Ok guys...I really need some help here.

[BSC14]

I'm a noob when it comes to hardware so bare with me on this please.

My specs: 2.4c GHZ, ABIT IS7-E, 1GB PC 3200, ATI 9800 non-pro
So my PC starts making noises the other day. At first I thought it was my videocard but after further examining it I realized it was my Northbridge Chipset Fan in my Abit IS7-E motherboard. I want to replace the fan but Abit's site is not working correctly and I can't order the fan. I want to pick up a new one at MicroCenter or Best Buy etc.. but I have no idea what to buy or what I will need....or what will even work with my motherboard. Can you guys please suggest something? Preferably somewhere local that I could pick up this fan. Also does the entire MB need to come out to put on a new one? I'm really clueless.
Thanks a lot guys!

 

[MDE]

What does the fan look like? Is it a short, squat plastic thing or is the heatsink tall and look kinda like a flower?

 

[Lonyo]

I would *guess* it's a basic 40mm fan.
I had the NB fan on my KR7A board die (also Abit), but since the mobo ran fine without it, I didn't replace it.
But the fan was a 40mm thing, with 4 corner screw holes.

 

[BSC14]

Originally posted by: MDE
What does the fan look like? Is it a short, squat plastic thing or is the heatsink tall and look kinda like a flower?

Looks like this:

http://www.abit-usa.com/images/products/IS7-E_lg.jpg

^ The blueish fan.

 

[Todd33]

They sell a fanless replacement, I got one for my HTPC. I think Thermaltake makes it.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: BSC14

Originally posted by: MDE
What does the fan look like? Is it a short, squat plastic thing or is the heatsink tall and look kinda like a flower?

Looks like this:

http://www.abit-usa.com/images/products/IS7-E_lg.jpg

^ The blueish fan.

That's the older version. If you had the new heatsink you could have just unplugged the fan, but you can order one of these.

 

[BSC14]

Originally posted by: MDE

Originally posted by: BSC14

Originally posted by: MDE
What does the fan look like? Is it a short, squat plastic thing or is the heatsink tall and look kinda like a flower?

Looks like this:

http://www.abit-usa.com/images/products/IS7-E_lg.jpg

^ The blueish fan.

That's the older version. If you had the new heatsink you could have just unplugged the fan, but you can order one of these.

I tried but the site keeps refusing my credit cards...yet I know damn well both of them are good.

 

[DerKaiser]

I would definitely recommend a Zalman northbridge heatsink without a fan. Can be found here. It will solve the problem permanently. Note it is fairly tall so you need to have clearance obviously.

 

[DerKaiser]

Also does the entire MB need to come out to put on a new one?

You can probably just pull on the pins of the existing hsf to remove it. However, you will almost certainly damage the plastic hsf pins. It is safer to remove the whole board to do it. You then reduce the risk of damaging your motherboard.

 

[BSC14]

Originally posted by: DerKaiser
I would definitely recommend a Zalman northbridge heatsink without a fan. Can be found here. It will solve the problem permanently. Note it is fairly tall so you need to have clearance obviously.

That would be great but from what I understand it doesn't have the typicial way of bolting on the board.

I saw this but not sure what to make of it:

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...word1=Northbridge+Fan+

One guy says:

"The one thing that I noticed with the Zalman heatsink is that the IS7 mobo doesn't have any mounting holes. At least on mine, it has special mounts that are designed for the heatsink that comes with it. Did anyone find a way around this?"

Oh....what to do?

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: BSC14

Originally posted by: DerKaiser
I would definitely recommend a Zalman northbridge heatsink without a fan. Can be found here. It will solve the problem permanently. Note it is fairly tall so you need to have clearance obviously.

That would be great but from what I understand it doesn't have the typicial way of bolting on the board.

I saw this but not sure what to make of it:

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...word1=Northbridge+Fan+

One guy says:

"The one thing that I noticed with the Zalman heatsink is that the IS7 mobo doesn't have any mounting holes. At least on mine, it has special mounts that are designed for the heatsink that comes with it. Did anyone find a way around this?"

Oh....what to do?

You could get some Arctic Silver Epoxy and glue the thing to the northbridge.

 

[DerKaiser]

That would be great but from what I understand it doesn't have the typicial way of bolting on the board.

Oops, that would be a problem then. The NB47 doesn't come with adhesive compound. However, the older ZM-NB32 heatsink comes with adhesive thermal compound. It's up to you whether you want to permanently attach the heatsink.

 

[wisdomtooth]

to the OP:

I also experienced the same problem you did. I have an Abit IC-7.

Basically, that NB fan just needs to be cleaned out and lubed. You have to unscrew it from the NB heatsink, clean off the dust bunnies, peel off the sticker on the back carefully (so you can re-stick it later), add a bit of plastic-friendly light machine oil into the exposed fan spindle, re-stick the sticker, then rescrew the fan onto the NB heatsink. That's a stopgap solution though.

For a more permanent solution, you have to solder a 100-ohm, 0.5-watt resistor into the red power wire. What that does is drop the fan RPM from the default screaming 5500 (!) all the way down to about 2000rpm, and will save a lot of wear and tear on the fan. Side benefit is that your computer will also be a lot quieter. The heatsink is plenty big enough, so decreasing the fan speed won't detract from the NB cooling very much. Not a concern unless you overclock.

I have the resistor soldered onto my NB fan. Works beautifully.

HTH.

 

[Mullzy]

I have the same problem with my IC7. Picture

Wisdomtooth,

Is the pictured fan above the exact same one you described taking apart? I took the fan off of the heatsink the other day was wasn't sure exactly where/what to lubricate. I didn't take the fan itself apart, just sorta "pulled" the fins as far away from the base as possible and blew some compressed air into it. I didn't do anything with a sticker and I couldn't find a away to take the fan apart to actually see inside it. I was too scared of forcing something and breaking it.

I then also set fanmate to run the fan at 50% (for me about 3100 rpm) but I still want a more permanent fix.

I would love to lube it up... can you comment more specifically on what you did to take it apart?

 

[wisdomtooth]

Hi Mullzy,

That is exactly the fan I have, and yes you can disassemble it. The fan is held onto the heatsink by three screws. Unscrew the three screws and the fan comes off. On the back of the fan, peel back the sticker and it will reveal the spindle. That's where you should lube.

3100rpm is fine. As long as your spindle is lubed and the dust bunnies cleaned off, you are set.

HTH!

 

[Mullzy]

Great!

I was looking for something to take off the top of the fan... not the bottom.

Those retention arms on the heatsink are REALLY annoying so I was a little worried about taking it off again, but I think I'll risk when I do some major cleaning in a couple days.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

My northbridge fan on my Abit mobo died. Replaced it with a Zalman heatsink, problem solved. It cost me something like $9 CDN... simple!

 

[wisdomtooth]

The newer Abit orb-type NB fansink is actually heftier and has more surface area than the Zalman NB47J. I would use the Abit fansink over the Zalman.

 

[Mullzy]

Is there a Zalman that uses the same retention clip system that the Abit NB uses? I have a CNPS7000A-AlCu on my P4 and I'm not even sure some of the Zalman passive heatsinks would fit without taking a hacksaw to a couple fins.

Now that I know how to clean/lube my current one I think I'll be fine.