Thinking of replacing my chipset coolers for fanless/silent operation

[faxon]

back story: i just ordered $200 in replacment cooling supplies and case modding supplies from frozenCPU, and i was already planning on ordering more when my paycheck got deposited today (which was 4 hours ago). due to how much overtime i worked last week, i got paid triple what i normally do each week, and i was thinking of tossing some of it at making my system even quieter than it is about to become with all the yate loons + fan controller im throwing in it. the board is an XFX 680i LT, which means standard block heatsink + 40mm fan on northbridge, and super skinny heatsink+fan on the southbridge so it fits under a video card.

now, my goal is to completely remove the two biggest noise sources from my system, being these 2 fans. the 40mm fan on the northbridge is pretty much dead anyway, as it will only spin up if i jump start it. northbridge stays cool enough without it, but i might as well replace it to be on the safe side. the southbridge cooler however is a pain in the ass, and the thing is a piece of shit to boot. so, what i want to do is replace the northbridge cooler with an HR5/IFX, and the southbridge cooler with an HR-05SLI/IFX so it fits along side my 9800GTX. i already have an 80mm tricool 3 speed fan running at low rpm that's blowing into the 9800GTX, so i might as well pop it onto a cooler and put it to use, and i can run the northbridge cooler fanless since it's in close proximity to my CPU cooler which will soon have push/pull low speed fans mounted on it so i can get higher CFM with lower fan speeds, so airflow across this cooler wont be an issue.

so, any thoughts on these coolers performance wise? the bases on both look pretty rough, but i will probably lap them anyway just for the sake of it, and since i have a few boxes of spare sandpaper, including 20 sheets of 1500 grit, just lying in my case modding supplies box. my only concern would be if the base on the SLI is thin enough to fit under my video card. i know it's designed to do so, but i dont want to sink $25 on it to have it not fit


ed: also, has anyone had any compatibility issues with these coolers on i7 and AM2+/AM3 boards? i'm planning on building a system based on a quad core in Q3/Q4 sometime and i would most likely transfer these coolers to it when the time comes

links to coolers:
http://www.frozencpu.com/produ..._Cooler.html?tl=g40c16
http://www.frozencpu.com/produ..._Cooler.html?tl=g40c16

 

[Zap]

I don't know if it will fit in your particular situation, but I have an HR-05 (original 70mm version, not IFX 80mm version) and it was a great passive cooler. I've used Zalman passive chipset coolers before and those can't hold a candle to the Thermalrights.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I've used the conventional HR-05 on mobo's for the socket-478.

My view is this, though:

If you have one of the newer motherboards that are LGA775, DDR2 or DDR3, fitted with some sort of heatpipe necklace that snakes through the NB heatsink, it's better to leave . . . the necklace . . . . alone! Leave Brittany A-lone!

Some of those mobos are prefitted for watercooling the NB. If the board just provides an aluminum heatsink -- no pipes -- fitted exclusively to the NB, then in that case . . .

DOOO ITT!!

You say :

XFX 680i LT, which means standard block heatsink + 40mm fan on northbridge

My 680i has the "necklace" -- copper-heatpipes.

Also -- if you want to spend time in the tedium of designing and fitting foam-board ducts to your motherboard, you should be able to make a small ducting mod that fits to the NB heatsink and ports to part of an exhaust-fan intake. I think even the "Bernoulli effect" of air running past a tube at the intake mouth of an exhaust fan might be sufficient. More direct suction -- or just putting the tube to fit over a portion of the fan's intake side -- should be more than enough to outperform a 40mm fan mounted directly to the NB-sink. And if you want to go totally anal-retentive with your exacto-knife and foam-safe glue, the results would only improve for a similar duct fitted to the HR-05 and ported to exhaust.

 

[SparkyJJO]

My HR-05 rocks.

 

[PCTC2]

Originally posted by: BonzaiDuck
I've used the conventional HR-05 on mobo's for the socket-478.

My view is this, though:

If you have one of the newer motherboards that are LGA775, DDR2 or DDR3, fitted with some sort of heatpipe necklace that snakes through the NB heatsink, it's better to leave . . . the necklace . . . . alone! Leave Brittany A-lone!

Some of those mobos are prefitted for watercooling the NB. If the board just provides an aluminum heatsink -- no pipes -- fitted exclusively to the NB, then in that case . . .

DOOO ITT!!

You say :

XFX 680i LT, which means standard block heatsink + 40mm fan on northbridge

My 680i has the "necklace" -- copper-heatpipes.

Also -- if you want to spend time in the tedium of designing and fitting foam-board ducts to your motherboard, you should be able to make a small ducting mod that fits to the NB heatsink and ports to part of an exhaust-fan intake. I think even the "Bernoulli effect" of air running past a tube at the intake mouth of an exhaust fan might be sufficient. More direct suction -- or just putting the tube to fit over a portion of the fan's intake side -- should be more than enough to outperform a 40mm fan mounted directly to the NB-sink. And if you want to go totally anal-retentive with your exacto-knife and foam-safe glue, the results would only improve for a similar duct fitted to the HR-05 and ported to exhaust.

The 680i LT actually has 2 separate NB/SB heatsinks and VRM heatsinks, so he'd be fine.