Removing Northbridge HS (A7N8X)

[Avram]

I cant see well enough in there to be certain, but all I see are two little button like things on the side of the heatsink. I push them in as far as I can but nothing seems to happen, I dont want to just start prying cause I'm not sure how it is attached. Can anyone help me out?

 

[chizow]

To remove the plugs, you'll need to remove your mobo and squeeze the barbs from the back. If you don't want to reuse them you can just mutilate them, that works too

The passive cooler is easy to take off, just give it a twist. The thermal pad barely touched the SPP on my board, just slight contact on the edges, so at minimum you want to scrape it off and apply a layer of AS3 or something I used a razor blade to shave it away neatly and efficiently (you should be able to get it off in 1 piece using a razor blade).

Chiz

 

[Avram]

I was afraid of that... I guess I'll make that a simple project of it someday. Thanks.

 

[AnAndAustin]

The NB of my Giga 7VAX KT400 came with a rather noisy HSF. I removed the fan and since I'm only using 133/266FSB at the mo there isn't much heat anyway ... but do you guys have any recs (pref available in the UK) for a good replacement HS (2 plastic clips like the previous poster) or a nice quiet 4cm/1.5" diameter fan?

 

[chizow]

For a passive cooler, you may want to look at the Zalman copper's. Not sure of any UK distros, but they are excellent quality. There are a few tweakers over in CPU/OC that have rec'd them. I don't think they use clips though, and either include epoxy or a thermal pad/tape. I bought the Crystal Orb b/c it was the sturdiest looking chipset cooler I had found; I've used the Blue Orb in the past, and that thing is louder than the COrb. I can't hear the COrb in my case at all, and I've attached everything to a Rheobus, very quiet setup, my CPU fan is probably no more than 32dBA. Both the COrb and BlOrb will mount on a standard 40mm chipset.

If you aren't OCing, I wouldn't worry about it too much. My 8KHA+ fan was dying so I removed it, many others have done the same. I had a healthy OC going and had no issues with it. Also, it might end up costing you more than its worth, depending largely on how much you upgrade your board. The AS Epoxy I picked up is for other projects and will last a while, but putting on a new $10-$15 cooler for every board just increases the cost that much.

Chiz