Where to get a passive Northbridge cooler

secret_squirrel

Coz the sound from mine is driving me mad.

Also if anyone has got speedfan working with an Abit NF7 let me know....

Col_Loki

Never had much luck with speedfan myself, just adjusted the fans via controller/PSU.

As far as i remember peats/maplins were very expensive for a little passive cooler and it was cheaper to get it online.

www.hitide.ie should work out the cheapest (very cheap letter post/or collection) , failing that www.pc-look.com .

Ciaran500

I think maplin stock a zalman one.

tman

secret_squirrel wrote:

Coz the sound from mine is driving me mad.

Also if anyone has got speedfan working with an Abit NF7 let me know....

heh.
i knew this would be nf7 related as soon as i read the thread title

the zalman one off hitide is supposed to be a bit of a bollix to fit. you'll need some thermal glue type stuff to keep it in place

unkel

Yeah them feckin screamin NB fans

Had the same problem nearly a year ago...

Got my ZM-NB47J from pc-look for €3.99 about this time last year. On hitide it's €7.90. Peats and Maplins more like €25 if it would ever be in stock :rolleyes:

tman wrote:

the zalman one off hitide is supposed to be a bit of a bollix to fit. you'll need some thermal glue type stuff to keep it in place

It's very easy provided your mobo has got NB mounting holes. If it hasn't there are three options as I see it:

1. use thermal glue
2. use sir random's solution - very elegant, search for it here on boards or on the abit forums
3. use my solution: bend two large paperclips in such a way that they press the NB HS onto the mobo

TacT

I've got an old one off my Asus A7N8X-X collecting dust in one of my boxes here if you'd like that, I'm going to be getting rid of all my junk soon so might as well make a start somewhere! You'll need thermal adhesive to keep it in place unless that motherboard has two mounting holes around the northbridge -- I'm not familiar with that motherboard.

tman

i'll take it if the original poster doesnt

Col_Loki

Theres actually no need to use thermal adhiesive/dowels etc anymore. Hitide stock both types to fit onto the P4 boards (wierd clips) and the AMD ones with the two holes. Ive used both and had no trouble at all, very very simple 5min job........ and wow its a relief to stop that whiney fan.

secret_squirrel

ordered the zalman off hitide..(cheers loki) currently waiting on sds for delivery. Expect monday..it should fit the nf7 has 2 mounting holes in approx the right place.

If not on Mon will take yours tact. Sell to Tman beforehand if you want coz I can always RMA for the cheaper other one they have on hitide.

btw is anyone interested in seeing a tiny mod guide to a Accent HT400 case to include an internal MCE2005 remote reciever?

Incidentally anyone else had stability issues with NF7's? I had to RMA this board to Komplett...unfortunately it passed their burn-in test. Even though it will fail a 24 hour prime95 test. Will run HL2 100% stable ..but of the 1 friend I have with an NF7 has major stabilty probs too. Just wondering if anyone else has NF7 probs?

neokenzo

Anyone know a good NB fan? Are the Vantec one good?

secret_squirrel

lol you can have my winey abit one after my zalman turns up. Also komplett do a hs with fan for a NB just check the cooling section

neokenzo

I got the stock one on my mobo. Just thought I'd get a better one thats all

Col_Loki

What version of the NF7 do you have?

When i had the NF7-S it was the most stable board ive ever had, never even a single problem with it and running prime95 for 24+hrs was no problems.

Some of the issues ive seen with the NF7-M (onboard VGA) werent that nice and its very very picky about memory (even more so that the normal NF7 from my experience).

Just out of curiousity what ram do you have aswell? And how long will prime95 fail after?

secret_squirrel

Ahh! If NF7's are picky about memory that might explain things - I have to reseat the sticks 3-4 times really hard to get the board to boot. Its twinmos PC3200 that works perfectly in my shuttle (also an nforce2 board). As I said before I RMA'd the board and ram once unfortunately it passed Komplett's burn-in tests.

A friend of mine has a NF7 based pc with similar problems. Probably wont change the memory unless I could get some more cheap or do a swap plus cash. What memory works best in NF7's? Only interested in bog standard stuff - more likely to underclock it than overclock it coz its a media pc.

Also am I right in thinking that the NF7 will support a XP-m 2500+ ??

Its a NF7 v2.0

Kenzo I have put a Vantec Fan + HS on my 9800 and its a hell of a noisey bugger.

neokenzo

secret_squirrel wrote:

Kenzo I have put a Vantec Fan + HS on my 9800 and its a hell of a noisey bugger.

Noise doesnt bother me mate. Should hear my pc now, sounds like an airplane
Is the Vantec any good?

Col_Loki

Yea twinmos is the exact stuff that ive heard various problems about. The Twinmos Winbond stuff/ twister stuff works fine but the standard stuff has been known to conflict.

Generally twinmos stuff is what i heard is problematic, samsung is fine, infinion should also be grand, corsair value is a good choice, mushkin value also good.......I used OCZ Pc3200 which was perfect, Geil Pc4000 also perfect (up to 244mhz FSB which was crazy).

Mobiles work fine with the NF7 (there basically the exact same as ordinary XP chips but with lower voltage and heat output), its actually a pretty damm good choice.

Its a great board generally.

secret_squirrel

neokenzo wrote:

Is the Vantec any good?

Better than stock - and has a 3pin fan lead so you can measure and control its speed.

Loki - Typical! Thanks a mil for your help. Now where can I find someone guillible enough to take a swapsie on my ram?