Epox 8RDA+ Chipset Cooling Project..

[drewski]

Originally posted by: ThaChemist

#3 - my most basic question - how do you get the stock hs off in the first place? I visited one site where it seemed I had to pop out the whole nb chip, which I'm not terribly crazy about! Can I just let it warm up and then physically pull it off by grasping the heatsink? What's the best way to do this?

Thanks for any input you can provide me!

you need to take the mobo out of the computer. on the backside of the mobo you can squeeze together the plastic "tabs"/push-pin-ends that are spring loaded and hold the NB heatsink in place. you will have to pull a bit to get it off b/c of the thermal tab/tape holding it in place. if the chip comes off, you've pulled to hard!!

clean that off and then apply to the SB w/ some thermal paste of your choosing. easy except for that little metal component in the way. the purchased heatsinks may not be a clearance issue, but it was 2 minutes of work with a dremel to shave the NB heatsink to fit.

i did not lap either the NB or SB and have an old fashioned Blue Orb on the NB. i'm at 200MHz FSB.

 

[wojtekpl]

Isn't your SB heatsink blocking PCI slots? I mean when you put heatsink on SB you can't put PCI cards into 1st and 2nd PCI slot. Right? Well maybe just 2nd slot.

I think of putting a heatsink on SB myself and probably I just glue an old 486 heatsink to the SB (its low enough to not obstruct PCI cards). Will this void warranty?

As for NB, I don't know...

I sure won't glue any HS there and Zalman NB32J (I have one) seems to be too small for the job.
What is heat dissipating area of this Zalman? Compared to original EPoX HS?

 

[drewski]

Originally posted by: wojtekpl
Isn't your SB heatsink blocking PCI slots? I mean when you put heatsink on SB you can't put PCI cards into 1st and 2nd PCI slot. Right? Well maybe just 2nd slot.

I think of putting a heatsink on SB myself and probably I just glue an old 486 heatsink to the SB (its low enough to not obstruct PCI cards). Will this void warranty?

As for NB, I don't know...

I sure won't glue any HS there and Zalman NB32J (I have one) seems to be too small for the job.
What is heat dissipating area of this Zalman? Compared to original EPoX HS?

i haven't seen the zalman in person to compare the heat disipating area. i'm just cheap so had the NB heatsink in hand!

as for the blocking the slots issue, i haven't looked to see the clearance, but with built in NIC & Sound, i don't think i've got much to worry about in terms of not having enough slots.

 

[ThaChemist]

Originally posted by: drewski

Originally posted by: wojtekpl
Isn't your SB heatsink blocking PCI slots? I mean when you put heatsink on SB you can't put PCI cards into 1st and 2nd PCI slot. Right? Well maybe just 2nd slot.

I think of putting a heatsink on SB myself and probably I just glue an old 486 heatsink to the SB (its low enough to not obstruct PCI cards). Will this void warranty?

As for NB, I don't know...

I sure won't glue any HS there and Zalman NB32J (I have one) seems to be too small for the job.
What is heat dissipating area of this Zalman? Compared to original EPoX HS?

i haven't seen the zalman in person to compare the heat disipating area. i'm just cheap so had the NB heatsink in hand!

as for the blocking the slots issue, i haven't looked to see the clearance, but with built in NIC & Sound, i don't think i've got much to worry about in terms of not having enough slots.

First of all - thanks Drewski for the info. Just curious what you used to remove/clean off the bits of thermal pad left on the nb and how careful you were to keep it off of the mobo pcb (I'm assuming here that you're using rubbing alcohol?)

wojtekpl - I can't find it off hand, but in another post I read that the Zalman does indeed seem to be just a bit short of covering the entire nb. However, I don't think it should be _too_ problematic because it seems the Zalman does have more surface area than the stock hs (no qualitative evidence to back this up...). But the real proof is in the pudding, eh? It seems that the Zalman has helped others hit 200fsb, so I'm not one to argue.
With respect to the sb hs sterics, I agree with drewski - what do you want to put in there? I try to avoid placing cards too close to my vid card to allow better heat dissipation. And as for gluing stuff down, whY? Our mobos have integrated holes so that we can just use pins to secure the hs.

 

[wojtekpl]

First of all - thanks Drewski for the info. Just curious what you used to remove/clean off the bits of thermal pad left on the nb and how careful you were to keep it off of the mobo pcb (I'm assuming here that you're using rubbing alcohol?)

wojtekpl - I can't find it off hand, but in another post I read that the Zalman does indeed seem to be just a bit short of covering the entire nb. However, I don't think it should be _too_ problematic because it seems the Zalman does have more surface area than the stock hs (no qualitative evidence to back this up...). But the real proof is in the pudding, eh? It seems that the Zalman has helped others hit 200fsb, so I'm not one to argue.
With respect to the sb hs sterics, I agree with drewski - what do you want to put in there? I try to avoid placing cards too close to my vid card to allow better heat dissipation. And as for gluing stuff down, whY? Our mobos have integrated holes so that we can just use pins to secure the hs.

Well, Insane3D started this topic and glued a heatsink to the NorthBridge. I would prefer to use mounting holes but that just me . But changing HS on the northbridge probably void warranty so I will wait some time to be sure thah my motherboard is working OK. And since I'm not planing to with FSB higher than 166 MHz probably I'll not NEED better heatsink there. That doesn't meen I WON'T put Zalman on NB because I like things to be cool .

I have 3 PCI cards now: Creative SB Audigy, Zoltrix ATA1333 Raid controller and TV-Tuner. So, I AM using 3 PCI slots (as I remember 2 for TV-tuner, 3 for RAID and 5 for Audigy) and I'd like to keep the ability to use them.

 

[drewski]

Originally posted by: ThaChemist


First of all - thanks Drewski for the info. Just curious what you used to remove/clean off the bits of thermal pad left on the nb and how careful you were to keep it off of the mobo pcb (I'm assuming here that you're using rubbing alcohol?)

i first used Goo Gone, which disolved the thermal pad, and then used rubbing alcohol to clean any further residue off. the Goo Gone was applied with a cotton ball, and the alcohol with a rag.

finally i used a lint free lens cloth.

 

[Fallenjedi]

...

Not to drag up to old of a thread, but this is a great one ..


Has anyone tried a Crystal Orb or such on the NB? Just wondering, because I've heard a few people who put on just heatsinks on the NB, but are looking for something to actually take the heat away as well.

Ideas? Comments?

 

[godmare]

ttt

bump for a great thread

 

[Insane3D]

Woah...you guys a bringing my thread back from the dead!

Sorry, I haven't been around the motherboard forums too much over the past few months, but I will keep an eye on this thread if you guys have any questions..




Edit: I forgot that the pic links are no longer valid. Let me shoot some new ones and get them up so people can still see them..