MSI K8N Neo4 Plat North bridge fan replacement.

[opulent]

I have a MSI K8N Neo4 Platninum board and I want to replace the North bridge fan, it is way to loud, maybe it is dieing.

I'd like to find some reasonably quiet replacement for it.

My ATI X800XL card is pretty close to it, and I don't think a heatsink alone will have enough clearance.

Anyone have any recommendations?

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

If this reply servers no other purpose but a bump, so be it.

In my research about motherboard cooling, sinking the mainboard, sinking mosfets via Google, i did read about modding a VGA after market HSF to the NB on your board type.
It was not all that hard to do. The guy had to remove two fins(iirc) and drill two holes inorder to install a hi-end copper HSF.
Check the hole center demention on your NB HS, then take a look at whats out there. You might get lucky and find an after market VGA HSF that fits. I installed a cut down PIII HSF on an EPS 755 A-2 NB. The hole centers were the same,just a bit larger. I bushed the holes with short bits of 5/32" brass tubing that i had at hand.


...Galvanized

 

[Zepper]

A good passive heatsink from Zalman or Coolermaster would serve you better, IMO. If you really determine that you need active cooling, get a Zalman fan bracket and aim a standard fan at it... The fans that come on that type of HS are usually crap and don't last long.

.bh.

 

[opulent]

Thanks that helps a bit, I am not great at modding things myself so I think what you said Zepper is my best bet. My box is pretty cool, my cpu stays around 30 degrees. But I am planning on overclocking soon and I am wondering will that make my northbirdge run hotter too or just the CPU. Because if the northbridge doesn't get much hotter I feel pretty comfortable just going with a passive heatsink since my box is so cool.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

If you are going to OC and if you are going to change the HSF, if you haven't already,
consider a horizontil to the mainboard HSF that uses a 120mm fan. This will activly cool a passive NB HS.

Just a thought.


...Galvanized

 

[bigpow]

I've a Zalman NB47j on top of my northbridge (MSI Neo4 SLI)
Gets a bit warm, but really helps with the noise