Quick Northbridge question

[Nick M]

I have a ( yes, old, shame ) Soyo Dragon KT-600 Plus that's been the most stable board I've owned and still use. Sadly the day I got it I look a good look at the northbridge fan and said to myself that it wouldn't last a month. Well, it took a little more then a year!

I could order a 40mm fan and plug it on there in place of the dead one- but I have 3x 80mm blowing air in, 1x 80mm blowing side, 1x80mm on top, and 2x 80mm exhaust. That's not counting the fans the PSU chugs or the heatsink. Also my flat has no heat so it's quite cold.

Do I really need a northbridge fan, or can I make do without?

Thanks!

PS. All it ever did was rattle.

 

[LeeJend]

Many MB manufacturers run the KT 600 without a fan on the northbridge. SOYO likes to cater to the over clocker market so they put on a fan.

The FIC, gigabyte, ECS, and Asus don't have fans. Gigabyte and Soyo do have fans.

Compare the heat sink (with the fan removed) on your MB chipset with those on the FIC, ECS, Asus and gigabyte. If it looks like the fin area is simialr the fan is not needed unless you overclock the FSB.

If you don't feel comfortable with the fin area you can do what I did on an old MB with a bad fan. I used some double sided thermal tape to stick an old video card fan to the MB chipset heatsink.

I couldn't find a really clear picutre of the soyo chipset hsf but it looks like it has a lot more fin area than any of the passive coolers. I would not bother replacing the fan.

 

[Nick M]

Thanks a bunch LeeJend! That's all I needed to hear - off it goes, makes for a quieter case.

Appreciate the fast and informative reply.

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Cooking eggs Nick???

 

[Nick M]

How in the world did you guess that one?