

Although it makes some sense I don't agree that there is a problem here as long as the protection ring pad is removed. Take a look at the photos on this Swiftech NB cooler http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=35-108-022&depa=0 I don't think the compression from the stock or Swiftech clips is going to be great enough to crush the core. You do need to be careful like always when setting sinks.

m 🙂

 
Originally posted by: Mucker

Although it makes some sense I don't agree that there is a problem here as long as the pad is removed. Take a look at this Swiftech NB cooler http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=35-108-022&depa=0 I don't think the compression from the stock or Swiftech clips is going to be great enough to crush the core. You do need to be careful like always when setting sinks.

m 🙂
Click to expand...

The surrounding pad is not there to protect the chip itself. It is there to protect the surface-mount components (resistors and capacitors) that are on the same board as the Northbridge.
 
Originally posted by: Mucker
You better e-mail Swiftech then and tell them to stop selling thier sinks.....

m
Click to expand...

You can do that if you like. I am not associated with Swiftech. As I said, I am not interested in troll wars either.
 
What is your opinion of the Swiftech cooler Navid? Why don't they have a protection pad? Just curious. I reset my stck NB with AS3, it is being cooled just fine and I haven't crushed any resistors or capacitors and I know a few people who have done the same.

m 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Navid
Originally posted by: Mucker
You better e-mail Swiftech then and tell them to stop selling thier sinks.....

m
Click to expand...

You can do that if you like. I am not associated with Swiftech. As I said, I am not interested in troll wars either.
Click to expand...

While I have never replaced a Northbridge myself (doing that tomorrow for the first time) I have plenty of friends and friends of friends who have done it without issue. They all had to remove the pad (one found actual thermal paste in there but I don't remember the board manufactorer) and none had any issues afterwards. Most that I know well used the Zalman passive cooler, not sure what the others used I just know they replaced it without a problem.

I personally don't see how the pad or the grease would be any different in terms of interference with other components. I looked at your linked picture and it does not look like the other northbridge pictures I have seen, for the most part they look as boring as one of the A64 or P4 with the heat spreader on top, just one big flat surface.

-spike
 
My opinion:
I see that it is copper and has no thermal pad. Thermal pad is never as good as Arctic Silver for heat transfer. Copper is better than Aluminum for heat transfer. So, as far as cooling goes, I think this is an excellent cooler, much better than the stock one.
That is my opinion of that cooler.

But, let me add that I would not recommend it to someone I don't know! This person may not be aware of the sensitive components that are on the Northbridge board.
Having seen that protective pad on the stock cooler makes me wonder why they have placed it there. The only reason I can think of is to protect those surface-mount components while you have clipped one side and are forcing the sink to clip the other side.

Please tell me if you know a different reason for that protective pad. Then, I will learn something from you and be grateful to you.
 
I don't disagree with you 🙂, you raise some very good points with the components on the NB. I don't think there is alot of danger here as long as you are careful. There are many aftermarket NB coolers without the protective pad. I am sure the manufactureres are aware of the same issues we are discussing......

m 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Mucker
I don't disagree with you 🙂, you raise some very good points with the components on the NB. I don't think there is alot of danger here as long as you are careful. There are many aftermarket NB coolers without the protective pad. I am sure the manufactureres are aware of the same issues we are discussing......

m 🙂
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:
 
Originally posted by: Navid
But, let me add that I would not recommend it to someone I don't know! This person may not be aware of the sensitive components that are on the Northbridge board.
Click to expand...
While you are correct for the northbridge on that particular Intel mobo, you are wrong with regards the the original poster. If you look at the northbridge for the NF3-250GB, you'll see that there are no exposed components. There are no "protective pads" on any boards using this northbridge. Some manufacturers even use generic white goop instead of pads.
 
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