Northbridge Heatsinks

Aastii

Aastii

VIP Member
I have a P5N-E SLI mobo as you can see from my signature. Now, any of you ho know a little about this board will know that it is very easy to use, very cost:perofrmance efficient and a very good alround board. However it has 1 huge downfall, the northbridge heatsink.

The little crappy thing does near enough nothing for keeping the northbridge cool at all and it keeps overheating in my system because of dual video cards.

I bought some decent thermal paste and cleaned the crap standard stuff they put on off and applied the new, better stuff, but it is still overheating, so i decided to bite the bullet and get a northbridge heatsink, but now the question is which one?

i was looking at:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-023-ZA&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=399

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/northbridgecooling/fn-c01

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/northbridgecooling/za-twin-towers

Are these any good? Also i have never had the need to buy a chipset heatsink until now so what kind of weight is the most because i know that obviously at some point mobo warping will begin to happen with a whacking great chuck of metal hanging from the board.

And also i'm going to get some VGA heatsinks, the little heatsinks that normally you put on the RAM slots on video cards. This is because if you put them on the little chips that are around the CPU, can;t remember the name for em, then thye help cooling the northbridge.

With the point then some of you are probably like :confused: . I was at first and to be honest still am, i don't understand how this can reduce the heat of the northbridge, but apparently it does, have read it on several places with results reducing temperatures by as much as 6-7 degrees!! I only found this for my board when i was looking for non-heatsink cooling sollutions for this problem.

So, for VGA heatsinks i was thinking:

http://www.tekcomputersuk.com/product_info.php?products_id=105409537

http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?origin=gbase5.4&prodID=B88285

http://www.tekcomputersuk.com/product_info.php?products_id=105413671

I know that these are much of a muchness really with very little difference however the price difference intrigued me. Obviously a couple of quid isn't alot of difference in computer terms, but when you are playing with pennys and pennys are the difference, why is it such a huge percentage difference?

The first ones i posted I have a set already on one of my 8600GT's and it works great.
 
I would say
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-023-ZA&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=399

Firstly they wont be that heavy that they would warp your board. Also with that design you can attach a small 40mm fan to it for increased cooling (with it sticking out the fan can rest on it too)


I also used these on my 8800GT dropping temps by 5c but id never glue them to my motherboard.
http://www.tekcomputersuk.com/product_info.php?products_id=105413671


BTW if your cheap like I am and you have a 80/60/40mm fan you can keep your current NBHS and tack it on there. I used 2 normal screws with my last board. I just wedged them between the spikes and it dropped temps by 10c and never fell.


What would help you out is a nice 120mm fan in the front of your case. If you can do this it might help. Like this http://www.computerforum.com/members/twist86-albums-pc-case-picture232-side-front.html

Note since then I added a frame to it so it looks like part of the PC. This will drop your CPU temps and help bring cool air to the northbridge.
 
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Twist86 said:
I would say
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-023-ZA&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=399

Firstly they wont be that heavy that they would warp your board. Also with that design you can attach a small 40mm fan to it for increased cooling (with it sticking out the fan can rest on it too)


I also used these on my 8800GT dropping temps by 5c but id never glue them to my motherboard.
http://www.tekcomputersuk.com/product_info.php?products_id=105413671


BTW if your cheap like I am and you have a 80/60/40mm fan you can keep your current NBHS and tack it on there. I used 2 normal screws with my last board. I just wedged them between the spikes and it dropped temps by 10c and never fell.


What would help you out is a nice 120mm fan in the front of your case. If you can do this it might help. Like this http://www.computerforum.com/members/twist86-albums-pc-case-picture232-side-front.html

Note since then I added a frame to it so it looks like part of the PC. This will drop your CPU temps and help bring cool air to the northbridge.
Click to expand...

Thankyou very much for your reply. Ive got an 80mm fan balanced on my video card blowing directly onto my heatsink at the minute, but it's not the airflow that is the issue, it is the heatsink itself. It is ultra unconductable so can't get the heat away from the chip quick enough.

I could try to do the 120mm fan thing but then the problem would be my case would be twice as wide because of the shitty little door on the front that is the same width as the case so dont really have a work around for that unfortunately. When i eventually get a new better case then i will give that a try.

Why would you not want to be putting the GPU heatsinks on the mobo?
 
The Zalman one wouldn't cool the northbridge properly. My friend tried using it on a P35 and it barely even cooled that. I'd say go for the last two linked ones.
 
As i posted above, I already have a fan on my nb heat sink but the heatsink is a pile of crap, even the fan won't help so i want to leave the fan there, but get a better heatsink, that is why i posted them, not fans.

Also, ScOuT, and everyone else for that matter, I am in the UK (that is why the stuff i found is in £) because of such i cannot get anything off newegg because they don't ship outside of the US, it isn't that i am from the UK that i am pointing out, it is that newegg don't ship outside of the states so although i really appreciate your feedback and you trying to help, posting stuff from newegg to someone outside of the US is near enough useless for them to buy, great for them to find the product from a source that will ship it, but for the site itself, useless.

Is it better to get a copper or aluminium heatsink? I have read before about the heat exchange of both but can't remember which is better.
 
