Problem with my chaintech vnf4u board

[clange50]

Ok, its a small problem, but annoying as hell. The small fan has started making some pretty bad noise. It comes and goes, but i had enough screeching and grinding on my old dying P3, i dont need it on my new build.

So, what are my options here? I looked around on the chaintech site and didnt see a way to get ahold of them other than some tech support request form. Should i just use that? I would assume they would replace it, but i need to contact them first. Otherwise, is there a place i can buy a new one or something?

Thanks.

 

[HQee]

if you haven't overclocked your machine (at least not more than HTT 230), then i'm pretty sure that you can run your mobo without a fan (i recommend to remove it completely) and have a quiet (7V) case fan sucking air from the front or side.

First revisions had passive cooling (aluminium ribs) and at sub 300Mhz HTT, heat wasnt an issue. I run my VNF4 (passive cooled) at 283 Mhz HTT and just a single 7V casefan in front of the case. Touched HS and it was barely warm.

I heard that FAN cooling revision boards had different aluminium sink: a smaller one, so running passive might be not as easy as my machine. Still, try to remove FAN, run some stressful applications and make a chipset temperature grahp (if i'm correct, you can use speedfan).

 

[delroy]

i'm pretty sure that you can run your mobo without a fan

you "can" run it without a fan.... but seriously think of how that sounds

 

[HQee]

Originally posted by: delroyyou "can" run it without a fan.... but seriously think of how that sounds

i know. But to prove my point: first revision VNF4 ultra board had a passive cooling (i have too) and worked rock-stable. The reason CTadded a fan was high chipset temperatures at very high HTT frequency (ultra high overclocking, for example xbitlabs fried their mobo at 305HTT, which is ultra high). Anything less 250 and default voltage should work fine. I know its not recommended, but it is easy solution. And then wait for RMA or cooler replacement, if the equipment is under warranty.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Careful ya don`t want to void the warranty while waiting for the part that was under warranty to arrive....lolol

 

[HQee]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
Careful ya don`t want to void the warranty while waiting for the part that was under warranty to arrive....lolol

You can make it simpe: just unplug the chipset fan connector from mobo. Does this void the warranty (if you don't forget to plug it back when returning)? Its a hard way, but I prefer having little higher chipset temperatures (but acceptable) than annoying fan.

 

[GadgetBuilder]

Your chipset cooler with the fan has fins about half the length of those on the original passive cooler so it probably won't work well without a fan running.

One option would be to use SpeedFan to control the fan; you'll need to plug it into the connector labeled "Fan3 Case Fan" located just above the blue IDE connector. This little fan's speed doesn't seem to change the cooling much, less than 1C from 100% to 70%.

A better alternative IMHO would be to replace the cooler with a Zalman NB47J which has enough area to cool it passively. Then, add a fan for some flow across this cooler, similar to this setup using the original passive cooler:

http://www.gadgetbuilder.com/Computer/VNF4%20002S.jpg

This drops the chipset temp about 10C below passive cooling levels. Add a 20 ohm resistor in series with the Panaflo fan to drop the speed and it will be inaudible (it is quiet already). Helps to cool the video card too.

I'm still working on the details, see:
http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=395923

Use SpeedFan or MBM to monitor temps as you fiddle with things so you don't fry a chip...