Neo2 Platinum cooling

[2kfire]

I have an MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum. I had recently purchased a VF700-CU for my 6600GT and a Sonic Tower for my CPU. The CPU cooler makes NO noise and the GPU cooler makes very little noise. Still, my computer was too loud for me. I could hear this high-pitched whining sound. I suspected my chipset cooler, so I stopped it to see if I could hear a difference. Well, I could. I decided I'd change it. Here are pics of the cooler and the chipset after removing the chipset:
Cooler
Chipset

As you can imagine, this solution, on top of being noisy, didn't cool very well. 1, it's aluminum. 2, there are no fins under the fan, just on the outside. 3, there's very little thermal compound on the chip!
I was thinking about using the Zalman ZM-NB47J. Then, I noticed a Geforce MX4000 card I had laying around. I noticed it had a passive heatsink on it, so I decided to use it instead. That saved me about $15!
Unfortunately, the mounting holes didn't line up. They were located where the red circles are in this pic:
Original location

My solution was to clip the little mounting holes off (they looked like little ears). At first, I tried to solder the little ears where they should go, but I couldn't. Then, I noticed some metal epoxy on a bookshelf. So, I used it. It worked great! Now, I have a Geforce MX4000 cooler cooling my chipset. It is noiseless, and my temps have dropped. With the MSI cooler, I would get between 42-45 celsius (depending on load, day/nighttime, etc). After replacing it, my temps are 10 degrees cooler.
Here is a pic of it in my system now:
Geforce heatsink on MSI nforce3 MCP


If you're wondering how I am now cooling the Geforce MX4000, I managed to mount a stock athlonXP cooler on to it that I had laying around after replacing it with a Silent Boost. Will post pics of THAT some other time.

 

[Operandi]

Good work.

The nForce3 should never have had active cooling to begin with.

 

[JEDIYoda]

nice solution!!

 

[2kfire]

Originally posted by: Operandi
Good work.

The nForce3 should never have had active cooling to begin with.

Agreed!

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
nice solution!!

Thanks!

 

[Ike0069]

Wow, nice job. I was thinking of replacing the chipset cooler on my Neo2, but haven't ever gotten around to it.

So no problems with the passive cooler, huh. That's very good news.

 

[mdkinsal]

smart

 

[potato28]

Nice job, and I feel like making a custom cooler like that. I'll show u when I become rich again. Stupid job that I have...

 

[mdkinsal]

lol

 

[Icepick]

Very nice job. I'm going to have to try this with mine now. I hate noise.

 

[RHITee05]

I also have a Neo2 whose NB fan was annoying me. I did a similar quieting project over the summer. I put a VF700-CU on my 9800 Pro and replaced the NB fan with the ZM-NB47J you thought about using. Works like a charm and MUCH quieter. The only catch was I had to clip a handful of the fins so it'd clear my graphics card (out of the fins that stick up higher, I clipped about 20-25% down to the lower height). No trouble with a pair of diagonal cutters.

I haven't had any trouble with stability on my rig running at fairly moderate OC (220 HT). Haven't pushed it too hard though, so it may have taken off a little headroom. I plan to test that out soon, since I've been thinking about getting one of the s939 Opterons (165 or 170) and I'll need a fairly high HTT to OC it properly.

Eric

 

[RHITee05]

Thought I'd post a quick followup to my previous post. I've been playing with my computer all night, testing the OC limits for my different components. I'm currently running rock-solid at 300 HTT (I made it up to 315, but Prime95 had errors), so I don't think the passive cooling is doing much to limit the OCing abilities of the Neo2. The BIOS is a little flakey sometimes, but I do love the performance of this board!

 

[2kfire]

Thanks for the compliments everyone! Really, it was a fun, easy project, and it made a big difference. Those little fans make quite a racket, and the 'heatsink' under them is basically a fancied up piece of tin . As long as you have decent case flow/cooling you will probably get better temps using a better passive heatsink than the cheap active one that comes on this (and other) board(s). Like I said in my original post, my temps are around 10 Celsius cooler and all I have for case flow is the 1 120mm that comes with my case. For those thinking of trying something similar, or using the Zalman, go for it! You will be happy you did!

 

[suszterpatt]

I can attest, I replaced the chipset cooler with the Zalman ZM-NB47J on my Neo2 and the temps are exactly the same.



Question: you mention that you have a 6600GT with a VF-700Cu. What manufacturer made the card, and what was the noise difference between its stock cooling and the Zalman? I have a Leadtek 6600GT and I'm not sure if I should spend the money on the VF-700.

 

[2kfire]

I use the VF700 in "normal" mode and it is still quieter than the stock cooler. Load temps are A LOT better. I used to get up to 80 celsius, now, around 65. Reason I use it in normal mode is because the fan blows on my Sonic Tower as well, so I can run the sonic tower fanless and keep my CPU cool.

 

[suszterpatt]

Wait a sec... shouldn't the VF-700 fan be facing away from the CPU?



Also, which manufacturer is your vid card from? Mine's a Leadtek, which is supposed to be one of the most silent ones.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Look closely his fan is pointed away from the CPU....he has the Silent Tower heatsink on his CPU...lol

 

[2kfire]

This pic shows the overhang MUCH better VF700cu overhangThe fan blows air through the VF700CU and onto my Sonic (not silent) tower. The ONLY reason I run my VF700CU in normal mode is to cool my CPU as well. And my vid card is an XFX. The leadtek is supposedly the quietest stock cooler on the 6600GTs. Mine was pretty loud, so it was a big difference, but you should get a difference too, especially if you run it in silent mode. In silent mode, with decent case cooling (i.e. an exhaust fan), you should still get better temps than the stock cooler. In silent mode my GPU stayed cooler than with the stock cooler (can't remember how much cooler, but it WAS cooler), but my CPU was warmer.
Edit: Updated link