Northbridge Heatsink

[justinstraub]

Hi Everyone,

I have an Abit KR7A, when I start up the computer the northbridge fan is very loud and makes a grinding noise. When the fan goes out eventually can I use a passive heatsink on the northbridge? Or does it need a active cooler to stay cool enough?

 

[FlowerMan]

My Passive heatsink

What I did with the fan

If you have good airflow within your case (75+CFM in AND out), then you should be fine with a passive heatsink like mine on your northbridge. Remember, if you notice any instability, put a fan on the northbridge heatsink BTW, that's an 45mm sq. Alpha wing fin heatsink from www.2cooltek.com held on with some Arctic Alumina Thermal Epoxy. The fan is glued to the 2 caps next to it

 

[Kuroyama]

Mine had the same problem, the grinding noise of that little fan drowned out the noise of all my other fans. I lubricated mine and this got rid of the noise.

Just remove the fan, peel back the label, put a few drops of mineral oil in, spin the fan to distribute the oil, put the label back on (real good, don't want oil on your mobo), and you're set. If you're worried about the oil getting on things then you could plug the fan into the mobo header and run it a little pointed at some cardboard or other surface just to make sure nothing comes out.

 

[justinstraub]

Aright.

Thanks for the help,

Justin Straub