Mobo chipset fan noise

m_stan

My ABit AI7 motherboard is making a whirring noise when I turn it on - the noise soon stops, but is annoying nonetheless.

I've isolated it to the chipset fan. The board is out of warranty.

What can I do to stop this noise without harming the board, and before it drives me bananas ?!

uberpixie

You could remove the chipset cooler/fan and fit a passive cooler.

Zalman sell passive north bridge coolers, as do many other manufacturers.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/copy_of_Zalman.html

Scroll down the page to find the[size=+1] "ZM-NB47J".

Costs feck all.

You will also need some thermal compound/paste.

Thermal compound will give you better cooling, but at the cost of permanantly glueing the heatsink to your northbridge!

But if you are never going to take off the heatsink....

Also compound takes a while to set. It needs to be heated for hours before it sets properly. So if you are not happy with the mounting of the heatsink you can still move it around a bit at the start.

You might also need some cleaner.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Thermal_Materials_27.html

Have a look here.

Hope that helps.
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Endurance Man

Ye, those northbridge coolers over time becmome very loud. I think and really small fan spinning at high speeds will become loud.
Peats sell that passive zalman cooler, that would do the job. I really dont see the reason companys put fans on the northbridge?/ They really dont get that hot, not hot enough to justify a noisy little fan. Looks more like a novelty.

Dempsey

Overclocking puts the chipset under pressure. They could use a pure copper heatsink w/ heatpipes for the chipset. Maybe a fan that goes at 1500rpm and not 6000 would be nice.