So my Northbridge fan on my IS7-G is dying...

[geno]

Just this morning it started making a horrible whining noise, I don't know if it's dying or not, all I know is that it's too loud to stay. I tried cleaning it up good to make sure it wasn't dust making noise, but it's sparking clean and it's still making the noise. Does anyone have some suggestions as to what I could replace it with? Something quiet and cheap

 

[wisdomtooth]

You need to do two things:

1) LUBE THE SPINDLE.

2) PUT IT ON A FAN CONTROLLER TO SLOW IT DOWN.

Only then will it run quiet. I'm speaking from experience as an Abit owner.

HTH.

 

[geno]

Thanks, is lubing the spindle as easy as spreading some grease on the fan's shaft?

I've heard that the NB fan's on many Abit boards are prone to this, I guess I'm a victim too eh?

 

[wisdomtooth]

To lube the spindle, you have to peel back the sticker on the back of the fan to expose the spindle. Drop a bit of 3-in-1 or motor oil or some other plastic-friendly lubricant in there. USE ONLY A TEENY BIT. Too much will attract dust and dirt.

Re-stick the sticker, reassemble the fan, remount the HSF using thermal grease. Plug the fan in through a fan controller like a Zalman Fanmate, and voila! You are done.

Yep, pretty much all of the mobos (not just Abit) that uses active NB cooling will run into NB fan trouble sooner or later. If you think we Abit owners have it bad, you should see those Asus saps... The NB fan on the Asus A8N boards spin at a ludicrous 8000RPM! (They've gone plaid!) :laugh:

 

[imported_Kensai]

Maybe a Thermaltake Extreme Chipset cooler sent down to low?

 

[Operandi]

If the bearing is making noise the fans already damaged. You can re-lubricate it but it's a short term fix. If you a want a permanent 0 dBA solution I'd say throw a passive Zalman heat sink on the chipset.

LINK

 

[geno]

Awesome, thanks for the help everyone!

 

[Tiamat]

for the cost of the zalman fanmate, why dont you just get the zalman NB47 passive cooler?

 

[wisdomtooth]

There are two versions of the Abit IS7 NB fansink... The earlier one is teeny, and replacing it with a Zalman NB47J might be a good idea.

If Geno there has the later version of the IS7 fansink (the orb-type), it is actually bigger and heftier than the NB47J. That one is worth pairing up with a fanmate.

I've been running a relube'd IC7 orb-type fansink for the past year and a half, slowed down via resistor. Superior performance to an NB47J.

 

[geno]

I have the orb type, circular HS with the fan sunk into the middle of it

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: wisdomtooth
There are two versions of the Abit IS7 NB fansink... The earlier one is teeny, and replacing it with a Zalman NB47J might be a good idea.

If Geno there has the later version of the IS7 fansink (the orb-type), it is actually bigger and heftier than the NB47J. That one is worth pairing up with a fanmate.

I've been running a relube'd IC7 orb-type fansink for the past year and a half, slowed down via resistor. Superior performance to an NB47J.

Superior from a cooling perspective but inferior in terms of noise, odds are the fan is useless. Most north bridges don't even benefit from being actively cooled. Intel arguably makes the best MBs in the industry and most if not all of them have passively cooled north bridges.

 

[wisdomtooth]

The resistor slowed it down enough that my NB fan runs quietly. It does work better than the Zalman NB47J, and on top of that, I have no choice-- I went back to the Abit orb cooler because the NB47J cannot fit under the Thermalright XP90.

This is NOT a unique problem that only I experience. If you want a quiet system, you WILL have to use an oversize heatsink on the IC7/IS7, and invariably the Zalman NB47J WILL NOT WORK in such a situation.

You guys know what an anti-noise freak I am around here. It works dandy. :laugh:

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: wisdomtooth
The resistor slowed it down enough that my NB fan runs quietly. It does work better than the Zalman NB47J, and on top of that, I have no choice-- I went back to the Abit orb cooler because the NB47J cannot fit under the Thermalright XP90.

You guys know what an anti-noise freak I am around here. It works dandy. :laugh:

That works for you in your situation but that doesn?t mean its the best option for geno. Most north bridges are actively cooled when they don't need to be, if passive cooling is an option it's the way to go.

 

[wisdomtooth]

You gotta admit however, that it won't hurt anything to have a functioning NB fan.

 

[geno]

Well I ordered a replacement from Abit, I'm wondering if I should've just gotten the Zalman, but whatever. This old fan is driving me nuts though! Sounds like a bumble bee If I'm not doing anything too intense is it ok to unplug that fan for a few days?

 

[wisdomtooth]

Just lube the dang thing. Takes 5 minutes and costs you nothing.

And if you have no way of slowing down that replacement fan, it will still make the same rattling noises after a few months!