Aluminum dissipate heat faster while copper conducts heat better. I'd just go with aluminum heatsink for your northbridge, as they're lighter and the mounting system for chipset heatsinks isn't exactly great.
 
right ok ty diduknowthat

so it is a toss up between

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/northbridgecooling/fn-c01

and

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/northbridgecooling/za-twin-towers

The twin tower one is lighter and got copper so will take the heat from the nb quicker, the other is alluminium but heavier because it is larger so will get rid of the heat faster.

The twin tower one is cheaper but has less sa than the other, but because i have a fan on it permanently i dont think that the difference noticed because of the added surface area would be massive.

Which of em then with all of what has been said in mind?
 
Aastii said:
Thankyou very much for your reply. Ive got an 80mm fan balanced on my video card blowing directly onto my heatsink at the minute, but it's not the airflow that is the issue, it is the heatsink itself. It is ultra unconductable so can't get the heat away from the chip quick enough.

I could try to do the 120mm fan thing but then the problem would be my case would be twice as wide because of the shitty little door on the front that is the same width as the case so dont really have a work around for that unfortunately. When i eventually get a new better case then i will give that a try.

Why would you not want to be putting the GPU heatsinks on the mobo?
Click to expand...


Well mine does the same thing...its only a door.
I just shut the door when I turn the PC off. Personally I don't think looks should effect cooling.
Also mounting a fan ON the north bridge will drop temps period.
You would be amazed what a light breeze will do to them. Since you have a fan it won't hurt to try...worst case I am wrong and your out a 10 mins. Best case I am right and I /flex you.

Also if try putting the 80mm blow on the GPU backside of the card. I do it with my 8800GT and I went from 50c idle to 42c idle. You might see the same results.
 
Twist86 said:
Well mine does the same thing...its only a door.
I just shut the door when I turn the PC off. Personally I don't think looks should effect cooling.
Also mounting a fan ON the north bridge will drop temps period.
You would be amazed what a light breeze will do to them. Since you have a fan it won't hurt to try...worst case I am wrong and your out a 10 mins. Best case I am right and I /flex you.

Also if try putting the 80mm blow on the GPU backside of the card. I do it with my 8800GT and I went from 50c idle to 42c idle. You might see the same results.
Click to expand...

No no, i think you misunderstand. I'm not bothered about the looks, it's the space. I am on a chair under a desk with the computer to my right, a filing cabinet to my left so i can;t move, the door would open about a quarter of the way, then hit the chair, so there would be virtually no airflow at all with it.
 
Door would be removed then with me ^-^

I checked your case out should only be screws holding it in. If that didn't work out comes my Dremel. I show my cases no love...reason I bought a Antec 900 no cuts needed for fans.


Still id try the 80mm fan on the north bridge heat sink first before you buy another. Might save you a bit of $$$. Anyone that knows me here or in real life knows if I can save 5 bucks without hindering anything I will ^-^
 
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Twist86 said:
Door would be removed then with me ^-^

I checked your case out should only be screws holding it in. If that didn't work out comes my Dremel. I show my cases no love...reason I bought a Antec 900 no cuts needed for fans.


Still id try the 80mm fan on the north bridge heat sink first before you buy another. Might save you a bit of $$$. Anyone that knows me here or in real life knows if I can save 5 bucks without hindering anything I will ^-^
Click to expand...

I can't take the door off unfortunately =/ After spending 6 hours yesterday completely dedusting my case and system and polishing and what not found there is no way. The screw thing you were on bout is probably for the little plastic bit behind the door that has the light shine up it to have infinity-x iluminated...shit and cheesy or what =/ . It is stuff like that that i don;t like my case for.

I also finally got round to cutting my huge hole in the side for my 120mm fan ^^ looks epic now.

I ordered http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/northbridgecooling/za-twin-towers aswell, should come within the next few days, ill post with what it's like
 
well, my heatsink came, all boxed and nice and super duper :D i'd recomend using the site (see my other posts for link, its the quietpc.com ones), really quick shipping, good quality packaging, no defects, payments went through quick.

So, no more plugging of the site, the heatsink:

Getting the old one off was a nightmare. One of the crappy plastic pin things managed to break awkwardly, logdging itself in the hole so i had to use wire cutters and scissors to cut it away and get the heatsink off, no damage to the old heatsink, but a pain in the arse. The new one went in no problems, the thermal paste that comes with it is pretty good too.

I have been running for a couple of hours now with it, been on WoW and CoD4 and my temps of the NB didn't go above 30 degrees :D result!!!!!

When idle i'm getting (results from speedfan):

GPU: 40
GPU:48
Temp 1: 30
Temp 2: 31
Temp 3: 25
Temp 1: 40
Core 0: 35
Core 1: 37

When gaming:

GPU: 47
GPU: 56
Temp 1: 33
Temp 2: 33
Temp 3: 28
Temp 1: 44
Core 0: 49
Core 1: 48

I know my GPU's are really different, it is because one has a 120mm fan blowing straight onto it and has AC accelero S1 heatsink on and the other has standard heatsink (with RAM heatsinks added) and that one only catches a little of the air blown in.

The temp 3 though i think is the northbridge bceause with the standard it was on 40 idle, 55-60 gaming, now it is much much lower, so it is working amazingly well.

One thing which really surprised me about it too was the weight. I know that the fins are quite thin, but even so it is pretty big but really really light

It is really good for the price (remember the £9ish price i got it at was offer, i think it said it was usually £19 or so). super cheap for such a massive fix.
 
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