NorthBridge Cooler - Zalman ZM-NB47J and ZM-NB32J - Which is best

[Herkulese]

I have an EPOX 8RDA (not +) and am interested in improving the Northbridge cooling from that big slug of a heatsink that EPOX uses, and I also want to add some Southbridge cooling.

Both the Zalman ZM-NB47J and ZM-NB32J come highly recommended, and both seem to do significantly better job of cooling than the stock Active Northbridge cooling fan systems used on many boards.

Are these as good as the reviews make them sound, and which of the two is actually the best cooler?

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

do you have this passive type heatsink?:
http://www.frazpc.pl/pliki/2002/artykuly/art181/ficau13_007.jpg

or do you have the active one? if you have the passive one those zalmans won't be that huge of an increase from what you already had. your better off getting something active.

 

[Herkulese]

AWhackWhiteBoy

I have the round aluminum passive heatsink, that is almost solid, with few large fins.

 

[RussianSensation]

I would imagine since the 47 version is larger in size, it has a better surface area for dissipation and more cooling fins and thus should offer better cooling performance.

 

[Herkulese]

Bump.......

Which one of these heat sinks cools the best?

 

[Soulkeeper]

dangerden.com has new copper northbridge waterblocks that might fit

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

Originally posted by: Herkulese
AWhackWhiteBoy

I have the round aluminum passive heatsink, that is almost solid, with few large fins.

oh wow i always thought that had a fan in it.

what do you want to do with it that merits better cooling? depending, i found the nforce "meat cleaver" to be uneffective and i had to get activing cooling. and my old stock heatsink was very similar to those zalman.

 

[Herkulese]

"what do you want to do with it that merits better cooling?"

Keep in mind that this is a rev 1 board and does not support 400mhz FSB, and I want to run my FSB at 185 or better. At 185, the system is stable but the existing NB heat sink gets hot (not dissipating efficiently), and the unprotected SB is very hot.

My plan is to put the Zalman on the NB and move the existing Heat Sink to the SB, and to cool them both down as best I can, without adding more fans.

Yes, my PC 2700 ram could also be holding me back, but If I need to run a-sink (Flame Away) to get the FSB up higher, I will give it a try, and so some Benchmarking to see if there is any net gain.

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/thnb.html, i have it installed, performes as good or better than the $40 solutions because it uses a high grade delta fan. does the job.

i found my nforce 400 ultra NB got way too hot with the traditional passive cooler(roughly equal to that zalman) at 225. very happy with this nb cooler.

 

[Herkulese]

AWhackWhiteBoy

Can you repost that link, the original one is broken.

Thanks

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

" i'm not sure of the old nforce nb heat output but i might recommend active cooling with this unit "

is what i meant to post

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

that web site doesn't offer very good pictures, i already have pictures uploaded,so here are the links for pics of that heatsink.

one
two

 

[Herkulese]

AWhackWhiteBoy

Thanks for the link, and for the pictures.
that is one of the nicer, simpler fan mounted units that I have seen.

BTW I assume that the big fan next to the NB is your CPU and the other one is your rear case fan.

What sizes are those monsters anyway?