replacement Northbridge cooler?

[Biggerhammer]

So my fresh-from-RMA motherboard has an intermittent buzz like a coffee grinder. When I reach in and physicaly stop the northbridge fan, the buzz is gone.

I don't overclock. I like silence. I may wind up watercooling some time but not yet. The board is an MSI K8N Neo-4 wearing an Athlon/64 3500. One gig of Ram, cheapo vidcard. Primary use is light gaming.

So, I'm looking at replacing the tiny little buzz-fan (and the rest of the little heatsink). What would you replace it with?

 

[oddyager]

Some people have replaced their fans with a Zalman NB heatsink... though if your VGA card hangs over it you'll probably have to snap off a few pins. It's worked pretty well.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

I wasn't wanting for hits when I Googled MSI nothbridge fan

You are not alone. Do a search of our Motherboards forum. There are several threads dedicated to the NB of your board.

Zalman passive will work but might get in the way of the graphics card as stated above.

Some install the Vantec Iceberg in copper or aluminum.

If you just want to replace the 40x10mm fan. That is the fan size, is it not?
allelectronics.com has new PIII HSFs for $2.50. The fan is a high quality BB that draws .04A
and is not load at 12V. It has a sensor wire.


...Galvanized

 

[Zap]

I would go the Zalman route and remove pins as needed.

 

[TheBearingEdge]

If you have a case fan blowing from the front over your northbridge, DEFINITELY go passive. I got a Coolermaster Blue Ice 2 and, while it does a much better job of active cooling than the stock piece of crap on my mobo, having an intake fan blowing over it while passive keeps my nForce4 Ultra at a frosty 27C under load (and the AS5 was applied just 30 minutes ago!!!).

The path of cool air flowing through your case will determine whether or not you just get a zalman passive or an active hs/f.

Hopefully this comment isn't extraneous!!!!

 

[Nocturnal]

If your board is compatible, get the Zalman NB47J.