Ripping off a northbridge fan - bad idea?

[Huzzah]

I have a dead northbridge fan on my Asus AV7266-E mobo, and I also have a Zalman northbridge cooler I wish to replace it with. Problem is, I believe the current fan is fastened to the mobo, and I've been told the best way to get it off its to completely remove the motherboard and "unclasp" it from the back.

Thing is, I'm a very lazy man and the thought of disconencting everything on the motherboard just to get this small fan off irks me. It doens't seem to be on there too tight, and I'm contemplating just tearing the sucker off of there. Do I risk the possibility of damaging anything besides my dead fan?

 

[Matthias99]

Um, in short, yes. You could damage the NB chip itself if you end up applying uneven pressure on it while "tearing the sucker off", or you could cause fractures in the middle layers of the motherboard from the strain (which can screw lots of things up).

 

[Fern]

IF it is similar to the NF7 series, it will use little white plastic pins. The ends can be "pinched" with pliers, and therefor compressed, to allow the pins to be inserted.

If that's what you got, the alternative to removing the mobo is to clip off the ends of the retaining pins, and push them through to the back of the mobo. You'll then need extra pins, though, to install the new NB heatsink/fan.

 

[imported_Mactron]

Ripping that sucker off of there could be as disastrous as correctly stated above. If your truly lazy and a bit of a gambler.* Most of the mounting tabs/posts are plastic/nylon. You might be able to clip off the head of the posts from above. Remove the HSF and then further clip the posts so the remainder will fall back through the MOBO. Being plastic they won't short anything out. Be sure you have new posts and or pressure springs with the new HSF to replace the ones you cut. Good luck... Ah Craps !!! LOL

* Caveat: I didn't tell you to do this.

Edit add: guess I'm a slower typist than I thought.

 

[So]

Bad call man, bad call

 

[Huzzah]

Ok, ok. You've all scared me sufficiently. I'm now in the process of removing the mobo. <sigh>

Thanks for all of the feedback, though!

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Generally when working with computers and stuff fastened to computers if something is described with ripping that sucker off is a bad idea. Just take your mobo off it'll be good practice and give you good oppurtunity to organize your cables a little better.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Generally when working with computers and stuff fastened to computers if something is described with ripping that sucker off is a bad idea. Just take your mobo off it'll be good practice and give you good oppurtunity to organize your cables a little better.

 

[OverVolt]

I understand, when you totally assemble a PC and go *"Doh!"* because you didnt align to mobo right after putting the entire thing together makes ya sick of going back inside the PC 1-2-3-4 times.

 

[Huzzah]

Well, it worked like a charm. Unhooked everything after taking careful notes where it should all be replaced to, unattached all cables, unseated mobo from case, popped out old NB fan, installed new NB heatsink, re-mounted mobo to case. Then I realize that the new main heatsink I had also purchased required some mounting on the underside of the mobo as well. D'oh! Disassembled, then reassembled everything together again.

Where my processor was hovering around 62C before, it's now at a chilled 42C.