Replacing my northbridge fan problem

dent

Hi
I own an abit IC7 and the northbridge fan has started to make a huge amount of noise, something I discovered that a lot of IC7 boards suffer from. I went ahead and bought the Zalman NB47J. However my board does have the required
holes so I either have to mod the board, example here

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=183533&highlight=NB47J

or fit it with Thermal epoxy.

Has anyone modded there board to do this? Is it hard?

Where in Dublin could I buy some Thermal Epoxy? I checked online with a few stores i.e. Peats and Elara and no luck.

Thanks for any help

Inspector Gadget

dent:
Motherboards tend to have upwards of four layers of PCB tracks (i.e. circuit pathways): one on top, one on the bottom, and the rest form a sort of "circuit board sandwich" in the middle. What this means for you is that (short of fairly high-resolution x-rays, or the schematics for your board) there's no way of knowing if you're going to slice through one or more of these tracks no matter where you try to place a hole, so my advice is don't - this leaves you with gluing, or modifying whatever retention mechanism is already there.

On the subject of gluing, I bought one of those Zalman northbridge sinks for my POS a while back (an NB32J) - I remember getting thermal epoxy in the box with it (I think it was a two-parter, in syringes???) - it's weird that the NB47 doesn't come with the same...

[edit]Another thing - you could try a TIM pad? They go very sticky when heated, could be a neat solution? Maplin code A44AN is an example tha might fit the bill; anyone have experience with trying this???[/edit]

Hope this helps,
Gadget

dent

Thanks for the tip Gadget,
They have thermal glu here
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Thermal_Materials_27.html

seems pretty expensive but I might not have a choice.

unkel

@dent - thermal glue or either the elegant solution by Sir Random or the crude but working solution by myself in the link you provided above

dent

Thanks Unkel
I reckon I'm just going to chicken out on both approachs and just get some thermal glu. Hitide have some in stock so its time to order

unkel

LOL, I created the clips myself because I couldn't find thermal glue in the shops either and I was too impatient to order it online

Neuro

dent wrote:

Hi
I own an abit IC7 and the northbridge fan has started to make a huge amount of noise, something I discovered that a lot of IC7 boards suffer from.

Freaky, I have the exact same problem. My IC7-G is just over two months old and last week the Northbridge fan started acting up. It makes a terrible grinding noise for thirty seconds or so when the PC is started before subsiding.

I checked out the fan speeds and it turns out that when it's grinding it's spinning at c. 3800 RPM, but when the noise ceases it's spinning at it's proper speed of c. 5600 RPM. I don't think it will be long before it finally dies.

Where did you read that this was a common problem with IC7 boards? I'd be interested in reading more about it if you could forward any relevent links.

I think an active HSF assembly on a NB is overkill to be honest. It's probably more to do with pretty-but-not-really-necessary board features that appeal to 3lit3 overclockers than it is with good board design.

jonski

When mine went I googled it and came back with loads of hits . Then when I mailed them I got what seemed like a std response .

If your Northbridge chipset fan does not work properly or produces a high level of noise.
Or the OTES fan is faulty, if you have MAX3 series board.

You do able to get a free replacement fan from us, if you have this board for less than 12 months.

Please send a Stamped self Addressed jiffy bag (at least A5 size) to the address below.
Also, attach a covering letter which stats the serial number of the board and the requirement of the replacement fan.

There are three places likely to have the serial number attached.
1, The surface of the board. I.e. KV7 or KD7A.
2, The PCI slot5, i.e. IC7 series, AN7, NF7 series, IS7 series etc.
3, The back of the board, i.e. IC7 series, IC7MAX3.

However, It should look like IC7--$*$******, IC7G-$*$****** or IS7--$*$******
or AN7--$*$******. The $ will be alphabet character, the * will be numeric character.
There should be a copy of serial number on the colour box as well. However, sometimes the serial number on the box could be different from the board as the box can be changed.
Fail to provide the serial number, we will reserve the right of whether sending the fan.

If you request the Northbridge fan for IC7 or IS7 series, please use 3 first class stamps for U.K. mainland.
Others, one or two first class stamps will do.

You should receive the fan within a week time. If not, please email us to verify the delivery.
However, please note that Abit is not responsible for the delay of parcel if there has any industrial actions taken by the post office workers.

Please note that above service applies to U.K. mainland ONLY.



Email: technical@abitcomputer.co.uk
Abit Computer Corp. Ltd.
Tech. Dept.
Unit 3, 24-26
Boulton Road
Stevenage
Herts SG1 4QX

John

dent

Neuro wrote:

Where did you read that this was a common problem with IC7 boards? I'd be interested in reading more about it if you could forward any relevent links.

I went to the abit forums website

http://forum.abit-usa.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=6

and did a search for the probelm I was having. It seems loads of people have the same problem. Its a great board and I have no idea why they didn't add a passive heatsink.

dent

unkel wrote:

LOL, I created the clips myself because I couldn't find thermal glue in the shops either and I was too impatient to order it online

The glu arrived today from Hitide. Had a look on the arctic silver website and the stuff is highly conductive :eek: So I'll have to be careful.

Should get round to it on monday. Finally I'll have some piece and quite.

dent

Fitted the new heatsink last night using the glu. It worked a charm and finally that horrible wining noise has been put to rest.

unkel

dent wrote:

Fitted the new heatsink last night using the glu. It worked a charm and finally that horrible wining noise has been put to rest.

Nice one, dent

For me the Northbridge temps went slightly down under full load (heavily o/c'd p4c3000) and never reached the extremes they reached before under sustained full load

dent

unkel wrote:

Nice one, dent

For me the Northbridge temps went slightly down under full load (heavily o/c'd p4c3000) and never reached the extremes they reached before under sustained full load

Idle its definantly running at lower temps. Hoping this will drop as the glu settles more. Didn't have a chance to stress it out so I'm going play a bit of Far Cry tonight and see how it copes.

Just installed an Arctic Freezer 4 cpu cooler so I'll have to start overclocking my P4 3.0Ghz. Think the cooler is more for silent running but it has to better than the stock one for overclocking.