Northbridge cooling/compatibility confusion ^^

askantik · Sep 8, 2005

Okay guys, I want to replace the fan on my Northbridge with just a heatsink. I'd like it to be silent, and from reviews, a third-party heatsink works better temp-wise as well. My Motherboard is an MSI K8N Neo4-F, pictured below.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v724/bloodclots__/msi_mobo.jpg

I am looking at getting this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835103154

Problem is I have an X800XL in that PCI-E slot with an Arctic Cooling Silencer that is pretty huge under it. I know the Cooler Master one that I just linked to will fit, but will it be sufficient? This Zalman looks nice, but I seriously doubt that I have the space for it. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118202

The Cooler Master is also cheaper. Do you guys think it'll work fine? I have a CM 120mm fan, case, and PSU and I love them all, but I have never done anything with the cooling stuff on my NB.

And, one last question: what exactly does the NB do?

askantik · Sep 9, 2005

Anyone?

DavidGP · Sep 9, 2005

Many people prefer heatsinks on the mobo to cooling fans as fans do have a habbit of giving up the ghost, plus add a little bit more noise... both of those look ok for your mobo, but I would be inclined to build a small box to the dimentions of the Zalman HS and see if it interferes with your x800, I did similar before installing a Zalman 7000clu CPU HSF on a friends pc to see if it fit ok.

The Northbridge controls most of the motherboard, it communicates with the CPU, FSB and controls Memory & AGP

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Northbridge cooling/compatibility confusion ^^

askantik Sergeant

askantik Sergeant

DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member