cooling the northbridge?

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james

Just put together a Q6600 + ga-ep35-ds3l. The northbridge runs about 60
degree C. The southbridge runs about 40 degreee C. The mobo is in an antec
sonota case with a 120mm fan in the rear.

I would like to keep everything under 40 degree C. The cpu is at 30, but I
haven't overclocked yet.

The heat sink fin on the northbridge is oriented vertically (looking at the
mobo in the case). I guess this work with CPU fan that blows air outward.
However, I'm using a freezer 7 pro where the air is blown towards the rear,
so the NB is not getting much air from it. Even though there is a rear fan,
the fin of the NB heat sink is oriented in the wrong way to take advantage.

What are some common solutions that does not use an additional fan?

I'm thinking of two possibilities:
(1) remove NB heat sink, find a replacement that orient 90 degree from what
it is now. However, would the NB chip be damaged if I remove the heat sink?

(2) air flow control. Is there some way to direct the air to flow through
the heat sink?

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/ViewImage.aspx?ProductID=2778
 
james said:
Just put together a Q6600 + ga-ep35-ds3l. The northbridge runs about 60
degree C. The southbridge runs about 40 degreee C. The mobo is in an
antec sonota case with a 120mm fan in the rear.

I would like to keep everything under 40 degree C. The cpu is at 30, but
I haven't overclocked yet.

The heat sink fin on the northbridge is oriented vertically (looking at
the mobo in the case). I guess this work with CPU fan that blows air
outward. However, I'm using a freezer 7 pro where the air is blown
towards the rear, so the NB is not getting much air from it. Even though
there is a rear fan, the fin of the NB heat sink is oriented in the
wrong way to take advantage.

What are some common solutions that does not use an additional fan?

I'm thinking of two possibilities:
(1) remove NB heat sink, find a replacement that orient 90 degree from
what it is now. However, would the NB chip be damaged if I remove the
heat sink?

(2) air flow control. Is there some way to direct the air to flow
through the heat sink?

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/ViewImage.aspx?ProductID=2778
Click to expand...

You could build a duct, to shape the airflow to the rear 120mm fan.
But the Gigabyte heatsink isn't really shaped well for a project
like that.

You can fit a 40mm fan. Sometimes, the included screws can be jammed
between the fins of the heatsink. (Be careful, as small aluminum filings
are created by using this method, and the metal bits can short circuits
on the motherboard.) This particular fan would scare small children and
be a general annoyance. The fastest fan I have here, is about 6000
RPM, and this is 50% faster than that. The 28mm depth is what
helps give it a generous CFM rating.

Delta FUB0424VHN 40mmx40mm x 28mm - 9500 RPM, 15.79 CPM $9.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835705052

If you use a larger diameter fan, the necessary RPMs drop. This is
an example of a bracket to adapt a larger fan. You still have to solve the
attachment problem. The adapter also functions as a plenum, smoothing
out the airflow a bit (less turbulence from moving fan blade versus
adjacent heatsink fin).

http://www.svc.com/40to60fanadaptor.html

This is an example of a 60mm fan. Supposed to be based on an
NMB-MAT (Panaflo) 60mm fan.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835705022

You can fit a Fanmate, to adjust the fan speed. You can also
get rheobus tray mounted controllers (which have three or more
fan speed control channels).

ZALMAN FAN MATE 2 Fan Controller - Retail $4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118217

I don't see a good reason for Gigabyte to use a
permanent adhesive, but anything is possible when it
comes to attachment methods. Ideally, they should design the
cooling attachment, to make repair possible. So it is
in their best interest, not to make the attachment
method too aggressive.

In terms of cooler design, this concept isn't bad. It uses
a heatpipe, which improves the efficiency of heat transfer
into the fins. But AFAIK, the HR-05 isn't being made any more.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835109128

There is a copy-cat version here. The base design is different,
and I cannot see how it attaches to the board (clip?). For
maximum cooling power, you can fit a fan to one of these,
and I'd select a thin fan to keep the weight down.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233021

This might be a traditional replacement for a bad Northbridge
cooler design. It still doesn't really solve the "clean"
attachment of a fan to the thing, so no aluminum filings
are produced.

http://www.zalman.co.kr/ENG/product/Product_Read.asp?idx=132

Paul
 
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